Music is essential to most AMHS students for productivity, making it through the commute to school every morning, or just to pass the time. With the amount of time spent listening to music, I find myself listening to what feels like the same twenty songs over and over, so it’s super exciting when my favorite artists release new music! In this article, I compiled what I felt to be the most anticipated or popular album releases so that hopefully readers can find new things to listen to.
Chromakopia – Tyler, The Creator
- Most popular: St. Chroma
- Personal Fav: Judge Judy
- Rating: 8/10
Released on October 28th, 2024, Chromakopia by Tyler, The Creator is arguably the most anticipated album on this list. Coming in at 14 songs long and 53 minutes long, this is a solid album. The inspiration for the album came from Tyler’s family, with almost every song featuring narration from his mother, and even an entire song dedicated to his difficult relationship with his absent father. Now entering his thirties, Tyler, The Creator is still learning more about himself and how to grow into his own individuality. The song with the most streams, so far, is “St. Chroma.” It is the opening track to the album, possibly contributing to its popularity. However, he also used this track in his promotion prior to the album’s release and it blew up on TikTok making not only the album as a whole highly anticipated but also the song itself. My personal favorite song is “Judge Judy.” The clever wordplay with the title (the song talks about Tyler not judging a girl named Judy) was especially satisfying when I first heard it. The overall sound of this song is arguably perfect and makes me feel light-hearted when I listen to it. I would recommend this song and the entire album to anyone interested in the R&B genre.
The Secret of Us (Deluxe) – Gracie Abrams
- Most popular: That’s So True
- Personal Fav: Packing It Up
- Rating: 10/10
Released on October 18th, 2024, this album was a huge success. The original version of the album was released over the summer and thousands of new Gracie Abrams fans absolutely loved it. The deluxe edition of the album has four bonus songs and three live recordings of “I Love You, I’m Sorry”, “I Knew It, I Know You”, and “Free Now”. “I Love You, I’m Sorry” is her most streamed song at the moment so it’s no surprise that it was extremely exciting to have the live recording available on streaming services. This live recording was also blowing up on TikTok, adding to the demand to have it available on Spotify, Apple Music, and any other music app. The most streamed of the additional songs is “That’s So True” and I must say it’s definitely one of my favorites. Multiple trends have come about associated with this song further contributing to its popularity. My personal favorite from the deluxe release of this album is “Packing It Up”. This song has a super cute, girly feel to it and basically captures the feeling of someone coming into your life and lighting it up. Gracie’s growing popularity is highly deserved and I am excited to see how she grows as an artist and what her new music will be like.
The Great Impersonator – Halsey
- Most popular: Panic Attack
- Personal Fav: I Believe in Magic
- Rating: 8/10
Released on October 25th, 2024, Halsey pours their soul into just over an hour’s worth of music. This album was difficult to make because of their battle with cancer diagnosis and rediagnosis over the years. The most streamed song is “Panic Attack” which has a very fun, upbeat feel. It must also be mentioned that Halsey’s vocals are especially beautiful in this song, even more so than usual. A personal favorite of mine is “I Believe in Magic” although truthfully it is heartbreaking. It discusses their love for their three-year-old son and their distress at their sickness and the idea that they might not always be there for him. They also acknowledge the difficulties that come with being a mother and how they hadn’t realized this as a child and as a result scrutinized their mother’s every mistake. Now being a mother themselves, they have grace for their own mother especially now being able to understand her struggles with sickness, both mental and physical. This album is truly devastating because of its heavy themes regarding Halsey’s battle with cancer and other difficult themes. It is not getting the recognition it deserves and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.
Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat – Charli XCX
- Most popular: Guess featuring Billie Eilish
- Personal Fav: Talk talk featuring troye sivan
- Rating: 7/10
Released October 11th, 2024, this remix album really is completely different from the “brat” we all know and love. This is not necessarily a bad thing though! Almost every song is nearly unrecognizable from its original version, but each is equally good in its own way. The most popular song is “Guess featuring Billie Eilish” likely due to how long it has been released. For a more in-depth review of this song specifically, see my brat article! This song has grown on me since my initial rating of 4/10, but I know many people enjoy it a lot! Personally, “Talk talk featuring troye sivan”, I feel, is the best song off this album. Overall, it’s super energetic and fun. My favorite part is Sivan’s verse where he lists different countries he plans to “fly you out” to, which parallels the verses in the original song where Charli lists different languages she wants her lover to talk to her in. The entire album is ultra-creative in the sense that it reimagines all the songs in such a new way, which I can only imagine how difficult that would be.
These albums, all released within the last month, are guaranteed to give you something to switch up your normal music rotation. All albums listed here are so good and I would recommend listening to new albums often as a means to discover new music and find new favorites!
