Following up our in depth 'Top 20 Albums of the Year...So Far' podcast, here is the official full list in all it's glory without all the other BS (but you should really get into all the other BS, it's good BS).
April had a ton of great new albums and music videos from the likes of J. Cole, Prince, SZA, and Janelle Monáe; and it also featured some interesting trailers for Deadpool 2, Hot Summer Nights, and Venom. We've highlighted some of the best drops over the month and now we're ready to crown the best album, movie trailer, and music video.
In this week's episode we talk about Spotify removing R. Kelly and XXXTENTACION from their playlists, the ongoing Kanye roller coaster, and Donald Glover's (aka Childish Gambino) turn as a SNL host, his mind blowing new video for "This Is America", and question whether he should be considered the greatest multi-talented artist we've ever seen. Then we end things by talking about a bunch of new albums to drop from Desiigner, Post Malone, Styles P, Rae Sremmurd, Janelle Monáe, Steve Angello, and BlocBoy JB. With Royce da 5'9", Janelle Monáe, and Steve Angello, in particular, taking their careers in new and exciting new directions with their most introspective albums yet.
Stars
Janelle Monáe is at her most authentic self here, but while much of it is about self expression and living your truth, it's still very timely and aware of the larger things happening in our society (protest music you can party to). An album all her own sound that can only be described as 'futuristic funk' - it's sonics are lush, it's synths are bright, and it's bounce is irresistible.
