While SchoolBoy Q’s hard-hitting, fast flowing style never clicked with me prior to this release, the versatility of beats on Blue Lips allowed SchoolBoy Q to establish his place in rap’s current soundscape. While tracks like “Pop (feat. Rico Nasty)”, “THank god 4” me and “Yeern 101“ unload Q’s usual unsparing clip at the highest level of his career, his ability to fall back on a diverse catalog of West Coast beats on tracks like “Smile” and “Movie (feat. Az Chike)” is what sets this album apart in his catalog. Back Q’s musical talent with diverse features that match him on every beat, and you have an album that remained in my albums of the year since its release. “

THank god 4 me” said it best, “Blue lips, really, I’m speechless.” 

You couldn't live in 2024 without hearing this album everywhere. Even longtime fans of Charli XCX could have never seen the cultural moment and run this album had. For nearly an entire summer, Charli XCX was the zeitgeist. Her ambitious plan to create pop-club music worked to perfection, and the result changed the way audiences viewed the pop genre. Perhaps even more impressive than the energy, replayability and sound of the 41 minute album was the album's reach. Brat was everywhere. Billboards, political campaigns, commercials - you name it, and it was probably Brat-ified. A narrow form of arial became “brat font,” the signature green instantly recognizable. It was a maximist project that thrived in its simplicity. Although there may never be another Brat summer, the legacy of the album in pop and culture is something that will always be remembered.

Mavi says he puts crack into everything he writes, and shadowbox is no different. Throughout the 33 minute project, Mavi takes the listener on a journey through his trauma – the shadowbox. The tone setting “20,000 leagues” and “open waters” starts the album with a vulnerable MAVI, a MAVI grappling with loss, substance abuse and suffering. Despite all this, “i did” shows MAVI’s persistence through the pain. The album continues bouncing through the artist's struggles and MAVI’s use of art as a response. Uplifting, bouncy beats like those on “tether,” “too much to zelle” and “latch” perfectly juxtapose the emotionally heavy tracks like “drunk prayer” and “20,000 leagues.” Throughout the album, MAVI’s lyrical ability and ability to slide on any beat thrown his way shines through, creating a project that gets better with every listen.

Compton-based Channel Tres is more confident than ever, and his debut album Head Rush shows it. Despite popularity in the house scene with EP’s i can’t go outside and refresh and his stint touring with fellow house producing superstar KAYTRANADA, Head Rush cements Channel Tres as far more than a house artist. As he boasts in the opening “Head Rush” “They only thought I could do House / I bet they didn’t know at one point / the only house that I knew was a trap.” Setting the stage for the album that doesn’t let one genre define it. Impressive production was expected, and the album flawlessly fuses Channel Tres’s house styling with elements of trap, funk and gospel to create an album that consistently stayed in my rotation in 2024.

In a scene where pop music is more diverse than ever,  Ally Evenson’s Blue Super Love brings her take to the ever changing realm. Throughout the 39 minute albums runtime, Evenson flawlessly switches between boisterous tracks like the opening “Shitty Heaven,” more radio sounding songs like “Cross My Fingers,” and experimental pop in “Virtual Bottle” without ever losing the cohesion of the project. It was a pop project that kept me on my toes throughout listens, something this year had no scarcity of. Ally Evenson may not fit the eye test for the pop star mold of many of the up-and-comers pop singers in 2024, but she doesn’t have to – she’s not your next up in pop star, she’s Ally Evenson.

My only complaint about this album is that I wish it were longer. According to her Spotify bio, WILLOW is an artist that is “at the forefront of redefining musical boundaries and setting new standards of innovation and authenticity,” and no album better supports this bold claim than Empathogen. The self produced, genre blending Empathogen pushes the punk metal influences of her previous albums aside to an ambitious blend of jazz, funk, pop and ceremonial music. The album left me wanting more. Although at some points the lyrics lacked real substance, the vibrancy of genre fusions in the backing instrumental kept me entranced for what’s to come next throughout the album. It’s an album that shows WILLOW is an artist comfortable with being uncomfortable, and this experimentation is what I think will define her music in the future. 

Out of all the albums on this list, this is the album 2024 needed most. In a modern soundscape of predominantly pop, rap and electronic, Mk.gee’s Two Stars and the Dream Police introduced a “genre-surfing bedroom pop album that’s low-fi yet bright, intimate, yet expansive.” Throughout the auditory genre, the listener is taken into the world of an artist unafraid to venture into the sounds of his influences, and the resulting project is an experience like no others. What captivates me most about the sounds on the album is the diversity of each song. While the songs are cohesive, they do an excellent job journeying into different lanes of the established soundscapes. To put it simply - it’s ethereal - a project that will be in rotation far past 2024. 

From the intro track on this album, this album captures your intention. Ravyn Lanae has been known to be your standard, sweet, croon-filled R&B star. On her newest project, she continues to tap into those elements, but this time with her own style - one filled with the future of the genre. The result is an album with one of my favorite tracks of the year in “One Wish (feat. Childish Gambino),” a killer, highly-syncopated “Dream Girl” with Ty Dolla $ign and ska-infused “Candy” back-to-back-to-back. Start to finish, this blend of “cushy R&B and futurism” makes for an absolute treat from start to finish, and one that has remained in my ears no matter what time of the year it is. 

If it wasn't abundantly clear for her "Rap Album of the Year" Grammy, this album was the standout from the formerly Top Dawg Entertainment-signed Doechii. From start to finish, the mixtape is electric. Whether it is the self choreographed performances of "DENIAL IS A RIVER" on shows like Saturday Night Live or The Colbert Show or her radio-mainstay "NISSAN ALTIMA" this album was impossible to avoid. Add to that Doechii's culture curation, fashion forwardness and signature style and you have an artist that became a fireball in 2024. Personally, my favorite part about the mixtape was how recognizable it was. It wasn't something we had heard before. From the opening "STANKA POOH" to the concluding "ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL," it was Doechii - a risk-filled, addictive rapper gearing up for a massive 2025.