COWBOY CARTER - Beyonce
★★★★★

I'll start this off with my favorite album of the year so far, which is probably a shock to no one! I fear this is becoming one of my favorite albums of all time. I just feel like it's such a masterclass in what albums can be and what they really should be. She really took me on a journey through not only country music but really every American genre and threw them all together in such a fun and cohesive way. To structure it starting with old school country and travel into current country music and then end on a note of how Beyonce would do Country, as well as what it would sound like if we stopped gatekeeping people from the genre. SOOO cool. Really kind of experimental at the end, and I think it's cool that Beyonce is this into the game and still trying to push boundaries. I'm just always going to be a sucker for albums that have seamless transitions between songs and fun interludes to help guide you through the album. Instant classic.

Fave Songs: Ya Ya, Tyrant, Bodyguard, 2 Most Wanted, Levi's Jeans.. the list goes on but we'll stop there.

eternal sunshine - Ariana Grande
★★★☆☆

I think this album was really good and definitely her most cohesive album to date, it just.. wasn't my personal favorite! I think it was really well put together and the songs are a lot more personal than her earlier works, but just don't hit as hard for me. I think the biggest thing holding me back from loving it is that she jam-packed all my favorite songs into a big stretch in the middle, so everything outside of that kind of fell flat for me. I'm coming around to it a little bit over time, but I haven't really fallen in love with it over the few weeks I've had to sit on it.

Fave Songs: supernatural, true story, the boy is mine, & we can't be friends

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - Chappell Roan
★★★★☆

FINALLY!! WE ARE BRINGING CAMP BACK TO MUSIC!! I am not even mad that half the album is just singles because they all kind of objectively slayed. This was such a fun journey into what it feels like when you first step foot into the gay community, like it's all a little confusing and fun. A little sad, but we vibe anyways because we're learning things for the first time. I really love how she ordered the songs to really give you a nice lil narrative of her journey with fame and sexuality. I really feel like she's going to be one of the next big girls in pop and I'm SO excited to see what she brings into her next era. I think my only gripe with her is that a lot of the songs are 80% chorus and her lyrics are SO good, I wish she spent more time on making more verses. But we jam nonetheless.

Fave Songs: After Midnight, Red Wine Supernova, Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl, My Kink Is Karma, Guilty Pleasure

Found Heaven - Conan Gray
★★★★☆

This is so close to being five stars but I think there is one single song on here that I don't like so it stays in the four range.. You hate to see it. But that's okay, we still love you gay people! Conan's album was a really fun switch-up from his last two albums into an 80s pop vibe which I absolutely LOVED. I'm a sucker for albums that are super stylized and this one really feels like it was plucked straight out of a retro vinyl store, I loved it. His voice is so pretty to me and it fits the vibe of the album WAY more than I thought it would. Unfortunately most of my faves were the singles but I think that's just because I streamed them to death when they dropped. One of the few I have been going back to since it dropped between my Beyonce streams.

Fave Songs: Alley Rose, Killing Me, Fainted Love, Winner, Lonely Dancers, Forever With Me

Gothic Summer - The Veronicas
★☆☆☆☆

I think if this album dropped in 2012, I would have been ALL over it... but it did not! And it feels like it has already aged 10 years on release and that is not a great thing, I fear! It feels like classic Veronicas music which is fine but I wasn't really a super stan when they were popular back in the day, and they really didn't grab me with just doing.. the same thing all over again! Kind of boring and not a lot of it stood out to me, I streamed it once and moved right along.

Fave Songs: Perfect & Detox

Djesse Vol. 4 - Jacob Collier
★★☆☆☆

Okay... I want to say that I love Jacob as a producer, I think he has a really great ear for music and impressive music knowledge. But when he makes his own albums instead of producing other people, I just.. I don't know what happens but he loses me. It might be because his voice sounds like it's slightly AI generated because it's so oddly pitch perfect without much emotion, but it just sits funny with me. I also just get the vibes from his albums that he's making songs just to flex his musical ability rather than making music that he's passionate about? But maybe I'm just a hater at heart and judging him more than his music, but that's my right so take it! Overall, I think the album was OKAY! There were some songs I liked but none that really leapt out to me that I needed to save immediately.

Fave Songs: Cinnamon Crush, Wherever I Go, Never Gonna Be Alone, Bridge Over Troubled Water

HEADSPLIT - Maggie Lindemann
☆☆☆☆☆

So, I listened to some Maggie songs when I was younger and really liked her indie-esque songwriting style because I thought it was really cute, and her music was always fun to me. So you can imagine when my surprise when I pressed play on her EP years later expecting a soft girl album just to realize that she has now gone into... rock? But, it's really weird because her voice is still performing like she is singing over a guitar and there is just a really big disconnect on the production and her performance. I.. kind of hated it! Sorry to the girls!

Fave Songs: None, I fear.

ORQUÍDEAS - Kali Uchis
★★★★☆

One thing about me? I'm GOING to be streaming a Kali Uchis album! She's always been one of my faves, her voice is just one of those ones that feels like you're spreading room temp butter on toast. It's SMOOTH, girls. I feel like from her last album, she went back to her roots of making music that makes you wanna shake your hips. Like most of her other albums, she is singing about feeling sexy, free, and horny as hell. And that's why we always come back to her because it just fits her vibe and voice so well. The only thing holding me back from full sending it on five stars is because I'm struggling with replay-ability on her because almost all of it is in Spanish and I fear I do not speak her! And I'm a lyrics girlie at heart, so sitting down with the English lyrics as I streamed the first time was fun but I don't have that on the move.

Fave Songs: Me Pongo Loca, Igual Que Un Angel, Diosa, Munekita, Labios Mordidos, & Dame Beso // Muevete

Tyla - Tyla
★★☆☆☆

Okay, first I want to say that Tyla's voice is SOOO good. I'm really excited for her to drop more music after this and see what she has to bring to the table but this one kind of felt like her single blew up and she rushed to finish the rest of the album. A lot of it ended up sounding really similar to Water and she just kinda copy & pasted the style of that song over and over. Which is fine cause it works but it just kind of wears thin by the end of the album for me, personally. It's one of those albums that sounds good when you know it could have been great, so you just kind of leave wanting more rather than being excited about what you just listened to. With time, I think she can CEWK! My favorite review from someone else that listened to this with me was "Yes, it may sound like one long song.. but at least it was a good song." and that really sums it all up.

Fave Songs: Water, Butterflies, ART, & On My Body

Drop 7 - Little Simz
★★★☆☆

Making a 14 minute album should be illegal in so many different ways, but I will give her a review anyways because I loved it. This album kind of felt like the equivalent of watching a Chopped episode. Little Simz opened up a basket in the studio every day and they said, "Today you need to make a song with three jars, seven marbles, a half eaten bag of Nerd Gummy Clusters, and a parakeet. Go." And she did just that. I really enjoyed the experimental vibes of it all, I really enjoy anything that feels different and unique & this definitely delivered on those. WAY different than anything else I've heard from her, which I love. I just don't think I'll come back and revisit because it's so short and definitely feels stronger in the first half and slowly gets weaker as it goes on.

Fave Songs: Mood Swings, Fever, & Torch

Older - Lizzy McAlpine
★★★★☆

I had to sit on this one for a minute because it really was such a drastic departure from her second album which was honestly one of my favorite albums of all time, but I think with time I just have to remember that her music style has always kind of been girl sitting on a stool with a guitar. And once I got over expecting five seconds flat, I really leaned into enjoying the journey of this album. Especially with the callbacks and parallels with her second album and how she really feels like she's stuck in the same cycle, and the meta callback of how she just keeps running back to this man who treats her horrible when she needs new music. OOP. Gagged me a bit. I also really liked the thematics of this album starting with her talking about her relationship being about ups and downs & slowly over the course of the album starting to realize that it's just going in circles rather than doing hills and valleys. Really cool concept to me and I thinks he executes it flawlessly over some really, really pretty songs. A few really had me in shambles and I really don't want to relate to Lizzy but I fear that I... do. EEK.

Fave Songs: Come Down Soon, Movie Star, All Falls Down, Drunk Running, Broken Glass, You Forced Me To, I Guess, Vortex