2023 albums broke no records
SOS is definitely up at the very top of my list, too, and it’s an assured follow-up to Ctrl, which is five years ago.
It was eagerly awaited and lived up to expectations, but even the most avid of SZA fans would not have expected it to be so commercially successful.
Number one in the US for over three months, SOS broke sales records and it’s amazing that an artist who moves in the alternative, hip-hop, and r&b segments broke through so many barriers. SZA is an amazing singer and song-writer, so I’m delighted that this album became so big.
After that, on an international scale, the pickings weren’t great in hip-hop and r&b. There were plenty of strong albums, but nothing culturally as powerful as some of the big hitters of the previous decade. That next Frank Ocean can’t come soon enough!
On the plus side, there were still loads of good albums: Kali Uchis, Lil Yachty, T-Pain, Jorja Smith, J Hus, Kelela, Victoria Monet, Sexyy Red, Brent Faiyaz, Cleo Sol, Danny Brown, Killer Mike, Daniel Caesar, PinkPantheress, Sampha and others brought the heat.
All of these artists’ albums had their moments and it’s no shame that they may not have crossed over in the same way as SZA did.
Doja Cat also released a very assured pop album, leaning heavily on hip-hop, that was commercially successful, but it’s very notable that there was a lack of big rap names dropping important albums.
The underground remains strong across loads of sub genres (Drill, trap, Boom Bap, etc), but most of the bigger rap names didn’t do too much exciting music in 2023.
Drake is a good example and, as usual, he released a mixed album with a few nice bangers, but nothing too amazing. Nicki Minaj just dropped her latest last week and, again, it’s not a great album, but has a few bangers. Travis Scott’s long-awaited Utopia was sonically amazing, but fell short of expectations, too.
Ice Spice gave us one of rap’s better albums, but it’s really just an extended EP, and you’d suspect she’s waiting for her big moment in 2024.
Closer to home, Nealo delivered an assured second album, while, in the world of drill and trap, Offica brought out a stunning mixtape, complete with a bonus release of afro-styled mixes. Ireland is coming on strong and Kojaque, Elzzz, Citrus Fresh, Bricknasty, Aby Coulibaly and more brought out great albums and long-playing EPs.
Globally, afrobeats and amapiano continued to dominate new territories, and Burna Boy, Asake, Davido and Ruger were some of the names doing big things. The Asake album is as good as anything released this year.
Latin pop continued its rise and Bad Bunny had another huge record, packed with some great music. Lots of the best club music came from the world of Brazilian funk, afrobeats, amapiano, Jersey club and other more-singles-dominated genres, which I’ll be discussing next time, but, album-wise, 2023 wasn’t great, no matter which way you look at it.
The music industry is in a curious place and the streaming platforms that aren’t doing small acts any favours continue to claim that they aren’t making money either. Ticket prices and gigs and festivals continue to do well on a big scale, but many small venues, bands, promoters and festivals are struggling, too.
The big end of the industry can make money for U2, Coldplay, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift but, overall, the outlook remains bleak for many others.
An album is a project by which many artists define themselves, but it’s not easy and not cheap to keep churning them out! It’s still an amazing music format and can be an impressive work of art, when delivered well, but 2023 will not go down as one of the best years in album history, that’s for sure!
