05. Adele – 21 (2011)

From the Archives: “Songs about love and its subsequent demise are hardly a thing of rarity, but nonetheless Adele’s sophomore album, 21, breathed new life into the category. 21 is a sobering, yet crucial, reminder that it’s normal for the grieving process of a lost love to last before, during, and after the official severing of ties. Throughout each of the album’s 11 tracks, Adele (then at the tender age of the album’s title) reassures us all that it’s okay to feel messy, mournful, wrathful, and downright blue when things don’t go the way we hoped with a certain someone. Through her lyrical rawness, Adele has created a catharsis that has stood the test of time.” –Lindsay Teske

04. Billie Eilish – When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019)

From the Archives: “Whatever missteps there may be, Eilish’s commanding, yet vulnerable, performances easily overcome them to create one of the best debut albums of the young year. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is the tongue-in-cheek bad-guy album Taylor Swift wished she had made with Reputation. While she hasn’t quite inherited the pop monarchy from Swift and the other elites, Eilish’s debut makes a strong case that it won’t be long until we see her in a crown.” Read Christopher Thiessen’s full review.

03. Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer (2018)

From the Archives: “Monáe is, as always, a true master of melding genres, influences, and styles. Her central themes of identity and internal conflict are as tangible on Dirty Computer as they ever have been. Songs like the eponymous ‘Dirty Computer’, ‘Pynk’, ‘Don’t Judge Me’, and Make Me Feel alternate between sex-positive bravado and more intimate confessions about fearing intimacy and vulnerability. Dirty Computer is a call for all of us to be our true and authentic selves, but especially women, queer people, and people of color. Monáe doesn’t want to eliminate the oppressor, but rather, help them understand why their views are wrong. Are parties more effective than protests in changing public opinion? Dirty Computer thinks they might be.” Read Katherine Flynn’s full review.

02. Robyn – Bodytalk (2010)

From the Archives: “Pop music has always made people move, but Body Talk saw Robyn officially bring the genre to the club. Whether heartbroken or simply operating with heart-on-the-sleeve candor, she made the dance floor a sanctuary and safe space. Under the strobe lights, the emotional outpouring was physical — in the sweat and in the tears, in the way our figures twist and dip. Beneath the glittering disco ball, we can ruminate in isolation, in the homes of our own bodies, and yet still feel part of a larger community of humans just looking to shimmy the night away. In a decade that’s been marked by an influx of both communication breakdowns and advances — we’re all hyper-connected through the Internet but still so damn lonely — Robyn taught us to listen to our hearts and find comfort in its rhythmic pulse.” –Lake Schatz

01. Lorde – Melodrama (2017)

From the Archives: “On Melodrama, Lorde turns that eye-rolling sophomore wallflower into something more grandiose, like a dryly funny sitcom narrator or the musical equivalent of the record-scratch/freeze-frame “Yup, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation” meme. The 11-song album is more “drama” in the screenplay sense than anything else, probably because as Frank Ocean is for R&B, Lorde aspires to be pop’s poet laureate more than anything else. Closing her teeth around a liquor-wet lime on ‘Sober’ or overthinking a paramour’s punctuation use on ‘The Louvre’ (as in ‘They’ll hang us in the…’), she reaches out to the dour-pop audience with images and details they can actually recognize. After all, who hasn’t second-guessed a dreaded period in a one-word text they received?” Read Dan Weiss’ full review.