2024 was a huge year for women in music. Dua Lipa and Kacey Musgraves stood boldly for non-ironic positivity, a powerful choice in a dark timeline. The sexuality of Chappel Roan and Sabrina Carpenter was so unabashed as to force us to take it in as normal human emotion and experience, a welcome change after tired innuendos. Charlie XCX, Billie Eilish, and Clairo are just three examples of artists whose new records showed growth and creativity (and in the case of Charlie XCX, also created a cultural touchpoint). All-in-all, these fireworks crossed over each other and created cultural bright spots, confidence, joy, and reflection.
While some dudes hit my radar — MJ Lenderman is a new favorite — all of my top 5 favorite albums of 2024 are by women, as are three of my four runner-ups.
Runner Ups
- Eliza McLamb, Going Through It
- Charlie XCX, brat
- Clairo, Charm
- MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks
Top 5 Albums
-5- Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet
From the moment I heard “I’m working late, because I’m a singer” – a now fully memed line from Carpenter’s breakout hit Espresso – I knew she was funnier than most if not all working pop singers. That playful and clever attitude is present throughout the entire album (as well as Carpenter’s hit live tour and her Christmas special).
-4- Billy Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft
This album is immersive, endlessly relistenable, and boldly itself in a way that should inspire many worthy future homages.
-3- Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well
I’ve been a huge Kacey fan since her debut album Same Trailer Different Park, and 2021’s Star-Crossed is my favorite album of hers, so a continuation of her move towards pop in Deeper Well, combined with the haunting honesty and simplicity of her earlier work, is enough to keep this album near the top of my list despite it appearing early on in the year.
-2- Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism
Dua Lipa is right – optimism is radical in a world of dark and often well-deserved cynicsm. Far from a naeive attempt to gloss over reality, Radical Optimism is deeply intentional in its perspective. That makes it confident and fun.
-1- Waxahatchee, Tiger’s Blood
I missed Waxahatchee’s 2020 breakthrough Saint Cloud, and I’m sorry I did, as Katie Crutchfield and her band are my most treasured discovery of 2024. Tiger’s Blood is not only my favorite album of 2024, it’s one of my favorites ever, full of intensely original and mercurial lyrics, song structures, and musicality so complex it feels infinite. There are no skips, and many of these songs are instant classics. Even Much Ado About Nothing, a song cut from that album that the band played on 2024’s tour, is one of my favorite songs of the year.
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