January
Happy New Year! The first influx of 2023 pop records (as with every year) aimed to set a standard that other albums aim to meet for the rest of the release calendar, but faced the longest struggle to hold fans’ attention long enough to make those coveted end-of-year lists come December.
We had to wait until the end of the month to hear January’s most talked-about pop release. Leading up to Gloria dropping, Sam Smith faced horrible, unnecessary abuse from all corners of the internet, but their album showed an artist content with their journey to loving themselves and feeling content in their identity. It does revert to the low-energy balladry Smith has felt safe in for their entire career far too often, but the few more bombastic moments illustrate a real statement of intent for where they could take their artistry if they had the courage. Elsewhere, Gabrielle Aplin had a paring-down on Phosphorescent, a soulful, more organic sonic palette designed to spotlight the natural serenity the singer has always had. Overall it’s a record with much less personality than 2020’s Dear Happy, but it’s from an artist clearly more than comfortable in what she’s doing. Ava Max’s second record Diamonds & Dancefloors was finally released this month, following a three-month pushback and a much-ridiculed album cover switch-up. Specific moments like Ghost and Million Dollar Baby are pure synth-disco escapism, but there’s little substance underneath the uber-manicured drama.
Some of the biggest highlights of this month were found on debut releases or from long-underrated artists. Like…? immediately established Ice Spice as one of the biggest new names in music, while Joesef inducted himself into the sad-bop canon with first record Permanent Damage. Samia also went down the ‘sad’ route on Honey, swapping the ‘bop’ side for Phoebe Bridgers-esque vivid metaphors.The most interesting pop of the month came in the form of Låpsley’s Cautionary Tales Of Youth. Though not quite hooky enough to break through to the mainstream, highlights like Hotel Corridors, Levitate and Dial Two Seven are gorgeously ethereal darkpop songs perfect for hazy days. Biig Piig’s debut mixtape Bubblegum had similarly floor-filling moments. With every song being sub-three minutes, it’s a more straightforward pop album that’s completely 2023 in sound, but dabbles in garage and quick changes into Spanish prove that the Irish singer shouldn’t be underestimated.
February
Some of the best pop records in February put storytelling in the spotlight. The candour and pure songwriting skill with which Kelsea Ballerini processed her divorce made Rolling Up The Welcome Mat one of the most emotionally resonant releases of the year. Glüme processed her Hollywood childhood on Main Character, while Good Riddance was a stunning summation of everything we know about Gracie Abrams—unflinchingly inward-looking lyrics against delicate yet expansive musical backdrops. But the most ambitious record to craft a tale was far and away RAYE’s My 21st Century Blues. There’s a retro speakeasy vibe to the album’s narrative (reinforced by the spoken interludes throughout the record), but the songs themselves are a smooth blend of R&B, pop and soul, Raye’s already sharp pen set ablaze by years of scorn from the industry machine. The Day My Father Died is an emotional journey for SYML for obvious reasons, but isn’t told in the most compelling way, while the rollercoaster of life influenced the up-and-down tracklist of P!nk’s Trustfall, but it didn’t produce anything close to the former heights of her career. Nor did Best Night of My Life, a galling rehash of the one notable moment American Authors have ever had (that unsurprisingly failed to get anyone talking).
February saw Mañana Será Bonito achieve Western success for Karol G like never before, while Caroline Polachek also entered a new league with Desire, I Want To Turn Into You. A collage of influences like Ennio Morricone soundtracks, noughties garage and regional music from all over the world (flamenco and bagpipes to name but a few) expertly collated into a beautiful artpop record that remains effortlessly classy, never chaotic. Elsewhere in artpop, U.S. Girls urge you to dance and lose yourself in the vibes of Bless This Mess before digging deeper into their lyrics, which are layered and witty as ever. A double-album release marked the return of Skrillex, the more conventional Quest For Fire faring much better than Don’t Get Too Close. Pabllo Vittar continued to be his glorious self on the 22-minute Noitada, Stray Kids released The Sound, (their first of three albums this year), and Rebecca Black made her biggest step yet in reclaiming her career with Let Her Burn, a full hyperpop journey that will keep her champions more than sated.
March
After Flowers broke all sorts of streaming records, March should’ve been Miley Cyrus’ month. And while Endless Summer Vacation has performance numbers on its side, the album itself was a letdown with too simplistic a sound, energy levels and Cyrus’ charisma uncharacteristically low and far too few songs that are genuinely memorable. Thankfully though, fellow pop giant Lana Del Rey put out the gorgeous Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, sprawling and conversational, but on the other hand completely off-the-wall (single A&W needs a mention here) while always being unquestionably Lana. The Record was a triumph for boygenius, both showcasing the individual songwriting voices of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus individually and creating magic when marrying the three together. Being the first month of spring, the drip-feeding of summer songs started this month, too. Red Moon In Venus was made for a lovesick July, Kali Uchis proving herself as one of the best in R&B. Aly & AJ leaned into the Americana side of their sound, With Love From clearly designed to soundtrack top-down car rides and candyfloss sunsets, Aurora by Fleetwood Mac-inspired fictional band Daisy Jones & The Six (made for the TV show of the same name) was better than it had any business being, while Beach Weather captured similarly sun-drenched vibes on Pineapple Sunrise.
A few artists were stuck in their lane this month – on Amelia Mimi Webb showcased more pop only destined for UK drivetime radio circulation, next to nothing innovative to be found. Owl City and Macklemore released albums that don’t even need to be listened to to know what they sound like, while Chlöe released a debut solo record that buried its nuggets of brilliance rather than capitalise on them, sounding like every other record in that same vein. It also features Chris Brown. In 2023. Melanie Martinez gave the illusion of a complete switch-up on Portals, but take away all the freaky visuals and it mostly sounds like all of the music she’s already put out. There were thankfully still artists forging new paths, however. Fever Ray’s Radical Romantics was hypnotic, melancholic and impossible to put down for fear of missing a gorgeous musical switch-up, while 100 gecs’ 10,000 gecs was almost the complete opposite by way of tone (in that it’s an in-your-face acid trip of a record). Both took listeners on completely different journeys but wormed their way into their brains just the same.
April
In the run-up to its release, Ellie Goulding hilariously declared her fifth album Higher Than Heaven to be her “least personal” to date, ditching the melancholic balladry of Brightest Blue to return to pop princess status. Complete cohesion, lush synths and undeniably danceable, it’s the most fun Goulding has been in a hot minute—plus Easy Lover is still delectable, certainly one of her best tracks in years. Higher Than Heaven was one of a crop of dancepop records this April, reigning disco queen Jessie Ware upping the fun with That! Feels Good!. Another ringleader was RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Shea Couleé, who flitted between sensual and vulnerable to the ballroom MC of everyone’s dreams on the glittering 8. Bebe Rexha wanted a piece of the Future Nostalgia pie on Bebe by channelling the ‘70s…until she didn’t, throwing EDM roadblocks that completely disrupt the tracklist’s flow and any attempt at creating a co-ordinated product.
After many delays, original TikTok queen Loren Gray finally dropped her debut album Guilty to little fanfare. While competently produced, it’s nowhere near a good or unique enough project to overcome that loss in momentum—a reinvention is desperately needed if Gray wants to be up in the big leagues. Speaking of TikTok, Finnish duo Pearly Drops feel like the kind of lo-fi, washed-out act the platform should be losing their minds over, second record A Little Disaster the right balance of unique (by way of slightly unsettling) and captivating. And for anyone looking to fill in gaps from 2023, whether it’s releases missed or genres unexplored, Yaeji’s debut With A Hammer is completely unlike anything else this year, navigating rage in a musical collage only she could curate.
May
One of the year’s most surprising pivots came in the form of Kesha’s Gag Order in May. Sparse and sombre, slow burns fuelled by past traumas and newfound spirituality are the singer’s new medium, a raw honesty and bubbling yet still controlled anger making this her most potent release to date. Arlo Parks was sweet and poetic as ever on My Soft Machine, but a new ‘80s synth undercurrent and grungy left-turn Devotion hinted at more exciting evolution to come. Sparks provided some of the most hilariously catchy choruses of the year, while Spalarkle was a neon, avant-garde by way of PC Music fever dream from felicita. May also wasn’t a dry month for dance albums, with Flume, SBTRKT, Subfocus and Snakehips all dropping business-as-usual hip-swingers.
Lauren Jauregui continued with her sporadic drip-feeding of her post-Fifth Harmony music. In Between is confessional guitar-led R&B that (apart from All In My Feelings’ cool drumbeat) doesn’t stick out from others too much, especially in a post-SZA’s SOS world. Prettymuch released their debut full length This Thing Called Love which did absolutely nothing to revitalise the concept of the Western boyband. Neither did The Jonas Brothers’ The Album, an easy-breezy cringefest that still somehow feels right for the 30-something ex-Disney stars to release. To end on an underwhelming note, two of May’s most high-profile UK releases fizzled. Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent reaffirmed Lewis Capaldi’s ‘biggest gulf between winning personality and snoozeworthy music’ title, while Ed Sheeran also released his most boring album to date with –; while clearly cathartic for Sheeran to make, it’s a drag for the listener even against intricate soundscapes provided by The National’s Aaron Dessner.
June
June saw a few records released under a myriad of questionable circumstances. Coi Leray’s Coi was completely forgettable and released far too late to successfully capitalise on the viral success of Players. Kim Petras also tried to ride the wave of her chart-ruling Unholy feature by releasing her ‘debut’ album (her third at this point) Feed The Beast. There are glimmers of Eurodance brilliance on the project, but it’s a mess of different sounds and cuts from leaked album Problématique (more on that later), clearly rushed out for business reasons with the artistry an afterthought. Big Time Rush and McFly both put out nostalgia projects (the former an entirely unnecessary reunion that should’ve stayed in Nickelodeon history, the latter a return to ‘rock’ music that does nothing but irritate), while Portugal, The Man and Jason Mraz both put out albums that sounded like less good versions of their one huge hit, and in Mraz’s case much more cloying.
There were some June releases worth talking about too. Niall Horan went all gooey on The Show, paring back the pop sheen of previous record Heartbreak Weather to opt for a more wholesome Tom Grennan sound (while still being better than the actual Tom Grennan record also released this month). chemistry showed Kelly Clarkson’s emotional journey following her divorce, both the ethereal production and Clarkson’s twinkling sincerity (from cutting candid lyrics to her sense of humour on i hate love, featuring Steve Martin on banjo) elevating this project above most of her others. Christine and the Queens took another step towards auteurdom on the sparse and weighty Paranoia, Angels, True Love. The Aces served up their usual dreamy guitar-pop on I’ve Loved You For So Long, their most emotionally heavy and introspective record to date, The Japanese House was effortlessly elegant on In The End It Always Does and Maisie Peters proved herself as one of pop’s wittiest lyricists on The Good Witch. Pop, soul and sounds from Olivia Dean’s Caribbean heritage made Messy a warm hug of a mission statement, and The Age Of Pleasure saw Janelle Monáe abandon high-concept genre-bending in favour of carefree Afrobeats anthems, perfect in the lead-up to summer.
July
Sunburn is an appropriate album title for a scorching July release date, Dominic Fike advancing his hazy cool-boy pop with hints of pop-punk (a Weezer collaboration and interpolation of their own Undone (The Sweater Song) helps), early 2000s R&B and rap. It’s a record for the vibes and not for digging much deeper beyond that, but it certainly serves its surface-level purpose well. It’s crazy that You & I is only Rita Ora’s third album considering how long she’s been sniffing around in pop circles, but she needn’t have bothered seeing how phoned-in lots of it sounds. Anne-Marie was faster to reach album three with Unhealthy, but was as derivative and grating as usual. It was expected that Post Malone would abandon the rap side of his music sooner rather than later, but Austin felt devoid of any individuality as a result. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) became the next of Taylor Swift’s re-recordings to drop. It’s been the most ‘business as usual’ offering thus far, but songs like Sparks Fly, Enchanted and Long Live can’t be denied.
NewJeans were the new K-pop band to obsess over in 2023; their second EP Get Up boasted UK garage influences and proved the five-piece as an essential voice in the genre in an impressively brief 12 minutes. Nessa Barrett and Lauren Spencer Smith represented the trendy ballad-pop contingent this month – both have crafting sad songs down, but these albums don’t have much that’s truly different about them, plus listening to each LP in one sitting becomes something of a cloud-over-your-head drag. Disclosure put out their hardest hitting dance release in a while with Alchemy, tight beats and intensity prioritised over the high-profile roster of featured vocalists their albums used to boast. Georgia’s Euphoric did the opposite, plumping for the poppier side of her sound over the dance influences with not very effective results. Most notably this month, Carly Rae Jepsen continued to impress fans with the quality of even her B-sides, newest off-cut collection The Loveliest Time including both cuts like Shy Boy and Kamikaze (which shouldn’t have been left off last year’s The Loneliest Time) and tracks like the Tame Impala-esque Kollage and glitchy Weekend Love which push the pop queen’s limits further than ever before.
August
Come August, Victoria Monét was serving up her own sleek brand of R&B on Jaguar II – not much on the record meets the standard of oozing-cool single On My Mama, but nothing stopped it becoming a surprise Grammys darling at the end of the year. Speaking of Grammy darlings, Jon Batiste’s World Music Radio from this August became another 2024 nominee. It aims to be a collage of music from all corners of the globe, but his through line is too pedestrian and dilutes the impact of the actually exciting stuff. Someone who really took time to create and drink in a world was Hozier on Unreal Unearth, an expansive record conceptually delving further into the depths of hell. It’s not always the most engaging, but it’s designed for listeners to fully bury themselves in. And the similarly profound N-Dubz made a return this month with a depressingly forgettable album, not a “na-na-nii” to be found.
Weedkiller was another in-your-face release from Ashnikko—she’ll never be for everyone, but it’s easy to see the appeal in certain aspects of her sound. There were a handful of stabs at ‘80s pop bangers made on Birdy’s Portraits, all of which were mishandled and oversung. The rest of the record consists of her usual comfortable (read: snoozefest) balladry, but the attempts at something new are a textbook example of why a swing and a miss is miles more impressive than not going far enough with an idea. Staying in one lane is why Jungle’s Volcano didn’t stick out. Single Back On 74 is far and away the best thing on the album and will keep them going until the next release, but it not something worth checking out beyond that. The best pop release this August was far and away Reneé Rapp’s Snow Angel. The singer’s theatre background is completely apparent in her vocal delivery—she can go from soft and vulnerable to impressive vocal runs and powerful belting like nobody’s business. Other releases with this many slow songs would drag, but she’s such a captivating focal point that the dynamic title track is just as big a highlight as synthpop anthem Pretty Girls or the dripping-in-personality Talk Too Much. Truly one of the best new stars this year produced.
September
If any month this year was dominated by the girlies, it was September. Chappell Roan and Slayyyter delivered star-making dance-pop stompers, Kylie Minogue rode the Padam Padam high with her record Tension, while Jorja Smith and Tinashe provided excellent R&B representation. Silence Between Songs pushed further down the soul-infused road that Madison Beer is ambling down but was largely lacking in the personality department, as was Bakar’s uber-chilled Halo. Laura Marano boasted big ambitions for debut album i may be an actress, but i can’t fake how i feel (made up of 23 songs and five acts detailing her past experiences as a Disney star and growing up in the public eye), but that structure was much more impressive than the actual songs on the tracklist. Doja Cat had people talking non-stop about her image overhaul, but Scarlet was just a rap album completely in her wheelhouse. Over on these shores, Ed Sheeran released Autumn Variations, his second album of the year. It’s a more optimistic-sounding collection of songs than -, but it wouldn’t even be in the conversation if released by a no-name up-and-comer with an acoustic guitar.
Eurovision darling Mae Muller put out Sorry I’m Late, a super-likeable debut that fully embraces its cheesier side. Kim Petras put out her second release of 2023 too (kind of), officially dropping leaked album Problématique. It’s a much more consistent record than Feed The Beast but doesn’t have higher highs. Demi Lovato’s REVAMPED rocked up their existing hits – it’s not the most essential listen of the year, but some may find they prefer Heart Attack or Cool For The Summer with an injection of guitars. In a similar vein, Fefe Dobson put out Emotion Sickness, her first record in 13 years and a welcome dose of pop-punk into the pop sphere. Other genres had their moments too—Laufey brought modern jazz into the spotlight on Bewitched, Mitski kept her indie darling status on The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, and Romy’s own brand of dance music was electric on Mid Air. There were plenty of great under-the-radar releases alongside everything else – yeule and Vagabon genre-bended in their own specific ways, hemlocke springs kept bedroom pop exciting, while Snow Wife made her bid as a successor to the Slayyyter / Kim Petras ‘slutpop’ throne. But the release that dominated September came in the form of Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts. It turned up the dial on everything from her debut Sour; the ballads were more eviscerating and pointed, the rock elements more hard-hitting and Rodrigo’s own personality and perspective completely shone through everything perfectly; a masterclass in how to do a sophomore album completely right.
October
Troye Sivan was October’s big pop success story, Something To Give Each Other his most assured and breezy album so far. More groove-focused, the singer dives headfirst into hedonism and somehow manages to keep up an uber-cool seriousness while still having a twinkle in his eye—who else could sample Bag Raiders’ Shooting Stars and not be laughed out of the studio? It’s such an exciting evolution for Sivan. Paint My Bedroom Black showed Holly Humberstone at her most eclectic to date—synths and guitars adding colour to her brand of pop, letting her earnest diaristic lyricism shine above all else. She explores a whole contradictory and relatable spectrum of emotions and situations, anchoring them with vividly described memories. 2023’s second Taylor’s Version came in the form of 1989; some production missteps due to Max Martin and Shellback’s absence were forgotten by the time its stellar ‘From The Vault’ songs hit, capping off a pretty hard to top year for Taylor Swift. Moyka’s take on dance-infused pop with Movies, Cars & Heartbreak was worthy of making more waves than it did, an immaculately written and produced collection of songs that sounds more old hand than second album. The Chainsmokers struggled to focus on Summertime Friends, the release sounding more jumbled than was probably intended, while streaming behemoth Bad Bunny snuck in a release just before the year was up – nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana is a stretching of his dormant rap muscles, but so overly long a project (the classic tactic to get Spotify numbers up) that it runs out of steam long before the end.
In more creative circles, Sampha finally followed up his Mercury Prize-winning Process with Lahai, a glorious interweaving of individual piano parts, synths, and any number of references from his encyclopaedic musical brain. Santhosam was a real slice of life from Priya Ragu, the singer mixing her rap and R&B influences with south-east Asian folk and dance music to create a ‘Raguwavy’ sound, documenting the fusion of her Tamil and Swiss cultures and her thoughts on social issues in a totally individual way. In her latest Random Genre Generator adventure, Poppy went all synthy and brooding on Zig. It was definitely not the furthest she’d ever pushed herself though, too many of the tracks ambling along instead of making the impact she usually doesn’t even have to try to make. In hyperpop, Dorian Electra continued to be a total maverick on Fanfare, this time toning down the blinding neon of old in favour of high drama and guitar edge. Hannah Diamond’s Perfect Picture solidified the singer as PC Music’s resident pop princess, veering more towards embodying a glittery, glitchy K-pop idol type of star than anything else—it will be interesting to see where she goes from here when the label stops releasing new music soon.
November
There were a few last-minute clangers dropped this November. AJR stayed true to form on The Maybe Man, sneaking in just before the year is up to take the ‘Most Annoying Album’ title. Take That and Emeli Sandé both put out albums too, neither really having anything of note to boast. The First Time saw The Kid Laroi trying to chase the streaming numbers he reached with Stay a few years ago to no avail, the record full of songs that whine and grate but are somehow still immediately forgettable as soon as the last second rings out. And Marshmello put out a half-hour album called Sugar Papi which exists solely to try and capitalise off Latin pop and reggaeton—if someone isn’t put off by such a concept, they may be a lost cause.
Golden, the debut solo record from BTS’ Jung Kook was certainly the record that got pop fans’ tongues really wagging this November. It was the step towards making him the Timberlake of the band, both through its extremely similar R&B sound and its foray into more adult themes for the kid-friendly star, and it’s a guise that really does suit him. Pinkpantheress finally put out her first album Heaven knows, taking her bedroom pop firmly out of the bedroom, maybe even out of the house entirely. Her songs are regular song length instead of snippets now, the fusion of drum and bass, jingle-esque synths and the singer’s girlish croon sounding like an even better concoction with that extra time to develop and breathe. Red Velvet’s Chill Kill added even more dashes of macabre to their usual format, hypnotising listeners with sing-song delivery and grandiose magical instrumentation. Quarter Life Crisis certainly felt like that for Baby Queen—some moments struck the balance between relatable and catchy, but often it’s too bratty and more like being ranted at than anything else. Finally, as a winking kiss-off into the festive season, Sabrina Carpenter dropped her Christmas EP fruitcake. It’s a great handful of songs to put into the Christmas (if they weren’t so obviously Christmas songs, they’d have legs outside the holiday) and an always-welcome reminder about how Carpenter is one of the best pop stars we have right now.
December
With that, we reach this month, the section of the album release calendar for those artists not too fussed about chart and year-end placements. That, or the ones confident and willing enough to battle the Christmas cheer to have a SZA’s SOS moment and win Rolling Stone’s Album of the Year in 2024. The release most obviously gunning for that is Tate McRae’s Think Later. Greedy was the breakout pop smash of 2023’s latter half, this Ryan Tedder co-written record an obvious opportunity to really make an impact on the pop sphere. Alas, these songs might be catchy, but singles aside, they just aren’t meaty enough to really warrant multiple revisits. Everything we’ve heard from Dove Cameron thus far has been dripping in sultry drama, something her Alchemical: Volume 1 record further proved this month. She loves to play with dynamics, but there aren’t enough highs for this to feel like a fully realised project. There are enough glimmers of interest to ensure Volume 2 will have listeners too, but Cameron isn’t quite where she needs to be artistically yet. And to end the year on a high, Pink Friday 2 was one of the most see-through cash-grabs of the year from Nicki Minaj, erroneously hinting this sample-heavy album as a sequel to her iconic original record when it’s nothing of the sort. Thankfully, December gives us loads of time to revisit (or perhaps discover) the dozens of great records both mentioned here and not, and time to reflect on just how much great pop we’ve had in 2023.
Words by Georgia Jackson
