Top 10 albums of 2015

1. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful- Florence + the Machine

Sublime from start to finish

2. FROOT- Marina and the Diamonds

If I'm A Ruin doesn't melt your heart, you don't have a soul.

3. Rebel Heart- Madonna

From bitch to vulnerable in 60 secs or more

4. Lucid Dreaming- Say Lou Lou

Perfect debut filled with valium pop: emotive and melancholy at the same time

5. Delirium- Ellie Goulding

Still about 6 tracks too long and a little too mainstream compared with her previous albums, but all in all a good pop record.

6. Working Girl- Little Boots

Concept album about a HBIC? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

7. 25- Adele

If bawling your eyes out whilst singing at the top of your lungs is your kind of Saturday night, pop this bad boy on. Wine not included.

8. Christine and the Queens- Christine and the Queens

French synth pop Goddess makes her (sort of) English debut. Key track? Paradis Perdus, if only for the seamless use of Kanye West's 'Heartless'

9. Honeymoon- Lana Del Rey

Introspective jazz pop from the Coney Island Kween. 

10. E MO TION- Carly Rae Jepsen

RUN AWAY WITH ME! RUN AWAY WITH ME! Taylor take note: this is how you make an 80s sounding record.

Honourable mentions: Tove Styrke- Kiddo, Duran Duran- Paper Gods, One Direction- Made In the AM, The Weeknd- Beauty Behind the Madness, Ryan Adams- 1989

Obligatory End of Year list: Top 10 Albums of 2011

As the label suggests.

10. Britney Spears- Femme Fatale This is her comeback record. Let's hope she progresses forward with this change in sound

9. Foster The People- Torches The whole record is brilliant, which doesn't often happen with a debut.

8. Wild Beasts- Smother Beautiful and heartfelt.

7. Metronomy- The English Riviera Soundtrack to my winter break. A cocktail in musical form.

6. Nicola Roberts- Cinderella's Eyes Pop perfection. I had high hopes for Nicola's solo debut considering I find her bandmates' solo outings lacklustre. And let me tell you, she did not disappoint me at all. Pop but from the heart.

5. Will Young- Echoes From the minute I heard the lead single 'Jealousy', I had a feeling that this album would be stunning. Really think he's hit his stride here lyrically and sonically.

4. Coldplay- Mylo Xyloto Bias? Perhaps. But there were a few tracks, namely the acoustic-esque tracks, that are growers.

3. Florence and The Machine- Ceremonials Like Lungs, but bigger, boom-ier and bassier.

2. Clare Maguire- Light After Dark Another fantastic debut. From start to finish, the only word to describe this album is 'epic'.

1. Adele- 21 Review: Need I say more? 2011 is the year of Adele.

 Special Mentions: Yelle- Safari Disco Club, Wolf Gang- Suego Faults 

Albums I had high hopes for but turned out to be a bit ho-hum in the end: Kimbra- Vows. Starts off great, but the second half is very slow. Great tracks, but they don't grab you like the opening tracks.

Lady Gaga- Born This Way. Too much going on in some songs like 'Judas'. But the album also gave us gems like 'Scheisse' and 'Heavy Metal Lover', so it wasn't a total fail.

Album Review: Adele '21'

For many weeks after it's release, I avoided this album like the plague. Adele's debut album, '19', whilst having some great singles, did not live up to my expectations at all and so I was wary of falling into a similar trap.

And then I heard 'Rolling in the Deep'. The first single is an ear assault. It's punchy, with big vocals and full of vitriol. Actually, the whole album is peppered by hate, or perhaps regret. Either way it's one of the best breakup albums I've heard.
So after this, I watched her performances of 'Someone Like You' at the Brit Awards.

Sold.

This is kind of performance that's destined to leave you in tears, clutching a pillow and rocking back and forth in the foetal position. Not that I did or anything....

post performance, I headed to my local CD store and had to have the album. And this time I was not disappointed. Tracks like 'Rumour Has It' and 'I'll Be Waiting' keep the spirit of the album alive in between heartbreaking songs like 'Set Fire to the Rain' and 'Turning Tables'. I've yet to warm up to 'One and Only' and 'Lovesong', but an average of 9 out of 11 brilliant tracks makes up for that. Her voice is so soulful and full of emotion, that you can hear the pain when she sings. Lyrically, it's very good. I particularly enjoy this one from 'Turning Tables': 'Next time I'll be braver/ I'll be my own saviour/when the thunder calls for me'. Achingly beautiful.

Adele was lumped in with Winehouse and Duffy as her contemporaries. Out of those three, it seems like she's the one that's made progress musically and may have long term success.

A stunning gem of an album.

Verdict: 9 angry texts out of 10 screened phone calls
Standout Tracks: Rolling in the Deep, Rumour Has It, Set Fire To The Rain, Someone Like You