10 Albums That Changed My Life

With everyone in quarantine and a lot of extra time to spare, I decided to think about the music and albums that changed me through the last several years. Perhaps it'll give people some music to listen to in between working from home, be it a 9-5 or school work.

I'm very much an "album as an art form" girl and love to listen to albums all through to perceive a theme. I've often found my favorite albums are consistent in either theme or genre through the 10-20 tracks found on the album. I've been lucky to listen to numerous stellar albums that have completely changed my ideas about certain genres and music in general, most of which reside in my CD rack. I'll try to keep this list to 10 albums and I might throw in some honorable mentions while I'm at it. So here goes!

10. FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake (2006)

This album's second song begins with the infamous "I'm bringing sexy back!" and never looks back. Timberlake's second album was an attempt to distance himself from his NSYNC* days, opting to focus more on the fact that he was in his mid-20s, more interested in the physical in his relationships than in the wishing for one. You could easily argue this album's pop/R&B/electronica music influenced much of the pop music that came out the next decade. And it's easy to see why. This album has a brilliant mixture of pop and R&B with the smart production of Timbaland. The beats on each song tempt the listener to dance along. Funk and hip-hop are infused into every song on this album, even if not overtly songs within that genre. This album, coupled with the next album on my list, showed Americans what electronic pop was capable of. Not only is it a clever dance record, it showed me that electronic music wasn't necessarily a bad thing if made to do more than make us dance. It's obvious from the first beat of this album that it's setting out to push boundaries and almost 15 years later it's still a classic.

Personal Favorite: Let Me Talk to You/My Love

9. Blackout - Britney Spears (2007)

I can already feel the eyebrow raises from this one. Hear me out! Looking at the year this came out will give you all the story you need about the context of the release. Britney Spears was in a dark place, in the midst of a custody battle and flirting with stints in rehab. Most people didn't expect much when it was announced Spears's fifth album was on the way. The news stories did the promo that her record label didn't. What most don't know though is that this is the only album that Spears herself executive produced, picking all the songs that landed on this album before the fallout of 2007. Spears commented that she had wanted to reinvigorate pop on the radio. Through her own direction, she was able to do just that. This album is chock-full of dark and sexy electro-pop, infused with the dubstep that was lighting up the UK. ("Freakshow" is probably the best example of this.) Spears was one of the first mainstream artists to use dubstep in her music and it's a decision that is still being felt in the pop scene today. Rolling Stone recently called this album the most influential album of 2010s pop and I couldn't agree more. Today, it's easy to draw a line between this album and the work of Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ke$ha and numerous current pop artists. It's worth a listen even if you don't like Britney, simply to pinpoint when pop went from R&B influenced to electronic. There's a reason that this is the only album of Spears's to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This album blew me away with its production quality and how modern it still feels even 13 years later. (Heaven on Earth and Perfect Lover feel particularly ahead of their time.)

Personal Favorite: Break the Ice or Heaven on Earth

 

8. Riot - Paramore (2007)

The fact that this album and the last album came out the same year blows my mind just a tiny bit but they serve two very different purposes in my musical journey. This was the first album that I had ever purchased with my own money after going to Barnes and Noble in the hopes that they had it in their music section. (I hadn't yet found my favorite CD store and Barnes and Noble is always a go-to.) I put it into the DVD player in the basement so that I could get the full surround sound experience and I wasn't disappointed. The blaring pop-punk soared through the speakers, Hayley Williams's 18-year-old angst filling the room with her insane vocal chops. It was the first time that I had ever heard one of my favorite genres in a full thirty minutes. I was a bit spoiled by the fact that Paramore was a female-fronted band, given how rare those are at the best of times. But Paramore spoke to me in a way that Top 40 hadn't in a long time. The riffs are clever. The lyrics, while simple, are effective. And the fact that most of the band were under the age of 20 just emphasizes the talent these kids from Tennessee possessed. While it won't show up in a "Top Albums of all Time" list anytime soon, this album served as a distinct introduction to pop-punk and emo for a young fourteen-year-old girl.

Personal Favorite: That's What You Get or Misery Business

 

7. Rubber Soul - The Beatles (1965)

It had always been a goal of mine to listen to every Beatles album there had ever been with the original track listings of the UK editions. (Yes, there is a difference!) I had gotten through The Beatles' early discography and liked it well enough. The albums of almost entirely covers didn't quite convince me of The Beatles' musical prowess and "Help", the best of those early albums, had only been solid at best. So when I put in "Rubber Soul", I was growing a bit impatient to finally hear the legendary music of The Beatles. Luckily, I didn't have to wait much longer. "Rubber Soul" marked the turning point in The Beatles' career. This was the album that established them as true artists as opposed to a boy band producing bubblegum pop. While "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is a solid song in retrospect, it has more in common to The Archies' "Honey, Honey" than it does to "Norwegian Wood". "Rubber Soul" began to show off the songwriting of the incomparable Lennon-McCartney. The album itself is a distinct folk rock album akin to Bob Dylan in style, a complete 180 from "Please Please Me". This album introduced me to the genius of "The Beatles" as well as the calming nature that folk rock can sometimes possess. While I agree that "Revolver" is probably the better overall album, this album has been my favorite of theirs for a long time because of its overall vibe and the way that it made me appreciate The Beatles' artistic genius.

Personal Favorite: In My Life or I'm Looking Through You

6. Diary - Sunny Day Real Estate (1994)

Most people reading this will not know this album at all and the cover doesn't help its cause. Sunny Day Real Estate was a band that broke up almost as soon as they came together in Seattle, Washington. The emergence of grunge music had come in 1991 with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. Seattle was the center of it all. From that epicenter, Sunny Day Real Estate emerged with a blend of grunge and emotional hardcore that caught the notice of Nirvana's first label, Sub-Pop. The owner of Sub-Pop claimed that he teared up the first time he had ever heard SDRE because of lead singer Jeremy Enigk. That about sums up SDRE. While the majority of the songs on this album utilize the loud-soft dynamics of grunge, notably on opener "Seven", there are songs like "Song About an Angel" that completely encase you in its beauty. The crooning falsetto of Jeremy Enigk contrasts with the heavy guitars and complicated drum beats beautifully. Lyrics like "I wanted to be them, but instead I destroyed myself" and "I dream to heal your wounds, but I bleed myself" knock you over. This was the first album that I had ever heard in my life that could be classified as hardcore. While Enigk's specific lyrics aren't always clear, I learned that sometimes the emotion of a song can be felt without the lyrics. I also learned that hardcore wasn't just screaming and could be just as beautiful as any other song. This album is usually classified as the greatest emo album of all time and its influence on other emo and pop-punk artists is palpable through the 2000s.

Personal Favorite: 48

5. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse (2006)

Disregard the issues that she faced her entire life. Amy Winehouse was a voice of a generation taken from us way too soon by the fame that surrounded her unbelievable talent. While it's her best known album, "Back to Black" was Winehouse's second. She lived in a part of London known for its R&B and rap and incorporated it into her jazz songs and voice. Winehouse was insistent that all of her music was played with real instruments instead of electronically and it pays off big time here. The album recalls the big-band jazz of the 40s and 50s and infuses it with the R&B of the 2000s to make for a brilliant album that seems to capture that special lightning in a bottle. Shortly after her death, Tony Bennett remarked that Winehouse had the most pure jazz voice he had heard in years. That voice soared through her lyrics.  Anyone who claims that Winehouse wasn't talented can kindly spin this CD. There's a reason that this album consistently shows up on "Top Albums..." lists. The lyrics are clever, the instrumentation complements Winehouse's voice perfectly and the album's themes of the good, bad and ugly of relationships are present in every song on this album. The album has influenced numerous pop artists, notably Adele, and made jazz-pop far more popular than it had been before. This album made me realize how much I loved the sound of jazz and big-band. It also made me realize that the genius of an artist should never be tied to their own personal struggles. Anyone who hasn't heard Amy Winehouse needs to sit down for thirty minutes and listen to the brilliant artist that she was. 

Personal Favorite: Back to Black

4. Ok Computer - Radiohead (1997)

I had heard a lot about Radiohead in my perusal of rock music. This album came up consistently on most "recommended" lists. Always listed as one of the best albums of all time, "Ok Computer" piqued my curiosity. Finally, I decided to sit down and listen to it in full. It completely blew me away. Even though this album came out before the 21st century even hit, you could easily argue that the themes present in this album scream of 21st century problems. The entire album deals with effects of technology on mental health, the politics of Britain and the monotony of suburbia. The apathy and depression expressed by the narrator of most of the songs seems to directly correlate to the climate of the 21st century. The usage of electronica in the rock music was also an incredibly interesting choice that seemed to further emphasize how overbearing technology had become in every facet. Each song has a purpose on this album and together encapsulates a mood that permeates into the people of today. The album was incredibly ahead of its time. This album showed me that albums don't have to just be a collection of songs, that songs together can truly become art.

Personal Favorite: No Surprises

3. Melodrama – Lorde (2017)

After Bruno Mars won Album of the Year at the 2018 Grammys, I was convinced that it couldn't possibly be the best album that came out that year. I was right, by a long shot. I was never a huge Lorde fan but her album was so critically acclaimed that I had to listen. Lorde's "Melodrama" was only nominated for one Grammy that night. Yet it's in every "Best of the Decade" list. "Melodrama" is the sum of its parts. There isn't one song that really stands out as a single. Together the songs come together to chronicle the ups and downs of the aftermath of a relationship using the metaphor of different stages in a house party. The beats are present on every song, as if we're also attending that house party. Yet the beats are almost muffled by the intimacy of Lorde's lyrics. Lorde proves yet again why she's one of the best lyricists of 21st century pop. Her metaphors link the album together. The vulnerability that Lorde shows on ballads like "Liability" contrast to the bitterness of "Hard Feelings/Loveless". Lorde, along with producer Jack Antonoff, created a masterpiece in art-pop and you can tell every song was thoroughly thought out. This album introduced me to the beauty of pop music. I had a misconception that all pop music was thoughtless and only made to sell. Lorde instead created eleven tracks of pop music meant only to be heard in album form. This album truly made me appreciate pop music as an art form, Lorde's intention all along.

(Side Note: Props to Lana Del Rey for starting this art-pop trend found in Taylor Swift, Lorde and Billie Eilish's music and not getting the Grammy recognition of her peers beyond a few throwaway nominations. I appreciate the way Rey has changed the landscape of indie pop and I wish that she was a little more recognized in the mainstream.)

Personal Favorite: Liability

2. Lemonade - Beyonce (2016)

Soon after I heard "Melodrama," I became curious about the outcome of the 2017 Grammy's Album of the Year, when Adele's "25" won over "Lemonade" when everyone thought "Lemonade" winning was a foregone conclusion. I remember when the album first came out, I had thought it was a little over-hyped. When I finally listened to it two and a half years after it first came out, I rescinded that thought before the album was even over. The way that Beyonce weaves a narrative through the songs on Lemonade, focusing on her journey before and after learning Jay-Z had cheated on her, was completely and utterly brilliant. Each lyric speaks to a different part of a story. The way she chooses to focus on African-American culture and linking her situation to that of her mother and father's relationship as a way of showing the cyclical nature of the African-American struggle was genius in its own right. While I realize that the themes of African-American culture aren't meant for me, I can appreciate the importance of hearing a larger-than-life figure like Beyonce speaking of these vulnerabilities and encouraging young African-American girls to show strength even in the toughest times. Another thing that I noticed is the way that Beyonce used so many genres in this album, yet all of them have their origin in African-American culture such as reggae, country, soul, rock and R&B. "Lemonade" is a triumph in every way, including the music video movie that was created. The fact that Beyonce didn't win Album of the Year is an absolute tragedy but it's some consolation that this album will forever be considered one of the best albums of all time. This album showed me that truly brilliant albums are few and far between, but when you hear them you know. The narrative of a concept album can be clear as day without hitting you over the head. That I can appreciate albums that may not be necessarily be targeting me and I can recognize the impact that the exposure can have on people who don't receive it.

Personal Favorite: Don't Hurt Yourself or Sandcastles

1. Clarity - Jimmy Eat World (1999)

After the write up for "Lemonade", I'm sure some of you are wondering how another album can top it. In terms of genius, this album doesn't quite live up to Beyonce's. However, this isn't a ranking of best albums ever but the rankings of albums that changed my musical journey. And if we're talking about my musical journey, "Clarity" has to be first. Jimmy Eat World was signed to Capitol Records soon after Green Day released their album "Dookie", in the hopes that Jimmy Eat World could become a similar cash cow for the label. Their first album on the label "Static Prevails" was a commercial failure but loved by the underground midwest-emo scene. Because of its niche success, Capitol gave Jimmy Eat World one more chance at making a commercial hit. Jimmy Eat World knew that they weren't getting that commercial hit and so instead focused on experimenting with their sound. What ensued was an emo indie album that featured loops galore and influenced an entire generation of emo and pop-punk artists. (Including Paramore!) The album focuses on the uncertainty and romantization of your twenties, the small moments that make up that decade, both in love and in life. The album is Jimmy Eat World's first to feature Jim Adkins as the primary singer and his voice gives the band a softness only found in select songs from their previous album (ironically, most of which were sung by Adkins). This album was the first album that I ever heard where the theme and sound of an album was so thoroughly carried out from start to finish. While I had heard all of Paramore's albums at that point, at times those albums felt more like a collection of songs in the same genre. "Clarity" felt like an experience, an album that you want to close your eyes and sink into. Even the songs that have heavier guitars don't feel out of place but instead seem to reflect the hard edges of youth. While the sixteen minute closer looks daunting at first, I would never skip any part of it. This album is brilliant in its own way. A simple album that has gotten its due praise only ten years after its original release, "Clarity" changed me from a casual music listener into someone who has certain standards of musical greatness. "Clarity" turned me into a lover of emo music and introduced me to so many bands and songs that have become my favorites. "Clarity" was the album that changed my perception of good music and it will always be among my top five for that reason.

Personal Favorite: For Me This is Heaven

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Revolver - The Beatles, American Idiot - Green Day, After Laughter - Paramore, Put Yourself Back Together EP - Real Friends, Rumors - Fleetwood Mac, Thriller - Michael Jackson, American Football (LP1) - American Football, Tragic Kingdom - No Doubt, Science 1994/Giving Birth to Thunder - Indian Summer

I hope that you enjoyed reading about some of my favorite albums ever. Perhaps some day I'll do individual blogs on each album on this list but this will do for now. I also want to do a version of this for books that changed my life, so look out for that. I'd love to hear what you think and if you took the time to listen to any of these albums!