The Year Music Sounded Completely New

2019 is over, and thus is genre.


It’s a dangerously pithy thing to mention, especially considering how the separation of music’s sound is still central to the inner workings of the complete industry. Radio is based around genre. So are Billboard’s charts and Spotify’s biggest playlists. Programmers bake it into the algorithms that help you discover your next preference artist.


Nevertheless here’s the thing: Your future faves don’t care about genre. And the ones at the best of their game now don’t have much use for it, either.


Billie Eilish, one of 2019’s biggest breakout stars, landed with a shape-shifting blockbuster debut where clips from The Office mingle with dentist drills and lovely piano ballads. Her idol, Tyler, the Creator, reemerged with a nuanced, electric collection of neo-soul and funk that sounds both like yesterday and tomorrow. Ostensible boy musical group Brockhampton rapped their way out of collective trauma over rainy R&B that they warped into their own image and likeness.


However a pop star is still a pop star — and in 2019, the major stars shone even brighter by sharing more of themselves than ever before. Stray Kids illuminated a new path in the crowded K-pop landscape. Ari Lennox captured Blackness and feminine sexuality in a rather personalized song cycle. Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande probed deeply into their respective images, Swift grappling with her own genius and Grande marching boldly into her own weirdness. King Princess, meanwhile, showed what a new sort of pop star looks like.


Just outdoors the mainstream, Nilüfer Yanya fashioned an entire cosmos from guitar strums and also a perfect voice. As a lo-fi confessional singer-songwriter, Angel Olsen went maximal, diving into symphonic heartbreak pop bolstered by a wall of sound miles wide. The albums they made are gargantuan, nevertheless they feel lived in, never sticking to a solitary formula for also long.


Which brings us back to genre. It’s over, and although it’s the equation that actually gets more foolproof the more complex it gets. The more variables added — disembodied sitcom voices, lonesome trumpets, trap beats in back of repurposed NSYNC lyrics — the more compelling and favorable the final product. And the much less it matters what you call it.


We’re calling these 10 our Albums of the Year for 2019. Visualize the entire list below; each comes with its own essay, where we’ve delved into what made them crucial listens in per year without shortage of them.


Genre might be over, however the post-genre landscape is just getting began. Begin with the 10 albums below.


Tyler, the Creator: Igor


Nilüfer Yanya: Miss Universe


Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?


Ari Lennox: Shea Butter Baby


Taylor Swift: Lover


Stray Kids: Clé 1: MIROH


Ariana Grande: Thank U, Next


King Princess: Cheap Queen


Angel Olsen: All Mirrors


Brockhampton: Ginger