{"id":8303,"date":"2017-12-14T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/?p=8303"},"modified":"2024-02-06T11:48:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T11:48:39","slug":"the-best-albums-of-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/12\/14\/the-best-albums-of-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"The best albums of 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>2017 has been a huge year for music. We\u2019ve had comebacks that were bigger than before, debuts that broke the mold, and artists taking massive strides in a new direction. At musicMagpie, we\u2019ve put together some of the shiniest musical gems of the last 12 months!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9wg3v-01yKQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Harry Styles \u201d\u201c Harry Styles<\/h3>\n<p>Mr Styles may have taken over the world as part of 5-then-4 piece One Direction, but those boys have grown up and gone off to do their own thing. All former band members have taken a hand to some solo material, but no one comes close to Harry. He\u2019s found his own sound; it\u2019s cool, catchy and clearly authentic to the man himself. Lead single <em>Sign of the Times<\/em> saw the former X Factor star bare his soul, and latest offering <em>Kiwi<\/em> is a shouty nod to the big guitar bands who\u2019ve done it before him \u201d\u201c much like The Rolling Stones for example. We haven\u2019t named them because of Harry\u2019s striking resemblance to a young Mick Jagger\u201d\u00a6<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dFOErVWlsxg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Gang Signs and Prayer \u201d\u201c Stormzy<\/h3>\n<p>You\u2019ll struggle to find an artist who has had a more significant year than Stormzy. The grime star burst into the mainstream with <em>Shut Up<\/em> last year, and recruited some huge names for his debut effort including Wretch 32 and Kehlani. <em>Gang Signs and Prayer<\/em> was released back in February, debuting at number one, making it the first grime album to do so. Each song from the album appeared concurrently in the Singles Chart, with a staggering 7 or the 16 hitting the Top 40. Only three other artists have managed to achieve this, and he\u2019s in good company: Beyonc\u00c3\u00a9, Justin Bieber and The Weeknd.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zC30BYR3CUk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Everything Now \u201d\u201c Arcade Fire<\/h3>\n<p>Canada\u2019s best import released their fifth studio album this summer, which was met with mixed reviews. Lead single <em>Everything Now<\/em> was so far removed from the sound we\u2019re used to with Arcade Fire \u201d\u201c it had a disco, glam rock element to it that grabbed you from the opening note. <em>Everything Now<\/em>, like every album Win Butler and co. craft, stands alone. The band evidently poured their heart and soul into this record; a frank, melodic and individual masterpiece. Don\u2019t buy into the negativity because this is a beauty of an album.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tvTRZJ-4EyI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">DAMN \u201d\u201c Kendrick Lamar<\/h3>\n<p>The world had missed Kendrick Lamar. He\u2019s one of the most talented rappers of the last decade or so, and shows no sign of slowing down. The rumour mill was in full flow for his follow up to critically acclaimed <em>To Pimp a Butterfly<\/em>, with a slated release date of 7<sup>th<\/sup> April but Kendrick dropped <em>DAMN<\/em> a week later. Lamar released <em>Humble<\/em> to tease the album at the end of March; a big statement of a track with an eye-catching video to boot. It\u2019s BET\u2019s Album of the Year and could snag this year\u2019s Grammy for the same accolade.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eHpV08wI-bw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Pure Comedy \u201d\u201c Father John Misty<\/h3>\n<p>Since leaving Fleet Foxes, Josh Tillman\u2019s career has gone from strength to strength. His third studio album, <em>Pure Comedy<\/em>, was unleashed to the world back in April, having been announced in January. In true Misty style, the song titles are long-winded and the stories they tell border on ridiculous. But, Tillman has this down to a fine art and plenty is covered. Politics, social media, human nature\u201d\u00a6 what else would you expect of such an album? Only Father John Misty could get away with the line \u201cBedding Taylor Swift every night inside the Oculus Rift.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3tmd-ClpJxA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Reputation \u201d\u201c Taylor Swift<\/h3>\n<p>Speaking of Swift, she\u2019s back too! In a rogue move, she added her back catalogue to Spotify again and announced her new album would drop in the latter stages of 2017. She\u2019s only gone and sampled Right Said Fred for lead single <em>Look What You Made Me Do<\/em>, which is as wonderful as it is zany. The featuring artists on the album are some of the biggest in the world right now \u201d\u201c both Ed Sheeran and Future played their part on <em>Reputation<\/em>. Jack Antonoff of fun. and Bleachers had a hand in producing the album which has sold two million copies worldwide.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zSkA61esq_c\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">4:44 \u201d\u201c Jay Z<\/h3>\n<p>The world\u2019s greatest rapper created the most honest album of his career in 2017. Shaun Carter\u2019s <em>4:44<\/em> took a deep look into his marriage, children, infidelity and mental health. He grasped the attention of the LGBT community after sharing the news that his mother was in love with a woman on key track <em>Smile<\/em>. He wanted to rid himself of the Jay Z persona on the opening track <em>Kill Jay Z<\/em>, and his moment of brilliance is title track <em>4:44<\/em>. He admits his wrongs with his wife, in a song that came to him at \u201d\u201c you guessed it \u201d\u201c 4:44 in the morning. The world sat up and took notice of this masterpiece, as Mr Carter leads the Grammy nominations with 8 including Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dMK_npDG12Q\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Melodrama \u201d\u201c Lorde<\/h3>\n<p>Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock, you will have heard of New Zealand songstress Lorde. Her debut track <em>Royals<\/em> dropped in 2013 and people really took notice of her soulful, powerful voice. It\u2019s been four years since <em>Pure Heroine<\/em>, and <em>Melodrama<\/em> proved Lorde is certainly not a one hit wonder \u201d\u201c or a one trick pony. Jack Antonoff used his magic touch on this album too, that has been widely considered the album of the year by a number of outlets. It is the era of disco-style, electro pop if single <em>Green Light<\/em> is anything to go by. She\u2019s got stiff competition from Kendrick and HOV, but <em>Melodrama<\/em> could very well be named Album of the Year at the Grammys.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Love music? You can now buy CDs with us too! Shop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/store\/category\/music\/cd\/\">CDs for sale<\/a> or get your hands on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/store\/music\/vinyl\">cheap vinyl records<\/a> at great prices. We have thousands of albums to choose from and you&#8217;ll get FREE delivery too. Why wouldn&#8217;t you?<a href=\"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/store\/category\/music\/cd\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5210 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/SHOP-NOW.png\" alt=\"SHOP NOW\" width=\"299\" height=\"50\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2017 has been a huge year for music. We\u2019ve had comebacks that were bigger than before, debuts that broke the mold, and artists taking massive strides in a new direction. At musicMagpie, we\u2019ve put together some of the shiniest musical gems of the last 12 months! Harry Styles \u201d\u201c Harry &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[1581],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8303"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16803,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8303\/revisions\/16803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}