This year has been a very interesting year for music. Big name artists showing a lot of versatility and venturing into new territories within their genre. Artists like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande stepping into new production styles. And two important releases from recently deceased artists Juice Wrld and Mac Miller. 

Taylor Swift’s Folklore is a heavy hitting Alternative-Folk album that is very well mixed and adds much needed flavor into the mainstream records that have been coming out recently. Featuring Bon Iver on the track “exile” adds a great flair to the album and its modern folk influences. Swift also takes a very alternative influence on tracks along with dipping into Indie as well. The lyrics within the album are well written and entertaining to listen to. The album is packed with emotional punches within tracks like “my tears ricochet” and “mirrorball”  giving an entire new angle in Taylor Swift’s career.

Earlier this year the final Mac Miller album Circles released. Miller tragically passed away in 2018, during the creation of the project that was set to release in January of 2020. The album was filled with Miller’s signature writing and talent, the production took some adventurous turns and was filled with heavy drums with alternative rock influences. The lyrical and vocal performance on the album fits in with most of his musical discography, and goes deeper into aspects of his life that hadn’t been discussed in prior albums. Miller took different approaches on discussing his problems with addiction and his mental state. 

This summer the final release of rapper Juice Wrld was also released. The album Legends Never Die was released in July of this year. The LP is a very strong set of tracks with strong vocal melodies, catchy hooks, and very intense lyrical points. Juice Wrld’s lyrics focus mainly on depression and anxiety in the album, stepping outside of topics like addiction and heartbreak that shot his music up the charts at such a high rate. The production was strong on the album in most cases besides songs like “Blood On My Jeans”. But songs like “Come And Go ” and “Life’s A Mess” have heavy hitting rock influenced production from producer Marshmellow. The production pushes the album forward more than the lyrics and vocals already do.

Another very well produced album was Ariana Grande’s Positions. The album’s production is very forward with its symphonic and jazz influences, spreading throughout the entire project. Grande’s vocal performance on the album is very intense and flavorful and bounces well throughout the album. The albums track list is very well designed and has a good flow, only having issues when it comes to certain songs lyrical content; but Grande’s voice carries it through the lyrical rough patches.

Over the year music took some different turns from pulling influences from other genres and taking new turns within the artists discography. It also gave people the chance to listen to some artists that tragically passed away and was able to put them in a spotlight. The music that was released put people into the mindset of hopefulness and hope to get through the struggles of the year through music.