Think of Smile as Katy Perry doing the work to (eventually) get her groove back: she's recharging. Smile plays like a necessary centering exercise, indulging her insecurities and less surefire instincts.
Katy Perry's Teenage Dream is a pensive coming-of-age statement disguised as sophomoric pop fun. It proves how it takes a great deal of conviction to pursue instincts that are of less "substance".
The idea that a female rap project is a failure for being one-note -- especially when that note is confident and sexy -- ruins what a project like Flo Milli's Ho, Why Is You Here? has to offer: fun in its purest form.
Jessy Lanza's All the Time is a lush and spacious collection that shows a hard-fought mental clarity, a deliberate effort to resist the instincts on display on "VV Violence" in pursuit of digging deeper into oneself.
Chicago-based Kill Audrey make hazy, chaotic hip-hop/party music for people who buy tall boys with their rent money. Watch the video for their new single, "Hometeam".
That Kid's Crush stands out for its immediacy as a collection of light-hearted party music, but the project struggles with facelessness.
Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia is near immaculate meta-pop that refuses to forego tight songwriting for nostalgic bells and whistles, helmed by a singer is exponentially more aware of what she's capable of.
Ironically, you may wind up wishing that Grimes' vision of a scorched Earth was a bit more fun.
Gia Woods' new single "HUNGRY" is a total whirlwind, an aggressive, snarling scream-along that clocks in at just under two minutes and demands to be replayed.
Kesha's fourth album, High Road, struggles to find something interesting about her new flask-toting flower child persona.
Gwen Stefani's solo debut transcends a cynical reading even in 2020, remaining a crown jewel in the formative pop sounds of the 2000s and beyond -- with a few concessions.
Brooke Candy's Sexorcism suggests a genuine, Freudian fixation on extreme pleasure and how it can be downright terrifying -- the shame and fear, the abjection and filth, the unpredictable transfers of power.
