Monday, July 2, 2018

The WORST Albums of 2018 (So Far)

The Lists
The 5 WORST Songs of 2018 (https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-worst-songs-of-2018-so-far.html)

Upcoming
7/3: Mid-Year Listening Report (includes most listened to albums, songs, and artists)
7/4: The 10 BEST Albums of 2018
7/5: The 50 BEST Songs of 2018


The first half of the year produced some truly great albums, but there were also quite a few stinkers.  These albums were either disappointing, boring, or downright awful.  I never want to listen to the following 5 albums ever again:


Dishonorable Mention: Swae Lee - Swaecation

Date Released: May 4

I had a hard time wondering if I should even put this album on the list or even mention it at all.  I ended up compromising and giving it a dishonorable mention because while this album does suck, it doesn't suck nearly as bad as the five albums I'm about to mention.  I don't know if I've ever been disappointed by a solo album as much as this one.  This album showed so much promise.  Swae Lee is very versatile and I could definitely see him having a prosperous solo career.  However, his shortcomings as an artist stuck out like a sore thumb.  He's a great singer and a solid rapper, sure, but he isn't good enough, lyrically, to carry an album by himself.  I think if he rapped on it a little, he could have made it at least interesting.  But this project isn't interesting.  It's boring and tedious.  That's not what a 9-track album should feel like.

Singles
Hurt to Look [boring]
Guatemala - feat. Slim Jxmmi [A worse version of Unforgettable but somehow one of the better songs]

Best Tracks [Or in this case, Most Tolerable]
Touchscreen Navigation
Heat of the Moment
Offshore - feat. Young Thug

Worst Track
Lost Angels



5) Lil Skies - Life of a Dark Rose

I didn't review this album.
Date Released: January 10

I've never mentioned this album until now, but I wanted to talk about it because this absolutely sucked.  I don't even know why I had expectations to begin with since this is a project from a rapper who goes by Lil Skies.  This album dragged so hard.  The worst part was that there weren't any features that could bring some life to this dead project outside of Landon Cube.  Lil Skies, in my opinion, is like a more tolerable version of NAV.  His melodies sound pretty nice, but he may just be one of the most generic rappers I've ever seen and heard.  And the worst part is that I actually like a couple songs from Skies, so I know he can do so much better than this.  He uses the same two flows throughout and overall just played it too safe.

Singles
Red Roses - feat. Landon Cube [Great song, he will probably never make anything better]
Lust [is okay]
Signs of Jealousy [The only song that I think is just as good as "Red Roses"]
Nowadays - feat. Landon Cube [Sounds like it was made for a Disney Channel show]

Best Tracks
The Clique
Lettuce Sandwich

Worst Track
Strictly Business [don't know if this is the worst but this is definitely the point when I knew I hated it]



4) NAV - RECKLESS

My Review: https://timetofacethemusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-nav-reckless.html (Sorry, the picture I used ended up getting deleted, this was before I knew where to get good pictures of album covers)
Date Released: May 18

I have no idea why I keep having expectations for NAV albums.  For some reason, because NAV actually put out some good singles and is actually killing features, I was excited for this.  I had been changing my opinion and viewed NAV in a more positive light.  I felt like I got bamboozled.  There are many words that can describe this album.  Boring, generic, and annoying to name a few.  It's kind of ironic that this album is called RECKLESS because NAV continues to play it safe and make the most generic music available.  For what it's worth, I do like this project better than the previous two.  He felt less like an emotionless robot and more like a robot who learned to love and then experienced heartbreak for the first time.  But saying that this is NAV's best album is like saying that having a cold is better than having a stomach virus.  I've accepted that NAV will probably never make a good album but at least I can take like 2 or 3 good songs from it.

Singles
Wanted You - feat. Lil Uzi Vert [I like these two together, this song is pretty great]
Freshman List [is okay]

Best Tracks
Faith - feat. Quavo
Champion - feat. Travis Scott
What I Need / Daheala Outro

Worst Track
Glow Up



3) XXXTentacion - ?

Date Released: March 16

Once again, I am saddened by the death of XXXTentacion, but I'm not just gonna let this slide because he was wrongfully murdered.  This album is a mess.  I can appreciate that he wants to try out different sounds, but when you throw a bunch of shit at a wall to see what sticks, not everything is going to stick.  There were a ton of ideas that were either horribly executed or just fell flat.  While his singing has improved, his emo-punk tracks are incredibly surface-level and are made out to be much deeper than they are.  XXXTentacion may be a unique artist, but he wasn't a genius.  What we got was an incredibly inconsistent album with more bad songs than good.

Singles
SAD! [honestly a pretty good song even with the manipulative lyrics]
changes - feat. PnB Rock [it's 2 minutes of nothing]
Hope [decent tribute to the Parkland shooting]

Best Tracks
Moonlight
infinity (888) - feat. Joey Bada$$
going down!
SMASH! - feat. PnB Rock

Worst Tracks
$$$ - feat. Matt Ox [Because Matt Ox turns everything he touches into absolute shit, alright song otherwise]
I don't even speak spanish lol - feat. Carlos Andrez x Judah x Rio Santana
schizophrenia



2) Justin Timberlake - Man of the Woods

I didn't review this album.
Date Released: February 2

As someone who liked quite a bit of The 20/20 Experience, I was actually excited when I heard that JT was coming back.  And then we heard music from him.  What in the world was he thinking?  I guess he wanted to go for a country influence since he's going back to his Tennessee roots.  If there's one thing that is true, it's that Country and Hip-Hop don't mix.  Time and time again, there is always a hip-hop/country crossover and it's always terrible, yet the music industry never listens.  There are quite a few Country/Trap crossovers on here that just sound awful.  JT had access to producers like Timbaland and Pharrell Williams and this is the best they could come up with.  And on top of that, he put on a bad Super Bowl performance.  To be honest, I almost forgot about this album when I was making this list.

Singles
Filthy [tolerable]
Supplies [terrible and the video is so fake woke it hurts]
Say Something - feat. Chris Stapleton [actually good]

Best Tracks
Midnight Summer Jam
Flannel

Worst Track
Man of the Woods


Like my worst songs list, the pick for the #1 worst album of the year was ridiculously easy.



1) Lil Xan - TOTAL XANARCHY

Date Released: April 6

I have never heard a more intolerable album in my life than this one.  The beats are nothing special, Lil Xan's voice is annoying, the lyrics make Lil Pump look amazing in comparison, and there was no joy had by anyone.  Lil Xan isn't just the worst rapper right now, he's the worst rapper to ever exist.  I would rather listen to anyone else.  Xan really thinks that his music is unique and different.  There is no way in hell that is true.  This is all of the worst tropes and stereotypes of trap music all rolled up into one shitty project.  Again I asked, how was he able to get 2 Chainz, Rae Sremmurd, and YG to do features for him.  And on top of that, Lil Xan isn't even a good person.  This guy recently bragged on Instagram about selling fentanyl-laced pills and replied to a commenter saying "I hope one of your homies died from those pills [purple devil emoji]."  Fuck Lil Xan and fuck that bullshit Xanarchy movement.

Singles
Wake Up [a waste of stellar Danny Wolf production]
The Man - feat. $teven Cannon [awful]
Betrayed [the only decent song this guy will ever make]
Slingshot [synonym for bad]
Far [another synonym for bad]
Color Blind - with Diplo [the worst song from Diplo's recent EP]
Betrayed Remix - feat. Rich The Kid x Yo Gotti [forgettable]

Best Tracks
Anytime there was a guest verse

Worst Track
Anything that isn't "Betrayed" or a guest verse


And that's the 5 worst albums of the year thus far.  Tomorrow, I'll be taking a break from list-making and take a look at the music I listened to the most throughout the year.

No comments:

Post a Comment