There’s been a lot of good music to release this year, and with 2023 coming to a close, now’s a good time to recap on what the best albums are this year. We’ve gotten some interesting releases this year, from Lil Yachty’s comeback to Ice Spice to whatever Taylor Swift dropped this year (I don’t care). The main contenders are AftërLyfe by Yeat, Utopia by Travis Scott, For All The Dogs by Drake, and Let’s Start Here by Lil Yachty. I’m not a big Drake fan, and I thought For All The Dogs was pretty alright. It had a couple hits, like First Person Shooter and IDGAF, but aside from those, the album fell kinda short. I’m not a Yeat fan, so I’m just gonna ignore AftërLyfe. That leaves us with two main contenders: Utopia and Let’s Start Here.
Utopia released this July, has nineteen songs that make up its hour and thirteen minute runtime, and it hits. I really enjoyed songs such as MELTDOWN, TIL FURTHER NOTICE, HYAENA, and MODERN JAM. The beats on the album are great, with even Metro contributing on TIL FURTHER NOTICE. The features were iconic as well, with Drake on MELTDOWN making it one of the top tracks off the album, as well as SZA on TELEKINESIS (which was also an amazing song). The most popular song off the album is I KNOW ?, which I didn’t mess with too much myself, but it’s still iconic and cements itself as a top album. All of the songs on it are at least alright, and there was nothing that made me want to throw it off and wonder why I devoted my time. Utopia is an 8/10, overall great album, and HYAENA and MODERN JAM have not left my On Repeat since I listened to it four months ago.
Next up is Let’s Start Here, by LIl Yachty. This is an album I put off, because one of my friends kept trying to put me on it but I was nervous because it’s Lil Yachty. I’m not expecting any top tier music, even if it was a prog rock album. But that was a bad idea. This album was utterly spectacular, and it far surpassed any expectation I had. I listened to this on a bus on the way to Big Rapids, so I had a couple hours to lay my head against a cold window and play something I hadn’t heard before, and I almost came off that bus as a new man. Every last track went on my playlist, with real props going to the first song, the BLACK seminole. It’s a great track that goes many different places within its almost seven minute runtime. The entire album is made up of fourteen songs totaling in at a fifty-seven minute runtime, and needless to say it was an experience I don’t think I can nor want to forget. The best track off the album is Drive ME crazy!, which is just a chill song that I could imagine hearing a couple decades ago, but it’s still great regardless. I’d say the album is a 10/10, as it has no misses. It’s just a perfect album.
Although Utopia isn’t an 8/10, the songs hit harder than those off Let’s Start Here, and they’re easier to listen to as well. Let’s Start Here is a great experience, but for singular songs, you only really have drive ME crazy!, and that affects just how good of an album it is. By the album experience alone, Let’s Start Here wipes the floor with Utopia and every other album that has been released this year, as it’s nothing short of enlightening to listen to. However, you’re not throwing on the songs just by themself, but with Utopia you definitely are. When it comes down to it, I enjoyed the songs off of Utopia far more than those of Let’s Start Here, and they’re far easier to listen to. But given that it’s the album of the year, taking everything into account, Let’s Start Here is just a better album, and as such, is the 2023 album of the year.