That's the thing with anger - it begs to stick around

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Albums of 2021

#12 : Heaux Tales - Jazmine Sullivan

The power struggle between reason and desire fuels the Philadelphia songwriter’s fourth release, which intersperses soulful swagger and forlorn blues with interludes by women describing what they mean by owning their sexuality. Sullivan’s compassion resonates in how freely her interviewees express what some might see as contradictions (threatened with a sex tape leak, the subject of Ari’s Tale shrugs, “That dick spoke life into me”). And her own songs could be righteous – Pick Up Your Feelings snaps impatiently, and she makes no bones about her own pleasure on the languid On It – but they’re also transparent about the ways that freedom and dignity don’t always look how you might expect. “I just want to be taken care of / ’Cause I’ve worked enough,” she sings on The Other Side

Never heard of album or artist - and I'm not even sure how to pronounce it, so we're really coming at this one unseen.  And well, it's not really my sort of thing but it's done well enough, I guess.  Although, if it was done by a man, I'd be like "boring sex-obsessed R&B" but because it's done by a woman it feels at least slightly different - at times it's a bit Lauryn Hill-ish, but it's more focussed on gender issues (as opposed to "me me me").  It's also got some very impressive bass on it and it was only 32 minutes long, so didn't outstay its welcome.  But it's not something I'll be rushing back to (or finding out how to pronounce).  She's certainly projecting some attitude on that album cover though.  

Wikipedia tells me it might only be an EP, but it's a concept EP, OK?  (to be fair, it does have more structure than a lot of longer offerings).  It was very well received both critically and commercially - #4 in the US, which seems an incredible effort, so I'm guessing it just resonated over there.  #79 over here, which doesn't surprise me quite so much.

"Customers also listened to" a load of seemingly feisty ladies - and a few men as well.  And, obviously, I've never heard of any of them.  Overall, I didn't mind it but I'm slightly surprised at how well it went down in the US - I'm not really it's core audience though, I suspect.

#11 : Seventeen Going Under - Sam Fender

The North Shields songwriter’s second album starts with a grim image of teenage desensitisation: a chronically ill parent, snuff videos, fist fights and arrests; rinse and repeat. The forecast hardly improves across Seventeen Going Under, on which hope is elusive amid Fender’s bitter depictions of feeling trapped by political alienation and inherited bad habits. And yet the sheer force of feeling in this record – tenaciously euphoric sax a la Springsteen, tempos that bob like a featherweight boxer hungry for their shot, a reckless taste for the epic – indicates a life force that won’t be stamped out so easily, one that, going by the rabid response to the album, has mass revivifying potential

I know and like the title track and have heard enough of his other stuff - it's not generally my sort of thing, but I was expecting to like it.  And I very much did with it just having bags of energy to carry you along.  The Springsteen reference above is very much on the money - his earlier "young buck about town" stuff anyway, with it combining the confidence and uncertainty of youth well along with a certain introspection given his advancing years (he's 27 now).  I'd also say there's more variety across the album than I was expecting - car roof down, speeding along in the summer and singing your heart out this would very much hit the spot.

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on this - it was made, it came out and people liked it.  It's NME's #1 album of the year (there's a surprising amount of overlap with The Guardian in their list) and debuted at #1 over here (which resulted in him being "really, really hungover").  Surprisingly, it got to #16 in Flanders, but only #87 in Wallonia - obviously they have a different take on his urban tales on opposite sides of the dividing line.

"Customers also listen to"  Tom Grennan, Dermot McKenna and The Snuts - which is the sort of stuff I was expecting.  But there's also Dave, Mimi Webb and Holly Humberstone on there. which I wasn't - so I guess the kids are alright!  I can't say I'll be rushing back to this (not until I'm in the car with the roof down anyway) but I'm glad I listened to it and I enjoyed it.

#14/13 - Lots of style on display here
#10 - Well, this was surprising