You can call me delusional 'cause I'm imagining things
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's 50 best albums of 2025.
#44 : Man's Best Friend - Sabrina Carpenter
Released almost exactly a year after her superstar-minting breakthrough Short n’ Sweet, and using a palette of soft rock, 80s pop, light disco and yearning country melodies, Carpenter added rich colour to one of pop’s most distinctive self-portraits. Her blatant sexuality is offset by an ironising sense of camp and a deep streak of cynicism, as she wonders whether to wrap her little finger round a series of hot but useless men. But whether dialling her exes while hopped up on “go-go juice” or being toxic for the sport of it (“you think that I’m gonna fuck with your head / well, you’re absolutely right”), Carpenter knows she’s part of the problem. Her fake helplessness at her own worst impulses is just one part of a formidable screwball comedy arsenal – she’s a Rosalind Russell for the dating app era.
Finally, one we've met and written up - I didn't mind it at all and have been played several of the tracks multiple times by both daughters since. I don't think I really need to say anything more about it other than point out how well it's done commercially - it's spent 14 weeks in the chart with two weeks at #1 and it's never been lower than #7. It's still got some way to go to catch up with Short n' Sweet though, which is up to 67 weeks in the chart (four at #1) and has never been lower than #21 - but I feel this is a much better album.
#43 : Daughters - Jennifer Walton
This Sunderland producer’s previous work included one EP of power electronics, one of antic club tracks, collabs with Aya and 96 Back as Microplastics, gigging with Kero Kero Bonito and a smattering of other credits. So her staggering, fully formed songwriterly debut was a total bolt from the blue. A swarming orchestral epic with shades of Julia Holter and Phil Elverum, it addressed her grief for her late father in serenely surrealist images – hitting a deer with a car in the middle of the night – and the painfully mundane realism of sitting in hospital corridors together. The standout Miss America combined both to stunning effect, a numbed incantation of everything Walton had seen on the US trip where she learned of her father’s diagnosis, the familiar now remade horribly mythic.
I'm back to my usual position of ignorance - but the above description gives me hope I'm going to like it.
Hmmm - I liked bits of it, but couldn't quite get with some of it. I thought "Saints" and "Miss America" were excellent - they feel like proper complex tracks which would uncover extra details with each listen. But in other places, she uses weird rhythms and mix levels to make things most discombobulating - I guess that's probably her aim, but I just found my poor little brain getting confused. There's a lot of skill on display though and it was an interesting listen because it feels like a grown-up album, but it wasn't one I feel I'm likely to revisit (even if I probably should) - except for "Miss America" which is a very fine track indeed. And I like the album cover as well.
Nothing Jennifer has done has ever charted and neither she nor the album has a Wikipedia entry - surfing the web throws up a lot of positive reviews for this, but not a lot else. Except for one small entry which I suspect is penned by Jennifer which describes her as "playing intermission ice cream break music for futures lost" which strikes me as a nice line in self-deprecation.
For a change, I am going to comment on the discogs.com page because there are only two copies for sale with one being in the US and the other in Japan - which seems kinda odd given that she's based in London.
#42 : Lifetime - Erika de Casier
Erika de Casier’s fourth album updates the Y2K R&B template that fought for body-to-body sensuality in the face of rising digital creep. The old-school dial tones that pierce Lifetime’s rapt, liquid atmosphere work both as Janet homage and ironic sigh at how good those forebears had it when emotional warfare could only be conducted via pager: “Took a screenshot so / I could look at your pretty face all the time now / Without a sign that I’m online,” de Casier sings on earworm Delusional, a low-slung anthem for contemporary dating anxiety. “Hit midnight / Not even a text to hold me warm,” she rues on The Chase. That’s one of the most inviting things about Lifetime: its seductively cool surfaces conceal de Casier frantically kicking her feet below the surface, just like the rest of us.
This is our second visit with Erika - I really liked our last visit and I also enjoyed her album from last year. I don't think I was aware this one existed, so I'm pleased to be reminded about it and am looking forward to it.
Yeah - I like this one. It has a lovely wintry chill-out vibe, with "December" and "Delusional" being particularly lovely. I suspect some will feel it's a bit lacking in oomph but it hits the spot nicely for me - it just glides along and gives you a nice warm hug. And that's all I've got to say about it really.
It didn't trouble any of the charts - Sensational is her only album that's got anywhere close and I really don't understand why coz she's done some great stuff. It does have a Wikipedia entry, but for all the content it might as well not have bothered - she wrote and produced the album herself and the critics liked it. And continuing the theme of finding nice snippets about the artist on the internet, her Instagram account tells us that she's "inspired by everything at all times" - unfortunately that's very much not true for me.
So there were three pretty well put-together albums from talented ladies in this round with everyone giving the impression that they were doing what they wanted to do. Erika made the most pleasing sounds for me so I declare her the winner, but there are a few people out there that quite like Sabrina's offering.
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