There are two things you need to know about me: I hate New Year’s Resolutions, and my go-to music selection is Taylor Swift. On Repeat.
Naturally, then, after stumbling upon a TikTok trend where you listen to one album all the way through every day of the new year, I decided to challenge my Swiftie inclination and expand my music taste. I know if I’m ever going to be trusted with the aux, I’ll have to step my music game up.
So, welcome to the only reason I’ll actually keep up with a New Year’s Resolution: one album a day, 2k22. Follow along as I give my hottest and most unexpected takes on 365 different albums through the year. Best case scenario? I sift through a couple hundred albums and tell you which songs are worth the listen. Worst case scenario? The New Year’s Resolution curse comes true and I get to trash some beloved albums for the world to see. Win-win!
Jan. 1: “IGOR”
Tyler, the Creator
I wanted to start my new year off with a great album by an amazing artist, and here I am eight days later with “IGOR” still stuck in my head. Rap has never been a genre I’ve enjoyed, and besides the 13 tracks in a “Rap I Tolerate” playlist I’ve sectioned off, I haven’t given many rap albums a full listen. Tyler, the Creator represents the exact type of music I want to use to widen my horizons, and “IGOR” was a great introduction to the genre in a way that was catchy and didn’t bore me by the seventh track.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: GONE, GONE / THANK YOU
Notable Bops: IGOR’S THEME, ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?
Notable Flops: PUPPET, NEW MAGIC WAND
Jan. 2: “After Hours”
The Weeknd
Buckling down in a widely sought-after Featheringill study space to watch the Super Bowl came with the promise of a Super Bowl halftime show. The Weeknd was set to perform, and reports that he’d invested his own money—$7 million dollars of it—into the show was an exciting prospect. What we got, though, was a mix of mediocrity coupled with a few bandage-faced dance numbers. So, it was appropriate to give “After Hours” its due diligence to ensure that it wasn’t the source material’s fault.
The album tracked well but became stale halfway through. Coming from bops like “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Starboy” of previous albums, The Weeknd had set himself up to enter the next stage of his musical career. “After Hours” came up short; like his Super Bowl performance, it only awarded us a few good moments.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: After Hours
Notable Bops: Alone Again, Heartless
Notable Flops: Escape from LA, Until I Bleed Out
Jan. 3: “Where the Light Is”
Surfaces
If you scrolled past the first two albums and maybe even my excellent introduction because you went to the Surfaces concert in the fall, this one’s for you. Surfaces does an excellent job making their music light and airy, somewhere in between cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible to what an Uber driver might pick when you’re on your way downtown. Their music is certainly catchy, but the album largely felt like the same thing over and over. With only 10 songs lasting 29 minutes and 36 seconds, it’s definitely a start, but it left me wanting more.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: Where the Light Is
Notable Bops: Sunday Best, Shine on Top
Notable Flops: Heaven Falls / Fall on Me, Someday
Jan. 4: “Rumors”
Fleetwood Mac
For a lot of people, Fleetwood Mac hits right in the nostalgia gland, reminding them of car rides with their parents when they were young. In very Pakistani immigrant fashion, car rides with my parents were instead filled with Bollywood music or the sounds of me being yelled at. My first Fleetwood Mac experience was given to me through the eyes of Misty Day on “American Horror Story: Coven” (the best season, no question) when she met her idol Stevie Nicks coupled with an iconic rendition of “Rhianon.”
While listening to “Rumors,” I realized my American childhood did impart at least a little Fleetwood Mac into me, and I caught myself singing along to choruses I don’t remember my first time hearing. “Rumors” is an excellent album: some songs rely heavily on folk banjo influences while others have a more flairy pop feel. Out of 12 songs, there were only a few that didn’t itch my paradoxically newfound nostalgia spot.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: Dreams
Notable Bops: Never Going Back Again, You Make Loving Fun
Notable Flops: Oh Daddy, Songbird
Jan. 5: “Sales LP”
Sales
After crying to a few too many “Go Little Rockstar” TikToks, I decided to give the Sales LP a listen. Usually, music like Sales’ lo-fi bedroom pop is right in my wheelhouse, and I loved Sales’ single, “Chinese New Year,” that they released two years before the album. But, the album’s large ratio of filler songs to bops set the album’s rank a couple notches down. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore the songs that are good. “Ivy” and “Over” deviate away from the formula to stand out and be distinct. Some of the other songs on the album, however, like “Untitled 01” and “Trapped in the Club,” just didn’t excite me.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: Over
Notable Bops: Pope is a Rockstar, Ivy
Notable Flops: Untitled 01, Trapped in the Club
Jan. 6: “Melophobia”
Cage the Elephant
Yes, I am late to the club. I know. Maybe I just didn’t have the required existential angst that Cage the Elephant exudes, but I’m here for it now. “Melophobia” delivered as expected, making me long to find a window to stand underneath and throw rocks at while holding a boombox on my shoulders. It’s a great compilation of songs and can serve as the anthem to your next kickback or the background music of a masterfully planned heist scene.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: Spiderhead
Notable Bops: Halo, Take It or Leave It
Notable Flops: Teeth, Black Widow
Jan. 7: “Jagged Little Pill”
Alanis Morissette
If you haven’t heard “Hand in Your Pocket,” you haven’t watched a single coming of age movie. Go do that. May I recommend the best movie of all time: “Lady Bird”? No no, take your time and go watch it. I can wait.
Now that you’ve been cultured, you might finally be able to take in this entire album. Starting from when Glee premiered “Jagged Little Tapestry” (yes, my music taste comes from Glee; don’t pretend we didn’t all grow up with it), I’ve absolutely adored this album, and giving it its due diligence with a listen through just reaffirmed my main character narrative.
Ali’s Certified Best Track™️: Literally all of them its Jagged Little Pill c’mon
Notable Bops: You Oughta Know – Jimmy The Saint Blend (but specifically the end)
Notable Flops: The one minute silence in You Oughta Know – Jimmy The Saint Blend
A week in, and I find it a little less embarrassing to answer “What are you listening to?” if ever randomly asked in the street. I’m looking forward to the next week filled with albums I’ve yet to discover, and hopefully I’ll continue on with my New Year’s Resolution. Till next week.
