Melissa Kacar

Third time's a charm! The beauty of Clairo 's Charm   truly lies in it's simplicity and subtleties of her artistry. This album is made up of simple musings that are so inherently personal and deeply relatable at the same time. She has such a talent for storytelling in a way that is innately modern, yet very rooted in pop aesthetics of the 1970's. Each song is so layered, with a warm and inviting atmosphere that the listener is engulfed in from the start. She and her core collaborator on this album, producer Leon Michaels, took an analog approach to the creation of Charm , bringing together a live ensemble of horns, woodwinds and synthesizers to capture the vintage sound. In an increasingly digital music landscape, I love to see her going back to basics in that way and creating something completely away from the trends. Clairo draws from a range of influences, but I particularly love the jazz elements incorporated throughout. "This record was a lot about showcasing ...

"BLUE" // Billie Eilish Words can't express how much I've been loving Billie Eilish 's latest album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT this month. Dare I say it's my favorite album of the year already!? Every single song is so incredible, and it was so hard to choose just one favorite, but for the sake of this list I went with the incredible ending track "BLUE". I was literally transcending the first time I heard this song, it's so rare to have an experience like that while listening to music. The first part of the song blends the chorus of a song called "True Blue", a previously unreleased demo from Billie's early career, while also lyrically connecting every single song from the rest of the album together at once. About mid-way through, the song switches up again into an ethereal and emotional ballad. It perfectly closes out the album. I was so blown away by her stunning vocals, emotive lyricism, as well as Finneas ' incredible production...

For my first post of the new year, I wanted to take a look back at all of the amazing music of 2021. So many of my favorite artists released music this year which I'm excited to share today! These albums are in no particular order, it would be way too difficult to rank them!  Chemtrails Over The Country Club // Lana Del Rey Chemtrails Over The Country Club was a highly anticipated album for me and it exceeded all of my expectations! Many of these songs were my most-played of 2021, with the title track at the very top! This album marked a new chapter for Lana and her career, it expresses a more personal and introspective side of her in a way she hasn't shown before. Her evolution as an artist and as a songwriter in the past year is so admirable. I love all of her albums so much and I have a strong connection with each for different reasons, but with Chemtrails Over The Country Club , Lana is truly at her best (yet). It is a beautiful celebration of the stage of life Lana is in ...