Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 110 Best Albums of the 2010s, representing a varied cross-section of artists, genres, and styles. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album in the list or for easier navigation, view the full introduction & album index here.
SZA | Ctrl
Top Dawg/RCA (2017)
Selected by Daryl McIntosh
The fight for equality of self-expression among female musicians continues. The disco era of the ‘70s had Millie Jackson pushing the envelope followed by the incomparable Chaka Khan. A little more than a decade later TLC broke the mold by reestablishing the terms of sex and challenging cultural norms in their music. These efforts helped clear a path for artists like Lauryn Hill who brought a message of female empowerment on one hand, while Lil’ Kim represented the female voice within hip-hop’s mafioso fascination in the other. Collectively, all these ladies show how important it is not to exclude women from any cultural movement or artistic trend. The modern movement dubbed “trap” has found a princess in SZA, who with her 2017 Ctrl LP, embodies components of legends past. With the voice control exhibitions she displayed on songs like “Pretty Little Birds” and contemporary narratives on “Doves in the Wind,” SZA is one of the more promising artists of this generation’s soul-women.
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