2015 has been another great year of music. We’ve seen some newbies take to the scene, had our old favourites release surprise new material after what’s seemed like a lifetime and have been left wanting more from artists that we once considered annoying.
One thing’s for sure, we’re all entering 2016 as loyal Belieber’s! A young and mischievous pop king who has had his fair share of trouble over the past couple of years seems to have found a new maturity in the worldwide chart success of his latest album ‘Purpose’. Every single song from the album charted in the top 100, 8 of which were in the UK top 40, ‘Purpose’ has given us all the Bieber fever and it’s all we could talk about for most of November. A huge part of our appreciation for this album goes to Skrillex for bringing a new vibe with songs ‘Sorry’, ‘I’ll show you’, ‘The Feeling’, ‘Where are U now’ and ‘Children’ which are so catchy we’ve been humming them non stop. Of course credit also has to go to the acoustic talent of Ed Sheeran for writing ‘Love yourself’ which just missed out on being the Christmas Number 1!
Across this side of the pond we also have chart topping artists who have made our favourite albums of the year. Firstly being Rixton with ‘Let the road’ which is full of easy listening for all the family. The album showcases the band’s catchy beats and intricate harmonies, especially with the opening acapella number of the same title ‘Let the road’. It’s also great to see so many hits on one album including the number 1 ‘Me and and broken heart’ and top 40 entries ‘Wait on me’ and ‘We all want the same thing’.
It’s always nice when a new kid on the block catches our eye too and this year Elle King has done just that with her debut album ‘Love Stuff’. Released back in February this year, King has been working her socks off with getting her sound out there and I still get excited when I hear single ‘Ex’s and Oh’s’ on the radio. With elements of hard core rock mixed with country banjos and scratchy vocals it’s no wonder she has been compared to the likes of Blondie and The Runaways. I love her American twang and bad girl attitude in ‘America’s Sweetheart’, ‘Last damn night’ and ‘Where the Devil don’t go’ , Elle is certainly going to be one to watch if this album is anything to go by!
Back to the brits and my oh my has 2015 been a huge year for the trio that is Years and Years. After winning both BBC sound of 2015 and MTVU artist to watch 2015, the British electronica group did not disappoint with album ‘Communion’ which peaked at number one in the UK. Another album full of hit after hit this is one we’ve been playing on repeat since its release in July. ‘Eyes shut’, ‘Desire’, ‘King’ and ‘Shine’ all feature on the album and I expect to see many more tunes from these boys for years and years to come!
Of course my favourite albums of 2015 wouldn’t be complete without Adele ‘25’ which took us by surprise with its release at the end of November after a four year gap since the huge success of ‘21’ which seems far too long ago! Adele’s been setting records all over the place with most views of video ‘Hello’ within 24 hours which also topped the charts, she’s now topped the gift lists after it was revealed ‘25’ was one of the most popular Christmas presents. I can totally see why, it’s full of Adele’s signature ballads including ‘Water under the bridge’, ‘Million years ago’ and her personal favourite ‘When we were young’.
So thanks 2015 for being another exciting year in the musical world, thanks to Adele for filling a hole in our musical hearts, thanks to Elle King for bringing something new to the table and of course thanks to Justin Bieber for, well making us belieb! We can’t wait to see what surprises 2016 has in store!
I will be doing a count down of my favourite songs from 2015 on my show on Wandsworth Radio THIS Thursday between 10am – 1pm so make sure you tube in and let me know your favourites 🙂 www.wandsworthradio.com to listen live!
Happy listening!
Lexie
xxx