NOTEWRTHY: 2022’s Music: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF

Welcome back to NOTEWRTHY, stay tuned for updates on the blog via the official Instagram page: @notewrthyofficial.

Well, it’s that time of the year again. Spotify Wrapped has come out for Spotify users, album releases have all but stopped for the year and the holiday showstoppers that are Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé have once again defrosted as the holiday season draws nearer.

But what has happened this year? A lot, that’s what. We saw major releases from major artists like Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift, we saw collaboration projects like 21 Savage and Drake’s Her Loss and some very successful tours, like that from Joji with the SMITHEREENS Tour and the combined show of bbno$ and Yung Gravy on the Baby Gravy Tour.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows, though, as we also saw some not great stuff with some previously popular artists. DaBaby, famous for songs like “ROCKSTAR” and “BOP,” after an album release that can only be described as underwhelming, was doing a BOGO sale on tickets that were only around $20 to begin with. It’s hard to see someone who was as popular as DaBaby fall this far to doing that with tickets, something even the most downtrodden artists don’t usually do.

Then, of course, we have the ever expanding story-line that is Ye and his social media. For the sake of great brevity and my own sanity, I am not going to attempt to recap everything the rapper has said. However, after his split with Kim Kardashian, whether we wanted it or not, the internet was treated to a Kanye-written play-by-play of the fallout of this, as well as him losing most of his brand deals and other partnerships after he made many racist and anti-Semitic remarks. While I myself may enjoy his music quite a bit, the separation of art from the artist is one that I struggle with, especially now.

But the year wasn’t all bad! We got amazing projects such as J.I.D’s The Forever Story, my personal favorite project from this year, Denzel’s Curry’s Melt My Eyez, See Your Future, followed by a deluxe edition about 6 months later, and the long awaited Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers from Kendrick Lamar. We also saw the release of Dawn FM by The Weeknd, a great project consisting of a mix between R&B and pop, Kid Cudi’s show and album Entergalactic, which I covered in my second ever post on here, and even the release of a new Taylor Swift album called Midnights. And it hasn’t just been these artists who have been releasing music, dozens more have also released some great projects, these were simply a few of the highlights that came to mind.

Finally, let’s wrap up this post with my Top 5 artists according to Spotify, my Top Albums for the year, and an announcement.

Top 5 Artists:

1. Kendrick Lamar

2. Kid Cudi

3. Ski Mask The Slump God

4. J. Cole

5. JID

Top 5 Albums:

1. The Forever Story – JID

2. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar

3. Melt My Eyez, See Your Future – Denzel Curry

4. Dawn FM – The Weeknd

5. GHETTO GODS – EARTHGANG

Time for the announcement:

Coming in a future semester to UIC Radio, assuming we get approved for a timeslot, NOTEWRTHY goes ON AIR. That’s right, an as-of-now-unnamed radio show from yours truly is on the way, and will be cohosted by me and my good friend Maxx, from “Mornings With Maxx.” Follow the Instagram for updates 😉