Mary Siroky’s Favorite Pop Albums of the Last 15 Years
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The post Mary Siroky’s Favorite Pop Albums of the Last 15 Years appeared first on Consequence.
It’s Consequence’s 15th anniversary, and all September long we’ll be publishing a series of retrospective pieces encompassing our publication’s own history — and the entertainment landscape in general. Today, Contributing Editor Mary Siroky runs down her favorite pop albums of the last 15 years.
Happy 15 years, Consequence! As one of our team’s resident pop enthusiasts, I was excited to look back at 15 of my most favorite pop albums, but this task quickly became a challenge — not only of narrowing a plethora of incredible options down to just a few favorites, but also in deciding what could count as pop music in general.
In recent years, genres have started to blend, the lines blurring between folk, pop, country, indie, and R&B sounds, which I consider a great thing. There’s magic, movement, and thought provoking concepts to be found in just about every categorization of music, even as they blend into the all-encompassing umbrella of pop. With that in mind, I wasn’t too strict on the albums I chose to include. Are these necessarily the most acclaimed albums of the last 15 years? Yes, according to my personal Spotify history.
When I started laying these albums out chronologically, I noticed something interesting: Five of the albums on the list — a full third — are from 2017. That year was… not great in the grand story of Mary Siroky. When I look back at the last decade of my life, 2017 feels like a turning point. In retrospect, as the list will confirm, ’17 was the year I really let myself fall back in love with pop music. So many of the albums on the list guided me, supported me, and inspired me through tough times, both personally and professionally.
Isn’t that kind of the beauty of pop music? It has a way of finding you when you need it most, and these were the albums I needed. Here are 15 of the records I will inevitably continue to return to time and time again.
Lady Gaga – Born This Way (2011)
I love this album so much that I wrote a love letter to Born This Way to celebrate its 10 year anniversary. It’s true — Gaga’s seminal LP is already over a decade old, and it’s aged splendidly. “Yoü And I” is also my favorite Lady Gaga song; what can I say, I’m drawn to Gaga at a piano singing about love that already feels like it’s slipping from between your fingers. But there’s not a moment of Born This Way that doesn’t hit.
In so many ways, Lady Gaga is always just ahead of the curve, and her steadfast commitment to inclusivity and outspoken adoration for the LGBTQ+ community is just one of the ways Born This Way proves that. Gaga was perfecting fandom before the days of Twitter standom, and this album remains a wonderful listen all these years later.
Carly Rae Jepsen – E•MO•TION (2015)
At this point, I just feel sorry for anyone who still thinks of Carly Rae Jepsen as the “Call Me Maybe” girl and not the E•MO•TION girl. From the opening saxophone riff to the closer of “Favourite Color,” Carly Rae Jepsen’s third studio album deserves every bit of “cult classic” status it’s earned since its 2015 release. At the end of the day, Jepsen has wonderful pop sensibilities.
There’s a double-edged sword effect that accompanies viral fame sometimes. After the success of “Call Me Maybe,” she challenged herself to not grow complacent, and the resulting LP holds up. If it’s been a while since you’ve spent time with E•MO•TION, or have yet to do so at all, take this as your sign.
Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman (2016)
I have been an Ariana fan from Day 1. Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this on the Internet for everyone to see, but I was really into 13: The Musical, the Jason Robert Brown production in which Ari made her Broadway debut. These were even before the Nickelodeon days. Not to sound like a man who thinks he has super indie music taste, but I was an Ariana Grande listener before she was Ariana Grande. (If anyone else remembers the YouTube videos of her making music with a loop pedal or goofing around with Liz Gillies, you understand me on another level.)
I’m of the school of thought that if you put the first half of Thank U, Next together with the back half of Sweetener, you’d have a perfect album. I’ve grown to love her most recent record, Positions, the more time I spend with it. When it comes to a top Ari album, though, the answer remains Dangerous Woman. There’s a perfect three-track run from “Dangerous Woman” into “Be Alright” and “Into You,” with the last being her best song ever, perhaps.
Then we move into “Greedy” and “I Don’t Care” before hitting “Touch It,” which is an underrated track that absolutely could have crushed as a single. I’m also, for some reason, incredibly attached to “Knew Better / Forever Boy” — maybe because it’s such a great example of her musical sensibilities. Can you tell I’m incredibly ready for new music from Ariana Grande? There’s not a single skip on Dangerous Woman, though, which I can continue returning to in the meantime.
DNCE – DNCE (2016)
If you’re not a Joe Jonas stan by this point in 2022, go ahead and pause perusing this article and reflect on yourself for just a moment before continuing. During the Jonas Brothers’ main hiatus, the best Jonas launched a project called DNCE, and their full-length album is a pop dream. It’s right down-the-middle groovy music, just a whole lot of fun all the way through. It’s a perfect vehicle for Joe Jonas especially, who is a showman to his core, feeling like the perfect way for him to fully come into his own.
“Cake by the Ocean” was the LP’s breakout moment, and “Body Moves” and “Toothbrush” were both hits in their own right. As you’ll learn the longer you read this list, though, I tend to grow inexplicably attached to a random B-side from albums I love. In the case of DNCE, it was “Pay My Rent,” and I won’t apologize for it.
Lorde – Melodrama (2017)
I promise I’m not trying to be a contrarian, and I have so much love in my heart for Pure Heroine, but if I had to choose between Lorde’s first two wonderful albums, Melodrama is my winner. Where her first album felt like a breath of fresh air, revelatory and buzz-worthy due to its singer’s perceived wisdom beyond her years, Melodrama feels like Lorde settling into herself. Then she carves her heart open and generously shares everything that spills out with us.
There’s so much pain and candor in the LP, from the perpetually aching “Liability” to the dizzying euphoria of “The Louvre,” Melodrama lives up to its name in all the right ways. For me, it all comes back to “Supercut,” though; listening to this track is the joy of sprinting down the street, dancing among strangers and friends, or escaping the rain right before the downpour. It feels like a homecoming, as does returning to Melodrama.
Harry Styles – Harry Styles (2017)
I’m a late Harry convert — I missed the One Direction wave but got drawn in during Mr. Styles’ big solo debut. With that in mind, I have a bit of a hot take: I love Fine Line, and Harry’s House has been a great 2022 gift, but I still gravitate towards his self-titled debut most. “Kiwi” never loses its shine, but Harry Styles is so jam-packed overall and flows gorgeously. “Sweet Creature”? Lovely. “Only Angel”? A joy. Plus, in the pre-TikTok days, that sound bite of, “Should we just search romantic comedies and see what we find?” is the closest any of us were going to get to a viral audio.
Halsey – hopeless fountain kingdom (2017)
If you think I wouldn’t become deeply obsessed with a Romeo and Juliet-inspired concept album from Halsey, you may be new to my brand. Welcome! In short, that’s like an edition of Mary Siroky Mad Libs.
hopeless fountain kingdom is Halsey’s second studio album, their follow-up to breakout Badlands. Isolate the fleeting “Walls Could Talk” as a way to encapsulate what makes the album so special: In under a minute and a half, Halsey brings in sharp strings, an interesting beat, and a story that makes us want to hang on their every word. It ends just as things get good, leaving us wanting, and ultimately leading us right into the next track. I, to this day, want to be in the inner circle of the drama with hopeless fountain kingdom.
Taylor Swift – reputation (2017)
Hello, it’s me, a reputation apologist. I don’t understand why people have the audacity to call this a bad album when it includes the line, “Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere.” That’s pure Taylor right there, and I could just leave this section at that!
But I won’t. reputation has some of Swift’s best work as a writer, and many songs on the album, believe it or not, could have just as easily fit into folklore and evermore with different production. Consider “Call It What You Want”: “All my flowers grew back as thorns/ Windows boarded up after the storm/ He built a fire just to keep me warm.” It feels like a preview to the full cottagecore Taylor leaned into in her most recent era, and that’s because when it comes to Swift, the writing has always been there. It’s what she does best. (We don’t have to discuss “End Game” or “…Ready For it?”, okay?)
Demi Lovato – Tell Me You Love Me (2017)
Something cool and normal about me is that “Sorry Not Sorry” was my most played track of both 2017 and 2018.
Sure, Demi has recently declared their pop persona officially dead, launching the current album cycle with a mock funeral for that former identity, but I’ll cling to Tell Me You Love Me forever. “Sexy Dirty Love”! The extremely underrated “Daddy Issues”! The emotional title track that could bring tears to my eyes to this day if played at the right moment! Demi’s sixth album might not have the fresh, exciting energy of Don’t Forget or the vulnerability and edge of their 2022 release, but that’s okay — Tell Me You Love Me came to slay, and that album absolutely did what it had to do.
Troye Sivan – Bloom (2018)
Troye Sivan, come back, we miss you.
After the success of Blue Neighbourhood, Sivan returned in 2018 with the wonderful Bloom. This might get a bit niche, but the LP was released around the same time as the fervor for Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name was at its peak, and Bloom weirdly worked as the perfect companion to the film. At least it did for me and my weirdo little group of friends!
Bloom kicks off with “My My My!”, includes a collab with Ariana Grade (“Dance to This”), and is rounded out by a stack of sparkling B-sides. I’m especially partial to “Lucky Strike,” but, like many of the albums on this list, it’s a no-skip project at the end of the day. It felt like Sivan at his most confident as an artist, exploring a story for which he had a clear vision.
Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour (2018)
One of the rare examples of the Recording Academy just nailing it, Golden Hour is a perfect record and deserved every possible accolade out there. One of the best live music moments I’ve ever experienced was seeing Spacey Kacey perform Golden Hour in its entirety during golden hour at Bonnaroo. I cried the whole time.
Musgraves co-wrote a huge chunk of the record with Luke Laird, Natalie Hemby, and Shane McAnally, the last of whom I’m convinced is a true genius. Golden Hour is perfect for any mood. In blissful love? Give it a spin. Feeling down? “Space Cowboy” has you covered. Feeling nostalgic? “Velvet Elvis” or “Love Is a Wild Thing” are both here for you. The album is so honest, deceiving in its moments of simplicity, seeing as it’s a record that captures the depth of the human experience in its 13 perfect tracks.
Maggie Rogers – Heard It in a Past Life (2019)
Maggie Rogers’ debut album was a revelation. There’s a certain sheen to the whole project, which authentically captures the feelings that come from being between two chapters in life. While “Alaska” was the song that put her on the map, so to speak, it’s the other tracks on Heard It in a Past Life that demand to be played time and time again. “Light On,” “Fallingwater,” and “Say It” are all absolute powerhouses; “Back in My Body” and “On + Off” show off Rogers’ clear belt alongside her penchant for insightful lyrics. Heard It in a Past Life moves with the listener through whatever season of uncertainty they may be in like a patient, trustworthy friend.
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia (2020)
Ten years from now, someone will turn on a track from Future Nostalgia and we’ll all be mentally transported to wherever we were physically holed up during spring 2020. What a strangely prophetic title for the album.
It already feels like a time capsule of sorts, but Dua Lipa’s triumphant disco-pop album successfully outlived its pandemic bubble — to the tune of Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys, no less. Future Nostalgia was an LP we all needed during lockdown, and the tour finally happening was a joyful gathering for the books. It’s hard to mentally separate the album from the time in which it was released, and there’s no way of knowing how it would have been received in an alternate timeline where COVID didn’t exist. Still, it’s hard to imagine any world in which Future Nostalgia didn’t become instantly beloved.
BTS – BE (2020)
I challenged myself to only include one BTS album on this list, especially since I could have (and have) talked about each and every stellar piece of their discography. I’m an SNL ARMY, which means I’m particularly attached to Map of the Soul: Persona, and have written at length in the past about how queen Map of the Soul: 7 deserved so, so much more. Love Yourself: Answer is perfect, and I’d probably call it one of my desert island listens, but it felt like cheating to choose a compilation album.
This led me to BE, the warm hug I, and so many others, needed as we headed into the winter of 2020. “Life Goes On” is such a special gift BTS gave to fans, and I’d hate for them to think people have forgotten that track — if anything, it’s only shone more with time. BE is the shortest BTS album, but I think it’s because the members were so intentional about the songs they included. The messages woven into “Telepathy” and “Blue & Grey” are so thoughtfully constructed, and the way “Stay” falls into “Dynamite,” the forever queen of 2020, is irreplaceable.
BE also gifted me one of my top 10 favorite BTS songs, “Dis-Ease,” which is set to go down as a song on repeat for me then, now, and forever.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER – The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE (2021)
While I consider myself a “Blue Hour”-era TXT fan, and minisode 1: Blue Hour is nothing short of a treasure, The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE is my favorite cohesive listen from the 4th-gen group. “No Rules” has become my favorite TOMORROW X TOGETHER song; when I linked up with the members after their “ACT: LOVESICK” tour, I asked them to include it on future set lists, to which Hueningkai said, “Of course,” which means I’ll be holding out some serious hope for their next trek.
Anyways! I was excited for TXT’s Chaos Chapter from the jump; I was recently reminded of the cinematic teaser that kicked off the era, and the album more than lived up to the hype. “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) feat. Seori” is a modern K-pop masterpiece; “Anti-Romantic” deserved every second of its viral fame; “Frost,” especially live at Lollapalooza, went so hard. It feels like this record allowed the members of the group to really dive in as writers, producers, and performers, and it’s so exciting to see how they’ll continue to grow.
Mary Siroky’s Favorite Pop Albums of the Last 15 Years
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