The Best Albums of 2022: #10-6

I’m back for another year of counting down the best albums of 2022! Each article will cover five albums. As always, share your thoughts on the chosen records in the comments below. Check out my write-up on #15-11 before reading through the next five. It’s worth noting that I spend the entire year working on this, listening to a total of 204 albums in 2022. Let’s get to #10-6!

#10 – SZA, SOS

The latest released album on my top 25, SOS is a long-awaited return for SZA’s solo albums. Often featured on TDE tracks and the successful Black Panther soundtrack, this follow-up to 2016’s CTRL hits every beat you’d dream about for an artist’s third album. While we know SZA to be an expert in the R&B “in-your-feels” craft, an added layer of solemnity serves as the foundation for SOS. While these are the same themes we know and love from SZA, this is an elaboration on her strengths while offering more of everything we love.

From the punk-pop track “F2F” to the acoustic-driven “Open Arms,” SZA is not interested in staying in her lane. She owns the whole highway with her powerful voice, so why not swerve into spaces where your core talent can prove you can do it all? Within a day, SZA was breaking streaming records with this release, and rightfully so. The most modern R&B joys echo through everything about SZA, and there’s still plenty of love shown to the powerhouse vocalists and auteurs who came before her.

#9 – Rosalía, MOTOMAMI

When Spanish artists break out beyond the Latin charts, it’s tempting to talk about these breakthrough records as if they’re shooting stars we should stop to admire. Rosalía should certainly be admired for her 2022 record MOTOMAMI, but not for simply being a Spanish album to spread worldwide. MOTOMAMI is the most important album released in 2022 and it’s not even close. More importantly, it’s not for the reasons you can access easily, ie the non-English vocals or flamenco origins.

Yes, this is pop flamenco, but MOTOMAMI is carefully crafted to show the future of traditional music embedding itself in today’s culture. The things that make Romani-adjacent music timeless can be explored using today’s trends. Rosalía provides the blueprint for artists looking to modernize any traditional music genre. Not to mention, her vocals are ethereal and unlike any other pop artist today. 2022 was Rosalía’s year to remind everyone that our musical roots are often where we feel most at home.

#8 – DOMi & JD BECK, NOT TIGHT

Jazz doesn’t need DOMi & JD BECK to prove it still has new ways to stay relevant in the mainstream. 2022’s NOT TIGHT, however, did mix a few interesting things happening in Gen Z music culture. Thanks to the likes of Thundercat and Anderson Paak, both of whom are featured on this record, soulful jazz has a space in the youngest generation’s zeitgeist. They might not think of it as traditional jazz, but it’s rooted in the same elements that have driven labels like Blue Note for decades.

NOT TIGHT plays with tempo, contrasting melodies, and talent-driven fervor like any great jazz record. Like its young members, the duo leans into the lo-fi-influenced production style that resonates with the overstimulated Gen Z in a way that feels prescribed to calm the brain down after a day in post-pandemic, crumbling-utopia America. My dream is that this is a gateway to younger people checking out more jazz, and there’s a lot of great stuff coming out now. At the very least, DOMi & JD BECK put out a record that some need to hear as a reminder that jazz is (and always will be) a relevant American artform.

#7 – Wet Leg, Wet Leg

Wet Leg is 2022’s finest surprise and it is unfortunate so many try to write off the Isle of Wight act’s simple, catchy songs as juvenile or agreeable as if those are bad things. The breakout “Chaise Lounge” immediately divided listeners with references to Mean Girls and a fairly repetitive set of lyrics. I don’t have a better retort than this so we’re going with it: do y’all just not like to enjoy things for the sake of them being enjoyable? There’s little nuance in Wet Leg’s approach and quite frankly I don’t always need nuance to have a good time.

The constant need to seek meaning deeper than entertainment in the media we consume is a disease concocted by (yes I’m aware) people writing articles just like this one. The key to music criticism is not to solely pair the artist’s output with your own tastes, but to do your best to seek out the artist’s soul in their art. Wet Leg’s soul is pure, joyful, and (quite frankly) just what we need in indie rock. All 12 songs on Wet Leg are single-worthy. For a debut record, that’s an admirable feat to pull off, especially for a band so many seem ready to write off as lacking depth.

#6 – Julia Jacklin, PRE PLEASURE

Julia Jacklin was primed for a masterpiece after 2019’s Crushing came close to breaking the Melbourne artist out of indie corners. We just had to wait for PRE PLEASURE to catch the attention of anyone else unaware that Jacklin’s songwriting is equal to other indie artists full of critical acclaim, like Lucy Dacus or Phoebe Bridgers. The best part of Jacklin’s unique approach to her sound is that there’s a particular timelessness in her approach that ensures her music will age well.

Jacklin’s soft vocals are juxtaposed with heavy-hitting lyrics about rejection, hopefulness, and the acceptance that most relationships in our lives are going to simmer out more often than they stick around. The retro R&B and bedroom pop combination is delightful, but it is Jacklin’s ability to keep things understand while making such a deep cut in her listeners that helps her to stand out. Without a grasp on the things she sees as common in a normal person’s life, Jacklin shares that the possibility of living the life we’ve been told is attainable, isn’t out of reach. The goal of countless friends, confidence, and a feeling of belonging is reachable.