Best Pop Album

This is my first year writing the pop category. Usually I immediately defer this to Halverson because it’s a style that he’s usually more immersed in and comfortable talking about. Then again, as we’ve said, this year has been utterly amazing.

Also it felt weird writing Best Rock Album every time we’ve done this. Unfair, even. So he’s gonna do that.

ANYWAYS. Pop music, as we tend to describe it here is about the pursuit of beauty in conventional musical standards. Melodies and lush soundscapes and ruminations on the world, things like this. This year had such a number of worthy contenders that at a point it was painful to narrow down to a final six- a problem we’ve usually had with rock and rap, our primary focuses. So our decision comes down to the ingenuity of Daughn Gibson, the strong growth of Frank Ocean’s range, Grizzly Bear’s sweeping dynamics, the stunning comprehensibility of the Dirty Projectors, and the complete doubling down of both Mesita and Sharon Van Etten.

I discovered Mesita on a forum I’m not going to disclose the name of, but suffice it to say our music tastes do not always match up. Here’s To Nowhere was just dumped in a big sharing thread, and the tiled sky cover took my eyes long enough to cause me to download that record. I shudder to think what could’ve happened if I did not act on that. The easy metaphor here would be taking steps on the path to improvement, but it doesn’t do justice in this case: Mesita has launched himself forward and has advanced from a talented and curious home-recording musician to a hidden treasure. If there’s something to take from our awards this year, it’s a focus on the blurring of the concept of DIY brought on by the advances of technology and the changing economy of music. “The Coyote” exists as a sign of these changing times as well as the assurance that this particular set of changes could herald some truly amazing art.