Check out Part 1 of my
Top Albums of 2016 here, and read on below to find out about more of my
favourite albums released this year!
Dan + Shay – Obsessed
Why it made the list:
Most albums have at least one track I don’t like as much as the others and
tend to skip when it comes onto my playlist. Dan + Shay’s Obsessed is not one of them. In fact, picking my top tracks for Obsessed was really quite difficult,
because they’re all so good, drifting easily from pump up tracks like All Nighter to wedding song From The Ground Up to the Motown
inspired title track Obsessed. Dan +
Shay know exactly what sort of music their target audience want to hear, and so
they’ve produced another album which will easily make all of their fans fall in
love with them again after the two year wait since debut album Where It All Began. If that’s not
enough, the duo will finally be making their way to our shores this September,
giving us all something to look forward to.
Top Tracks: Already
Ready, How Not To, Lipstick
Dierks Bentley – Black
Why it made the list:
I was in mixed minds about Dierks Bentley prior to hearing Black, having enjoyed some of his songs
such as I Hold On and Say You Do, but not being a huge fan of
tracks such as Drunk On A Plane. Alas,
I’m no longer in two minds. I was
really impressed by the calibre of songs on Black,
some of which hit on a deeply personal level, such as All The Way to Me and Why Do
I Feel, without forgetting to still have fun on tracks like Somewhere on a Beach. Dierks also wins
the award for best collaborations this year, with tracks featuring Maren Morris (I’ll
Be The Moon), Elle King (Different
For Girls), and Trombone Shorty (Mardi
Gras) – 3 very different tracks but all equally enjoyable, and introducing
me to artists I wasn’t really familiar with beforehand. In my opinion, Dierks
has outdone himself with Black. I’d even
go as far as to say that it’s his best album yet.
Top Tracks: I’ll
Be The Moon, Different For Girls, Black
Blake Shelton – If I’m Honest
Why it made the list:
It’s not been an easy year for Blake, so you might have give the guy a
break had he produced a sub-par album. Thankfully, that’s not the case, and If I’m Honest marks the newest album in
a string of top-notch releases from one of the true Kings of Country. Significantly
different to some of his older albums, Blake veers more into pop territory with
this album with songs like Go Ahead and
Break My Heart featuring Gwen Stefani, and Friends from the Angry Birds Movie soundtrack (what is it with
animated movies and country songs – Cars, anyone?). Nevertheless, there are
still some ‘country to the core’ tracks such as Bet You Still Think About Me and Every Goodbye which make you remember why you picked up the album
in the first place.
Top Tracks: One
Night Girl, You Can’t Make This Up, A Guy With A Girl
Keith Urban – Ripcord
Why it made the list:
Country music’s favourite Australian is back with his edgiest album yet, if
track Sun Don’t Let Me Down, which
features Pitbull and Nile Rodgers is anything to go by. However, I reckon Ripcord is the perfect encapsulation of
country music’s changing face, as some of the tracks, such as Wasted Time, clearly veer quite heavily
into pop territory, but for someone who enjoys the direction the genre is
heading in, I really don’t mind. Plus, Keith still lets his country side show
on songs like John Cougar, John Deere,
John 3:16, and is one of the few artists who could get Carrie Underwood to provide
backing vocals to one of their tracks (The
Fighter) as opposed to the other way round. Solid effort.
Top Tracks: Habit
Of You, John Cougar John Deere John 3:16, Gettin’ In The Way
As you can see, this year has already been incredibly good
to us country music fans, but there’s lots more to come, with album releases from
the likes of Kenny Chesney and Florida Georgia Line scheduled for later this
year – keep your eyes peeled for Part 3 coming soon!
Think I’ve missed any
fantastic albums from 2016 so far? Tweet me your thoughts @CiarasCountry
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