" Disappointment comes in many forms and is often due to expectations. For instance, I wasn’t expecting Muse to return to form with Drones after having been let down by the past two albums. And the first single squashed any glimmer of hope. And the same could be said for Coldplay’s album, which leaked yesterday. […]"
MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS OF 2015
Disappointment comes in many forms and is often due to expectations. For instance, I wasn’t expecting Muse to return to form with Drones after having been let down by the past two albums. And the first single squashed any glimmer of hope. And the same could be said for Coldplay’s album, which leaked yesterday. Judging by the initial response, it’s mediocre at best. Which is again, not a surprise after two disappointing albums.
Then there are albums which are disappointing because as a fan you had hoped the artist took another direction. I would place Lana Del Rey’s Honeymoon album in this category. It’s not a bad album but I was hoping for a new iteration of Lana Del Rey, similar to the genre jump she made between the debut and her sophomore album. Similar with CHVRCHES. The band stated, early in the recording process, that they were not aiming to do something different – But to make a better version of their first record. For me, I would rather take the risk of having a band explore new sounds, then to repeat their previous success. And in the end, I think the second album is disappointing because it’s not as good as the first.
And then there’s way too much hype, coupled with some terrific singles. A$AP Rocky blew me away with his single L$D, both the song and the video. But when the album hit, it had the same problems as the first one – Too many fillers, and A$AP’s lyrics are still horrendous at times.
And I’ve really tried to like Julia Holter’s acclaimed album. I bought it on vinyl just to have it on repeat. Everyone was raving about this indie darling. But in the end I just didn’t get it. I’m thinking that there’s something wrong with me – On paper it seems to be one of the best albums of the year. But no, it took me a long time to admit – It just doesn’t stick.
These are all my own personal thoughts. Believe me, I know that my taste in music is somewhat skewed. I still think “i” is the best track on Kendrick Lamar’s beloved record, and I don’t really listen to the rest. I also thought Wu-Tang Clan and Foster The People made two of the best albums last year. Yup, something’s wrong.
But what are your most disappointing albums of 2015? Don’t get me wrong – 2015 is and was an amazing year. But fandom and hype is known to screw with your mind – And sometimes the anticipation of an album builds expectations which are impossible to deliver. I mean, Radiohead should name their upcoming album “B-sides”, The Stone Roses should never actually release a comeback album and Kanye’s SWISH should be renamed to “My Spoken Word LP” just to completely crush all hope and get some grounded expectations.
Nominate your picks in the comments below!
Definitely Honeymoon, i can’t explain how dissapointing that album was.
The Neighbourhood- Wiped Out
FOB: the remix Album made the orginal 10x better
Miley Cyrus: idk what she was doing, as usual..
Coldplay: wtf -_-
Top of disappointment: Caracal by Disclosure. As dull as death.
Grimes – Art Angels : i didn’t get it. Sorry.
Dr. Dre – Compton : not as good as I expected.
Adele – 25 : same as Disclosure.
The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness : beside a couple of killer singles it was just as boring as Kiss Land.
Four Tet – Morning/Evening : not a real disappointment but still, i expected something slightly more compelling. Not a bad record tough.
I love the Four tet record!!!
i feel you, mate!
I’ll definitely dedicate some more listening to prove me wrong! :)
Kill the Noise- occult classic, it SUCKS. Nothing at all like the KTN that he began as, should’ve released these songs under a different name if he wanted to focus on simple festival songs.
kendrick lamar’s album was also a huge dissapointment.
Ellie Goulding – Delirium
Motion City Soundtrack – Panic Stations
I LOVE Art Angels though and think the new Coldplay album is solid.
Biggest disappointment? Frank ocean’s boys don’t cry. Because…yeah.
Honeymoon – Lana Del Rey. Compared to her first two albums, it’s pretty disappointing.
For me it’s Poison Season by Destroyer because Kaputt was such a great album with dancey discoey musical songs and Poison Season is more like crazy theatrical rambling with no structure and like I know Destroyer is dramatic and that’s why it’s good but I wish there would have been more pop-y songs in this one too. Anyways it was still better than a lot of music out there.
Also Frank Ocean is mean and I’m so sad about his non album.
Pagans in Vegas by Metric – I was so excited for this one, but totally let down…
City & Colour – If I Should Go Before You
MS MR – How Does It Feel
Ellie Goulding – Delirium
Of Monsters and Men – Beneath The Skin
Mat Kearney – JUST KIDS
Lana Del Rey’s Honeymoon was super disappointing, but I also didn’t like Ultraviolence. I don’t think she’ll ever hit me like she did with Born to Die. I was just really hoping she would!
The Neighbourhood – Wipe Out!
Dr Dre – Compton
Coldplay – A Head Full Of Dreams
Of Monster And Men – Beneath The Skin
Currently i’m waiting for “Savages – Adore Life” (2 new tracks not as good as their first album, so far)
frank ocean – boys dont cry. didnt lived up to the hype :)
Black Lines – Mayday Parade
Future Hearts – All Time Low
Strange Love – We The Kings
Albums I overhyped which for the most part are forgetable.
Modest Mouse – Strangers To Ourselves
Beirut – No, No, No
Nate Ruess – Grand Romantic
The Neighborhood – Wiped Out!
The Dead Weather – Dodge & Burn
Ben Folds – So There
Admiral Fallow – Tiny Rewards
Brian Bonz – Misophonia
Here we go: (I don’t hate these, just expected more hence the disappointment)
1. Caracal – Disclosure
2. No No No – Beirut
3. Beauty Behind The Madness – The Weeknd
4. Every Open Eye – CHVRCHES
5. I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler – YACHT
1. The Story So Far – The Story So Far. As much as I hate to admit it and as amazing of a song Nerve is, besides some okay jams, the rest of the album is pretty mediocre.
2. Four Year Strong – Four Year Strong. Similar to The Story So Far, great lead single, but the rest of the album falls pretty flat.
3. Zebrahead – Walk The Plank. First Zebrahead album in a while that I haven’t bought because of how generic the sound is. Another example of a band that needs to try something new and expand their sound because it has become stale after 3 similar sounding albums.
But for every disappointment this year, there were plenty of albums that surprised me by how good they were.
Adele – 25 (who can follow 21?)
The Weeknd – Beauty Behind The Madness (His first EPs were good and that’s it)
Tyler, The Creator – Cherry Bomb (his three albums were great as a concept but this was meh, mostly the production)
I’m sure I’ll add more later.
Lana del Rey – Honeymoon
Adele – 25
Chvrches – Every Open Eye
Of Monsters And Men – Beneath The Skin
Disclosure – Caracal
Grimes – Artangels
Rudimental – We The Generation
Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors
Capsule – Wave Runner
Ellie Goulding – Delirium
Coeur De Pirate – Roses
Allie X – Collxction I
Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon
COldplay – A head full of dreams
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Ellie Goulding – Delirium
Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon
Tame Impala – Currents (I do like it, just not as much as Lonerism and Innerspeak)
I fucking loved the last two Tame Impala records, I can listen to every song and just keep replaying Lonerism and Innerspeak, with Currents there’s songs I skip over.
I’m totally with you. 2/3 of the Album ist great, but many of the good tracks were released before the whole album, so it was first a big disappointment. “Yes i’m changing” is very very lame, just like “Love/Paranoia” or “New Person, same old mistakes”. And then two unnecessary interludes…
Bring Me the Horizon
Northlane
For All Eternity
Monuments
All That Remains
Buried In Verona
We Came As Romans
You should try Inverted by A Dark Orbit
Scott Weiland & the Wildabaouts – Blaster
What a disapointing album by the ex frontman of the Stone Temple Pilots. It even don’t worth a second listen in my humble opinion…
I wonder why no one has named Mumford & Sons – Wilder Mind yet.
I was SO disappointed by this album.
Haha, why hasn’t anyone indeed. I never held my hopes high for that but many did. And it didn’t strike a single chord with me.