" 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!
my biggest disappointment? probably the lack of SWISH. what the heck Kanye
if anything, I really don’t understand why some folks actually thought TPAB was a disappointment. Did you guys expect club bangers, or don’t listen to enough funk or jazz? I dunno. It might be a matter of preference at the end of the day. I personally find it to be one of the highlights of the year, due to the underlying message, stellar production, and non-conforming direction (not fitting into the standards of 2010 hip-hop).
May I add that the One Direction album wasn’t as good as the past 4 ones but it sold well, so I didn’t expect this much chute from them! I was expecting something within the same level as Drag Me Down
Oh and there’s the Coldplay album, the last 2 were atrocious! The only track i liked was A Sky Full Of Stars and Princess Of China (ft. Rihanna) [which was from the one before Ghost Stories, “Milo Xyloto” which, to me, was their major best album…
The Sword’s new album blows. Too bad, love the guys and was really looking forward to it.
As a huge fan of the weeknd, I think beauty behind the madness was the most disappointing album for me. It gained the weeknd huge mainstream success, but it totally goes against all the things that the core fans loved about him. I understand artists sometimes change their style, but his new music doesn’t even sound like the same guy from trilogy and kiss land.
For me, it was “Delirium” by Ellie Goulding. “Halcyon” & “Lights” were both beautiful and inventive albums, full of thoughtful lyrics and amazing influences, from dub step to folk. “Delirium”, however, is just a blah album. I expected so much of 25 songs on a deluxe version, but I find that the album is just a few highlights and the rest filler. Tracks like “We Can’t Move To This”, “Don’t Panic”, “Intro (Delirium)”, “Don’t Need Nobody”, and “Heal” are all good songs, but don’t live up to the previous albums. The single “On My Mind”‘s production sounds better than the vocals. Don’t get me TOO wrong. “Delirium” is a great pop album, but it’s just a boring, so-so album when compared to previous releases by Goulding.
I cannot agree more
I am not a fan of hers but I absolutely adored her new record! I think she just went full on pop and I dug it! However it’s not something I would play on full a lot, it’s just a fun put-on-shuffle kinda album for me. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much! However I do have to agree her older stuff was a bit more ambitious and creative so I’ll give her credit for that
Bring Me The Horizon, ‘That’s The Spirit’ was the biggest letdown I’ve ever heard.
I think 2015 has been a disappointing year for albums. Nothing really jumped out at all. However the most disappointing for me was Nero – Between II Worlds. So much promise from Welcome Reality and really looked forward to this.
Other notable failures of note: Muse – Drones, The Chemical Brothers – Born in the Echoes and Mark Ronson – Uptown Special
Wow, Born in the Echoes? Mannn I loved (most of) that album! Agree on the others pretty much tbf, although a few tracks off Drones were decent
Fort Minor – Welcome, i love his first album(Remember the Name, Believe,…), but welcome is just a shitty song like there are thousands in a dozen,…
Young Guns – Ones and Zeros,
Adele, Beirut, Of Monsters And Men, James Bay, Soak
All in all, I have to say I’ve had more surprises than disappointments this year.
I loved “Sea Creatures”. Soak’s debut could’ve been so much better. Same with Adele. I DID like James Bay’s record though. Check out the Target version of “25”, though. The song “Why Do You Love Me” was more than worth the purchase of 25 for the second time.
Bring Me the Horizon – That’s the Spirit
I know it sounds like I’m disapointed by everything, boo-hoo. But I’ve loved so many records this year, and actually enjoyed most of the ones I mention under here as well, but just not -as much- as I wanted to.
“Surf” by Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiemnt was disapointing to me.
And even though I do enjoy “Compton: A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre”, I just stopped caring about it way too soon.
Erykah Badu’s mixtape, I couldn’t stand that. At all. Insanely dull.
A little disapointed by Heems’ record as well, but I didn’t -expect- that much from it.
Mac Miller’s thing was good, but after that Faces-thing, this just felt too safe and straight forward.
“Meow The Jewels”. I supported the project, and I’m glad I did. But I didn’t laugh at it.
Unknown MOrtal Orchestra’s “MUlti-Love”, even though it was great, it wasn’t as atmospheric as their earlier stuff.
But biggest disapointment for me was Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire’s thing, “Live Forever”. One of my favorite rappers, and though he really did his thing it just… felt like another eXquire collection. Nothing noteworthy about it, which hurt my feelings.
Disappointment all depends on expectations. A lot of you already said that in their comments.
But having said that, I thought these disappointed
Colour Before The Sun – Coheed and Cambria:
They stepped down from the Armory Wars theme to make a non-narrative album. So applause there for letting go limitations and taking your right and possibility as a band to experiment with a sound… And that’s exactly where the dissapointment lays… It sounds like Year of The Black Rainbow through to Afterman Descension except that it’s not part of the continuum and feels completely uninsired.
NERO – Best of II Worlds:
Once again an applause for the bold move of making a completely different album from the first album. But Skrillex did something comepletly different from his EPs with his album already and so did Knife Party… Why can’t you guys just make a second album in a sound you excell? Why, if you’re good at something, so something different?
Bring Me The Horizon – That’s The Spirit!
I love and hate this album. Hat myself for loving it and love myself for hating it. If you take the album on its own and do not concider what great metal they’re capable of making, I think this is one of the best Electronic Rock albums out there to date. But those conciderations are the problem… In my opinion the first three album are such brilliant metal albums that I’d rather hear of that than have Sempiternal and Sempiternal Light…
The article is so sweet and melancholic, i love it.
Cherry Bomb for me is sometimes stevie wonder pastiche and gratuitous noisy. Lana Del Rey stil zzzzz and the best thing about Julia Holter is that dog in the video. I miss “Horns surrounding me’ weird harmonics.
Iron Maiden- Book of Souls
While musically it is probably their best since Seventh Son….. the production with 3 guitars is not listenable. Very muddy sound.
Shinedown- Threat to Survival
It is Katy Perry with guitars this time around. Catchy as heck but ultimately easily dismissed as a release.
Faith no More- Sol Invictus
Being so many have been influenced by FnM and have surpassed a lot of what they did, I find Sol Invictus to be a bit pedestrian. While trying to sound like FnM, they ended up sounding like a Between the Buried and Me copy with less.
Grimes – Art Angels
Disclosure – Caracal
Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon
Skepticism – Ordeal
Madonna’s “Rebel Heart”. I think that with three rather bad albums in a row (for her standards) her decline is finally arrived. Damn!
My biggest dissapointment is Tame Impala’s “Currents”.
Call me a purist, I don’t care, I can’t swallow that “we can make good psychedelic rock without guittars and blah” argument.
Also, I was too hyped for that album, I really hoped something so meaningful as “Lonerism”, but let’s face the fact that “Lonerism” was released in the end of 2012, a time that everyone was expecting the end of the world and Tame Impala really encapsulated that horrible feeling of the end coming directly at us and that was the best soundtrack for the end of our lives.
Ellie Goulding – Delirium
Selena Gomez – Revival
Adele – 25
Sleeping With Sirens – Madness
Just plain terrible. Awful.
Goddamn.
CHVRCHES was bland
Marina and the diamonds FROOT was just boring as eff
Collective Soul should never have come back
Monica,
Avicii,
Editors–was my biggest disappointment
I was really hoping they’d bring their A-game
No doubt about it. Most disappointing album not only of 2015 but probably of the 21st century for me has to be Black Lines by Mayday Parade. Every part of it is garbage. I understand they want to grow and change their sound but A Lesson In Romantics is my favorite album of all time. If you listen to them side by side, both are completely different.
Bottom line, changing your sound is always a bold but risky move. In this case, Mayday Parade failed hard.
‘Delirium’ by Ellie Goulding for me, I had a hope she’ll make something like Lights and I got some really weak songs.