Mirandatory Listening: The Tunes of 2022
A list of the albums that I enjoyed in 2022, did you like the same thing? Is your list different? A short list of some of the many incredible albums I enjoyed this year.
If my Spotify Wrapped is anything to go by I listened to a lot of new music and artists this year. I cannot take credit for that all by myself. My talented and amazing friend Elif, over at
publishes a weekly music dispatch with something there for everyone. With music spanning across many genres from well-known artists and some under the radar, if you’re ever looking for something new to listen or just want to read someone talk about music with incredible passion I would look no further.A huge thank you to Elif, for all the incredible work that you do!
Music is a huge part of my year for me. When it comes to music I often feel I cannot articulate my love for it. It moves me in a way that sometimes it transcends the written word for me. I will do my best to articulate here why these bodies of work resonated with me or were ones that I kept returning to.
This list could be exhaustive and combing through my list of top albums I rated on my own merit I decided to keep in theme with the lists I will publish and include only my top 5 albums of 2022.
All albums are available to stream on most music platforms like Spotify, and Apple Music unless stated otherwise.
1. Beyoncé- RENAISSANCE PT. 1
Favorite tracks: All of them I refuse to pick a favorite.
On July 29th, 2022 Beyoncé released her 7th studio album RENAISSANCE PT. 1. Beyoncé’s 7th studio album followed a more traditional album rollout where she released the first single from the album Break My Soul giving notice to her fans of an album release. Unlike the release of her self-titled album that dropped in the middle of the night on December in 2013 that changed the music release schedule forever.
RENAISSANCE was unlike anything else I heard this year. To say songs from the album were everywhere is an understatement. I heard songs from this album go viral on TikTok with different tracks being featured in a variety of scenarios. I heard it blasting from peoples’ cars and speakers, and at any given moment this year the album could be heard playing from my bedroom or my roommates. I even had an experience with my Uber driver who sang along with such gusto to Break My Soul on the radio that after the song ended, he pulled the song back up on his phone so he could sing it again.
Beyoncé is a master of music, the way she experiments with genres with her beautiful vocals and attention to her craft that there is no one else that comes close to her musically. The album is a work of art, the way tracks flow seamlessly one into the other. An electronic-pop-dance-rap album that pays homage to the ballroom scene that was created by Black trans, and queer people. I can never really listen to one song on this album without listening to the entire thing. The way each song is crafted to be listened together makes it difficult for anyone to really listen to it on shuffle.
Songs today seem to be getting shorter, however, on RENAISSANCE all of the songs exceed the three minute mark which allows a listener to really soak in the music and become enveloped in it. The bass, the vocals that surround you from ear-to-ear. Songs that create euphoria, joy, and love. This album obliterated my ranking for everything else I listened to this year and to think this is only the first part? I cannot wait to see what we get next from Beyoncé in parts 2 & 3 whenever she decides to release them. Until then I will be playing part 1 on repeat for a very long time.
2. Arctic Monkeys - The Car
Favorite tracks: Body Paint, Mr. Schwartz, There’d Better Be A Mirrorball
Arctic Monkeys returned after a 4 year hiatus since their last album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. This also marks the 7th studio album for the band led by Alex Turner. The album is a departure from the swagger of their AM days. However, this album is one of longing, love, and uncertainty. Turner’s voice that floats over orchestra-backed tracks of strings, pianos, and drums that take the listener on a journey through the album as he navigates through it’s hazy lyrics and metaphors that become more clear each time you visit it.
Elif is receiving countless shout outs here. When they asked earlier this year who’s discography they should listen in a poll I had cast my vote for Arctic Monkeys. I had spent some time away from the band’s music, and her discovery of their songs had me revisiting their music. Like many, I had discovered the band on Tumblr back in 2013 during the height of AM and I was immediately drawn in by Turner’s vocals and the bands riffs and high-energy songs that I went and listened to all their music again in 2022.
The Car to me was such a natural progression of the groups sound, Turner who is now 36, is leading the band in to this smoother, more debonair version of the band as he and his audience grow up. I had the chance to see them live earlier this year at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn where the three tracks I mentioned as favorites from the album where played live before the release of the album. They were songs that highlighted the bands talent with the instrumentation of the pluck of guitar strings backed by Turner’s vocals into falsettos often seeing him have fun with the rockstar persona when you’d watch him perform these songs on stage while swaying around in flared pants holding his guitar.
This album was one I listened to on repeat when it released in October and was the soundtrack of my autumn and it came out in a time where both Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen had releaesd work. This one held me in it’s grip and I think of his voice floating along the synths of Body Paint and his lyrical work on here that made it an easy top-contender for me this year.
3. Bad Bunny- Un Verano Sin Ti
Favorite tracks: Tarot, Party, El Apagón, and Otro Atardecer
I always share the little anecdote of how I discovered Bad Bunny. When I first moved to Brooklyn, my next door neighbor used to blare his music every single day and I used my phone to Shazam a song of his. From there, the rest was history. His music to me always reminds me of summer, reminds me of the first time I set my bags down in New York City. Summer in the city is loud, brash, and a variety of music is heard through open windows and passing cars that gets your hip swinging whether you’re out on dance floor or even while you’re out running errands. Bad Bunny’s album to me captured the spirit of the summer and being in New York. It is amazing to see the way he’s taken the world by storm and this album was one I often gravitated to over the summer.
I often found myself switching between this album and RENAISSANCE over the summer. The album is a love of the music that is so present in the Caribbean. Un Verano Sin Ti pays tribute to much of it using, reggaton, reggae, bomba, bachata and more genres that are found in the islands are present in the albums tracks. The songs are paired with Bad Bunny’s impeccable delivery over lush dance beats that make it hard for you to sit still when you listen to his songs. Bad Bunny to me exploded overnight, hearing him once in passing to him being one of the most streamed artists in 2022 was amazing to witness.
The songs not only draw on playful music that is often associated with the genre. El Apagón is a song that despite it’s upbeat melody the singer speaks on his anger of Puerto Rico is an anthem set to tell off those who seek to privatize the islands beaches and electrical grid. He experiments with a wealth of sounds and collaborators that made this album to me easily one of the best that I heard this year.
4. IC3PEAK- Kiss of Death
Favorite tracks: Kiss of Death, I’m not evil, I’m sad, VAMPIR
This album comes through the recommendation of my best friend and other music aficionado Duzi. IC3PEAK is a Russian electronic dark metal band and I went on to listen to their album after seeing Duzi link their songs and album on my Twitter timeline for the entire month of May. The band is composed of Anastasia Kreslina and Nikolay Kostilev. The album is full of powerful guitar riffs and Kreslina’s vocals that float through songs before becoming guttural, all consuming among electronic beats and thrashing guitars. The album was something I feel like I have never heard before, but also reminiscent to something I might have listened to growing up.
It was fun listening to this album in the spring when the weather was warming up and having Kreslina howling in your ears. The album to me was cathartic and felt like release of pent up emotions that built over the winter and felt like a release into the world as everything around me slowly melted to the warmth and rebirth brought on by spring.
It is a unique body of work and if you’re into metal, or looking to expand your horizons. I highly recommend this work for something you have not heard before, and thanks again to Duzi for putting this on my radar.
5. FKA Twigs- CAPRISONGS
Favorite tracks: meta angel, oh my love, papi bones, and darjeeling
This was one of the first albums I listened to this year. I feel having a January release can be difficult, coming out in the beginning of the year before everyone else sometimes albums can get lost in the shuffle or often fall to the back burner. In my opinion though this was an album I found myself revisiting through the year. FKA Twigs airy vocals floating through electronic, poppy beats. The album has features from The Weekend, Jorja Smith, Rema, and Daniel Caesar. It is a playful album that is a bit of departure from her more powerful and experimental sounds but it suits her as an artist so well. The songs showcase to me Twigs ability to tackle different sounds and deliver a lush and well rounded listening experience.
The album is titled as clever wordplay on her being a Capricorn. The songs a reflection of a woman, like many Capricorns that are in control of their vision and what they deliver to the world through meticulous work. (My Capricorn stellium appreciates that). Twigs voice shifts in choral vocals, rapping and toys with different genres that makes her stand apart from some of the current pop girls. I have only listened to a handful of songs from Twigs and this album has made me want to listen to her discography and see her sound evolve.
This was an incredible body of work and was such a standout piece of work that it is the end of the year and I am still listening to this.
Thanks so much for reading the wrap up! Were any of these albums in your top 5? What was in your top 5 this year? If you liked what you read feel free to subscribe to the newsletter for more pieces like this. If you ever wanna talk about anything or have a suggestion about something you’d like to see me talk about feel free drop a line to me on Twitter @mirandatorys or leave a comment on here.