The 25 most disappointing albums of 2024

You don't need to feel bad for Omar Apollo. The sultry Grammy-nominated singer has career options of all sorts ahead of him, including a supporting role in Luca Guadagnino's buzzy film "Queer". Yet for his sophomore album "God Said No", the dynamic performer succumbs to the most indulgent of hero-worships, as his love of all things Frank Ocean permeates every song – and on tracks like "Spite", he even adopts Ocean's exact vocal phrasing. Even when Apollo deviates from that low-to-mid-tempo formula like on the dance-y "Less of You", the production is so sparse and lifeless that you wonder if Apollo actually likes the song or is recording it out of obligation. It's rough because this album features some great queer tales of longing ("You're a handprint on my heart I just can't possess," he coos on "Dispose of Me"), but the effect is dulled due to the album's been-there-done-that sonic aesthetic. We're not worried about Apllo's future, but we also know he's got more fight in him than this.

"Overindulgent." "Messy." "Unfocused." The most common criticisms against Taylor Swift's latest mega-selling opus are the same reasons why hardcore Swifties embrace it, as Taylor has never been so candid and unfiltered. While the late-night-diary-scribble lyrics are its main selling point, and even her harshest detractors can't deny the power of a song like "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived", this (double) album's weakest factor is its soundscape. While her longtime musical collaborator Jack Antonoff helped bring some astoundingly fresh sounds to Kendrick Lamar's album this year, the sound of "Tortured" is sleek but dry, professional but surprisingly soulless, with everything produced within an inch of its life. Especially when the second "Anthology" disc comes into play, the album becomes an indistinct melodic blur, which is in sharp contrast to the texturally distinct "Midnights" and "Folklore". The record racked up Grammy nominations as Swift so often does, but for as many millions as it sold, it ended up being one of Taylor's most critically divisive albums in years. 

Everyone was rooting for Normani. While Camila Cabello broke Fifth Harmony's ranks first with some real solo hits, Normani was carving out her own path, at first with some assists on huge radio staples (Khalid's "Love Lies", Sam Smith's "Dancing with a Stranger"), and then her own distinct solo efforts (the still-fantastic "Motivation", the immaculate "Wild Side" with Cardi B). She could sing, she could absolutely dance, and she had pop-star charisma. Then ... there was nothing. Her release strategy was non-existent, dropping songs not tied to any specific project whether they hit or (in the case of 2022's "Fair") or not. The non-release of Normani's debut album became a go-to internet joke, and in 2024, at long last, we got her debut solo full-length "Dopamine" – which incidentally came out the same year that Cabello released her fourth. Pivoting away from mainstream pop, "Dopamine" leans into an R&B sound heavily affected by hard hip-hop beats, which unfortunately renders the album fairly monochromatic. Yet "Dopamine" isn't a bad album: just a bland one, where it sounds like too many focus groups were consulted as to what she should sound like instead of her trusting her gut as she did on her pre-release singles. Some tracks really pop out (the upbeat "Take My Time" feels like it would've been a better single than the Gunna-featuring "1:59") and Normani is in fine vocal form, but all these years of waiting should've left us with an album that gave us a real rush of "Dopamine".

Lady Gaga's career has been spread across so many different mediums and genres that she can easily withstand failures that would sink lesser artists. In her 2024 positive column, she played the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris and dropped a hit collaboration with Bruno Mars. Her "Chromatica Ball" concert film reminded her fans she was still that pop icon, which is good because her 2024 negatives were all tied to "Joker: Folie à Deux". The flop sequel to the Oscar-winning Joaquin Phoenix movie was designed as a musical, with Gaga taking on the coveted role of Joker's long-standing paramour, Harley Quinn. While the film was savaged by critics and fans alike, her performance received praise. Yet the surprise announcement of a new Lady Gaga album called "Harlequin" raised eyebrows. It's not a soundtrack album – her songs for the movie are already released as their own thing – but instead a jazzy rendition of several throwback standards like "Oh, When the Saints" and "That's Life" but with slightly altered lyrics to reflect her character's "twisted" perspective. It's immaculately produced but strange to process, and certainly not sinister enough to justify her character's intent. Even with two originals included, any questions that her fans had about her future were erased with the end-of-year release of "Disease", her first proper single for her 2025 pop comeback that recaptured that Gaga magic of old.

For those not in the know, Twice is one of the biggest, most consistent girl groups to ever exist in K-pop, and in the last few years, label JYP Entertainment has spun its members into solo releases (Jihyo) or even subunits (the Japanese-focused Misamo, featuring members Sana, Momo, and Mina). Pushing the effervescent Nayeon to the solo spotlight ended up overperforming, and she became an unexpected breakout mega-star. So it should also work for Tzuyu, right? As it turns out, not every Twice spinoff is built the same way, and unfortunately for the Tzuyu, her debut album "aboutTZU" is riddled with subpar material. Lead single "Run Away", written by JYP's label head, is astoundingly generic, and while you can hear Tzuyu trying out different textures and styles on the songs that follow, nothing really sticks. The best track is a collaboration with pH-1 called "Lazy Baby" which features a sharp piano loop and a vibe that fits Tzuyu's vocal mannerisms, but overall, for a record called "aboutTZU", we don't learn that much about what makes her a compelling solo icon.

In 2022 and 2023, Ice Spice was the hottest rising star in rap music. Just as the meme-worthy "Bikini Bottom" was going viral, the collaborations started rolling in, and Spice soon was a regular feature in the Billboard Top 10, whether with PinkPantheress, Nicki Minaj, or even Taylor Swift. Yet with the January 2024 release of "Think U the S#!^ (Fart)", the goodwill quickly dissipated. Funny memes only have so much shelf life, and when it came to her solo efforts, Spice's hard/serious flex ended up feeling stilted. Much of the blame can be attributed to the bland and unimaginative beats by her steady producer, RiotUSA, as the constant street-level aggression has no dynamic space to explore. This leaves Ice Spice's lyrics – which so often fell under the "so dumb they're brilliant" category – and on this album, they're unremarkable. The rhyme scheme deployed in "Plenty Sun" tells you everything you need to know: "And you ask a lot of s#!^ / This ain't class / You just gotta know I'm bad / With a lot of a** / You just gotta know I'm paid / With a lot of plaques / And I always come in first / Yeah, I'm never last." It's hard not to fall for Ice Spice's charisma, but "Y2K!" proves she can't rely on personality alone to maintain her career.

Did anyone truly have high expectations for JoJo Siwa's inevitable pivot to music? Probably not, but what could've been a disposable curio instead became an object of abject ridicule due to one single interview where Siwa said she wanted to invent a new thing called "gay pop," which led to a social media explosion of people asking if she's ever heard of Queen, Tegan & Sara, Elton John, Lil Nas X, Melissa Etheridge, or a galaxy of queer artists who have existed for decades. Her comments were slightly misrepresented, but when she pushed "Karma" as a lead single, it put up a lot of snark-watch views. Listeners soon discovered the track was actually a cover by forgotten pop artist Brit Smith, and soon it was Smith's version of the track that started charting. The rest of the album wasn't much better, tackling the same good-girl-gone-bad brand of dance-pop that Miley Cyrus attempted in her "Can't Be Tamed" era over a decade earlier. Some have commented that the music video "Guilty Pleasure" was so try-hard it almost felt like a parody-worthy visual gag from the great HBO showbiz parody "The Other Two". Jojo Siwa is in many ways a parody of herself, doing exactly what you expect her to do at every turn, but that doesn't inherently make the music last beyond a curious first listen.

The trailer for "Bando Stone & the New World", Donald Glover's film event with a soundtrack by Childish Gambino that is alleged to be his last, indicates a global IMAX release for the film in 2024. When this list got published in December of 2024, the album had come out but not the film, with no explanation given as to why. Unlike Garth Brooks' failed "pre-soundtrack" for fictional rock star persona Chris Gaines over two decades prior, the "Bando Stone" venture felt like a way for Glover to wrap up Childish Gambino on his terms, as the project moved out of its nerd-rap clique into something far more interesting, not limited by the constraints of genre. This is reflected in "Bando Stone", which tries to pivot into any number of styles but fails to execute them with any sense of harmony. Lead single "Lithonia" sounds like the Americanized iteration of a lost '90s Britpop anthem, "Steps Beach" goes into acoustic island mid-tempo balladry, and "Talk My S#!^" with Amaarae and Flo Milli goes into the hard mixtape sound of his "Royalty" mixtape days. None of it is particularly bad, but none of it is as cohesive as his finally-official "Atavista" project that was dropped earlier in the year. The song "Happy Survival", which sees him joining with the incredible Texas instrumental collective Khruangbin, is one of the best numbers on here, but it succeeds due to it being a Khruangbin song, not because it's a great Childish Gambino track. We've heard far worse "farewell" albums, but it's disappointing that the last testament of Childish Gambino ended up being so messy and unfocused.

Brian King and David Prowse of Canada's Japandroids were making "dudes rock" anthems for the indie set, and with 2012's "Celebration Rock", they stumbled across a winning, beer-soaked formula. Just a drummer and guitarist, tracks like "Fire's Highway" – with its shout-along chorus and dynamic hook – were great on the first listen and brilliant on the hundredth. So what happened with "Fate & Alcohol", their fourth and final full-length? They refused to innovate, delivering a record that sounded like all their others but missing the crispness of those earlier achievements. Perhaps new co-producer Jesse Gander felt that the drums were too loud before, as here the duo's palpable oomph is missing from the backbeat, making every track feel like a pale photocopy of better Japandroids songs. Because of that tepid rhythm section, the lyrics just don't hit, and lines like "The night was numbing, ain't no one left / Just me, the city, and a cigarette," sound better on paper than they do on record where the intonation is dry. In speaking about the band's breakup, King and Prowse described how they had moved farther apart and were losing the strength of their friendship, so while it makes sense they'd want to go out with one last hurrah, maybe the problem with "Fate & Alcohol" is that they no longer want to be around each other.

It's hard being a Kid Cudi fan. At times, he's releasing brilliant albums, like his 2009 debut "Man on the Moon" or his 2018 Kanye West collaboration "Kids See Ghosts". Other times, he's releasing rock-centered dreck like 2015's "Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven", and ends up on disappointing album lists like this one. While somewhat divisive among his fans, 2020's "Man on the Moon III: The Chosen" felt like he was reclaiming his power, and in true Kid Cudi fashion, with 2024's "Insano", it sounds like he's lost the plot (again). A confusing mix of beats, Cudi alternates between attempts at landing a big pop hit (like with the Ace of Base-sampling "Electrowavebaby") and going off on his psychedelic rap tangents (the astoundingly stilted Pharrell and Travis Scott collaboration "At the Party") but never finds a happy medium between his interests. On the strange "A Tale of a Knight", he mixes personal notes of finding purpose after his father passed away and then quickly pivots to cocky sex brags. Even when he's horny, tracks like "Wow" feature lyrics so bland and unimaginative ("I like your sexy ways," Cudi drolls through layers of vocal filters) that you have to wonder how much he's actually invested in the project. As much as we love him following his muse to some strange and satisfying places, "INSANO" proves that for all of Cudi's creativity, we love it even more when he focuses and edits.

Usher is forever. Having put up Top 40 hits in every decade – with several #1s to boot – it was a no-brainer pick to have him headline the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show. To coincide with the event, he dropped a new album called "Coming Home", his first proper full-length in six years. The problem with "Coming Home" isn't that it's a bad album but instead just not as iconic as what has come before. Tracks like "Good Good" explored some complex post-relationship emotions with great assists from Summer Walker and 21 Savage, and the throwback '80s synth workout "Big" is one of the most joyfully stupid tracks Usher has dropped in years. At times, the kitsch goes too far (he did not need to sample Billy Joel for "A-Town Girl"), and sometimes he traces trends to the point of anonymity ("Bop"), but "Coming Home" is an overall good record that left as quickly as it came. Usher's Super Bowl set was well-received – he remains a magnetically charismatic performer – but in trying to pivot his spotlight onto new material, he unfortunately just didn't trust in his quirkiness and instead went with the safer, blander singles to promote it. At 20 tracks in length, he could've cut it down to a 12-song stunner with ease, but even if it runs longer than it should, our only major disappointment here is imagining how much better it could've been.

While 2018's "Beerbongs & Bentleys" made Post Malone a household name, his albums since then have been increasingly dark and bitter. While sometimes this meant him exploring darker textures and collaborating with hard rock bands, he had lost all his momentum with the release of 2023's "Austin", a rare critical and commercial miss from an artist who puts out Diamond-certified singles with ease. Yet in 2024, he pivoted to country while also becoming the pop collaborator du jour, landing key guest features on songs from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. "F-1 Trillion" makes no bones about being a Nash Vegas album through and through, shamelessly rounding up a galaxy of country radio staples (Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen) and putting them in the studio with Posty. While many have said they are drawn to Malone's unique voice, this album can't shake the feeling of big-budget Broadway Street tourism, as if Malone is hitting all the obvious tropes before moving on. They say high tides raise all boats and this record ended up being a success, but when it comes to even modern country classics, there are a "Trillion" better albums we would rather listen to.

Boston's Lake Street Dive has developed quite the NPR-friendly following for their polished brand of contemporary neo-soul and soft rock. While many critics have rallied around their sunny 2021 full-length "Obviously", new album "Good Together" is somewhat of an ironic title given it's the group's first record following the departure of guitarist and band co-founder Mike "McDuck" Olson, and while Lake Street Dive deliver more of the sound they've been known for, "Good Together" feels born out of obligation. While the groovy "Party On the Roof" shimmies along lines that Steely Dan may have walked, tracks like the dramatic closer "Set Sail (Prometheus & Eros)" inch closer to melodrama than real catharsis. "Walking Uphill" plays around in some harder rock textures than what they've usually known for, but Lake Street Dive's recent push into more thematic records feels stunted, as this slickly-produced record feels like "just another" album from them right as they've been on the cusp of some real discoveries.

Much like The Black Keys booking an arena tour this year that they had to cancel due to low ticket sales, Jennifer Lopez's many 2024 projects vastly overestimated how interested fans were in her personal life. While she had just come off of co-headlining the 2020 Super Bowl, Lopez hadn't put out a studio album in a decade, nor had a Top 40 hit since that LP's release. Going all-in on "This is Me…Now" resulted in a new album, a full-length feature film, and a movie musical about the new songs with sci-fi elements and massive choreographed numbers – oh, and an arena tour, too. The problem with all of these media ventures is that none of them are particularly good, with the album being perhaps the worst of the bunch. On "Dear Ben, Pt. 2", she spews the most generic of sentiments: "Sitting here alone, looking at my ring, ring / Feeling overwhelmed, it makes me wanna sing, sing." With lyrics like that, it's no surprise that the whole album feels locked into an early 2000s sound that worked for both Lopez and Mariah Carey back then but sounds dated to contemporary ears. What's worse? Hearing her vocal performance on the ballad "Broken Like Me" shows she is genuinely invested in this project, but unfortunately, her passion isn't supported by a team that is willing to give her a much-needed reality check.

On paper, Halsey's new album "The Great Impersonator" is a great concept: she's going to explore her favorite music through the decades by embodying the production and style of key artists, showing off her multi-faceted range. Yet problems emerged when she dropped the Britney Spears and Monica-quoting lead single "Lucky", a clear homage to Darkchild-produced '90s mainstream pop music. Her listeners weren't on board with the concept, leading Halsey to post a note about how "my own fans are hands down meaner to me than any other people on the planet," and that she regrets mounting a comeback. While there are some really dynamic ideas on "The Great Impersonator" ("Ego" feels like a long-lost Michelle Branch radio smash, and "Dog Years" evokes "Dry"-era PJ Harvey to a powerful degree), this 18-track opus ends up trying to do too much over its hour-plus runtime, where we see Halsey wear so many costumes we lose a sense of what her true artistic self is. For every obvious anchor point (catch the clear Stevie Nicks cosplay on "Panic Attack"), there are tracks like "Hurt Feelings" that don't stem from a musically distinguishable place, thus diluting the album's whole concept. When she sarcastically edited pull quotes from a negative Pitchfork review of the album to make it sound like a rave, it became clear that for all her past mega-platinum success, she's too chronically online to let her muses speak for themselves.

Has there ever been a more accurately named album? J. Cole was catching strays for being in close proximity to Drake when the Canadian rapper's beef with Kendrick Lamar went supernova, and, initially, he was game to hold his own. The 12-track "Might Delete Later" mixtape was spearheaded by "7 Minute Drill", a weak response to Kendrick's fury that showed how Cole's heart really wasn't committed to sparring with such powerhouses. He later apologized for the response and went as far as removing it from streaming services – quite literally deleting it later. While many praised Cole for recognizing that he wasn't the protagonist in this narrative, the rest of "Might Delete Later" did little to assure his fans that he should remain in the Top Three conversation. "Sticks and stones may break your bones / But sayin' my name in a verse will kill," he sneers on "Stickz N Stonez", and during the chorus of "3001" he runs his voice through so many effects it's hard to hear what he's actually saying. His flow remains typical J. Cole, and while he still lands a few zingers, the staid beats that dominate "Might Delete Later" make it feel half-baked, as if this project was dropped out of obligation. Following "Might Delete Later", he dropped a standalone sex jam called "Grippy" which was quickly lambasted as the worst of his career. Some have even speculated that Cole was releasing some deliberately bad tracks to take the heat off of him following the beef. We certainly hope that's true, as the other explanation – that Cole has started dropping off – is far less satisfying.

This one hurts. Sophie's 2018 debut full-length, "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides", is considered a landmark achievement in electronic music, abrasive and boundary-pushing in a way that was impossible to ignore, soon opening up experimental and hyperpop sounds to a more mainstream audience. Following Sophie's tragic passing in 2021, her brother announced that he was going to help see her long-gestating sophomore record through to completion, and in 2024, we finally got "SOPHIE". As much as fans had already scoped several of these tracks through leaks, "SOPHIE" doesn't feel incomplete so much as it feels surprisingly safe. While old collaborators like Cecile Believe swing by, the record is filled with friends like Kim Petras, Hannah Diamond, and Doss, and while they are all earnestly excited to be there, "SOPHIE" still feels strangely passive. Closer "Love Me Off Earth" hits some emotional high points and "Gallop" has the frenetic stutter of Sophie tracks of yore, but tracks like "Exhilarate" and "Why Lies" are far more conventionally structured than anything in her discography, lacking the exploratory vibe of even her "Product" days. We will gladly listen to anything she was working on prior to her passing, and while we are happy "SOPHIE" exists, it suffers under the weight of being merely a good album and not the posthumous masterpiece so many were expecting.

You have to feel a bit for Camila Cabello. After a litany of mega-hit singles following her departure from Fifth Harmony, she figured she had enough of a fanbase to make the album she always wanted to make, and 2022's "Familia" was intended as a celebration of her Latin American roots. She unfortunately couldn't replicate the success of her buzzy Shawn Mendes duet "Señorita", so she was left to pivot into ... hard Charli XCX-styled aggro-pop? "C, XOXO" is a confusing mess of a contemporary dance record that unfortunately reeks of desperation. Her lead single "I Luv It" is cursed with the laziest verse Playboi Carti has ever recorded, and she had the misfortune of duetting with Lil Nax X when he was well outside of his Imperial Era. The album features not one but two Drake collaborations, one of which ("Uuugly") doesn't even list Camila as the artist – on her own album. Featuring an interlude where another artist (BLP Kosher) praises your own music feels tacky, but for all of the overt trend chasing, Cabello forgets to show us who she really is. In fairness, she tried to show her authentic self on an album that underperformed, so perhaps a gaudy change of pace like this was inevitable. While this album has found itself a small chorus of supporters who feel the record is simply misunderstood, ardent defenders won't turn the commercial fortunes of "C, XOXO" around anytime soon.

What was the last good Kanye's album? For a lot of people, the answer doesn't matter, as West's deep dive into Hitler-praising antisemitism was enough to stain any good memories of listening to his music. Yet in 2024, his first collaborative album with Ty Dolla Sign, "Vultures 1", produced a #1 single with "Carnival", proving that when people can still make money off of your name, cancel culture isn't real. The album was greeted to a charitably mixed response, but "Vultures 2", which dropped months later, earned not even the faintest of praise. Sloppy and unfinished, "Vultures 2" features some of the most basic of beats and samples Kanye has ever laid to tape, somehow even more shambling than his already-ramshackle "Donda 2". "Bomb" features the vocals of West's daughters North and Chicago chopped and repeated over a dusty beat that only gets more grating as it goes, while the low-rumbling production for "Dead" would've been rejected by any other artist (to say nothing of the endlessly repeated line "Cook up the yay' / Make it jump out the gym"). West's music has been considered "unfocused" for years, but in being coupled with the innate musicality of Ty Dolla Sign, there was a hope that he could turn it around for the fans who still stuck with him. With "Vultures 2", that goodwill instantly evaporated.

For the 40th anniversary of "Stop Making Sense", the legendary Talking Heads concert film, it was hipster studio A24 that acquired the rights and managed to get a remastered release into theaters in 2023. Further capitalizing on the media buzz, the studio pivoted to a tribute album where the songs from the movie would be covered by a galaxy of contemporary stars, and A24 landed some high-profile gets with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Lorde, Paramore, and several more contributing their own takes. Unfortunately, the best covers are either earnest interpretations or radical recontextualizations, and for most of "Everyone's Getting Involved", it feels like the artists are too hesitant to give their own take on the material.

Matt Berninger of The National tackles "Heaven" and only partway through seems to realize that the chorus is out of his vocal range, while Lorde's pass of "Take Me to the River" is serviceable if unimaginative. Chicano Batman stays too close to the vibe of the original "Crosseyed and Painless", as does Paramore with their unremarkable rendition of "Burning Down the House". Even when artists experiment around, as Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract does on his very non-linear interpretation of "Once in a Lifetime" or Miley does on her overstuffed "Psycho Killer", it feels so far outside their wheelhouses you can't help but wonder about their intent. The best cover ends up being "Slippery People" as interpreted by Argentinian rockers Él Mató a un Policía Motorizado, who truly make the song their own both in language and in vibe. If only their more high-profile counterparts showed similar boldness, we'd have ourselves a proper tribute album.

After getting lost in the stadium-rock wilderness, Coldplay went back to nurturing their more arty intentions with the globe-trotting 2019 double-album "Everyday Life". It wasn't a huge success, and you can tell that irked frontman Chris Martin, who made their 2021 follow-up "Music of the Spheres" an obvious ploy for pop stardom, looping in uber-producer Max Martin and K-pop supergroup BTS for instant chart returns. They got their wish, but 2024's sequel album "Moon Music" is more of the same: safe, largely anonymous pop-rock that, in trying to be so universal and broadly appealing, ends up saying nothing of interest. Even as the group loops in international voices like Burna Boy, Little Simz, and Ayra Starr to help give the album a more global perspective, the record can't escape its too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen vibe, as "Good Feelings" alone credits Martin, indie-ambient kingpin Jon Hopkins, and EDM chart-busters The Chainsmokers all as producers. As "Everyday Life" proved, the group still has an adventurous spirit in them, but when one of their new song titles is nothing but the rainbow emoji that you have on your phone, it's clear that Coldplay has lost the plot. They've flirted with overt pop moments before, but after hearing "Moon Music", it feels like Coldplay is turning into a parody of itself.

Harrison Smith (a.k.a. The Dare) has been making music with his Turtlenecked outfit for years, but 2024 was the year when people finally heard of him. Name-checked directly by Charli XCX in her hit song "Guess", the perpetually suit-wearing Smith soon found himself with a real audience, and before long his debut full-length "What's Wrong With New York?" was out into the world. Immediately, people clocked Smith for aping the style of LCD Soundsystem – what with the hyper-syncopated drums and matter-of-fact spoken lyrics – albeit on a more bro-friendly front. Just like with Turtlenecked, his lyrics alternated between witty and insufferable, as if The Dare was making a mockery of self-righteously cool indie kids (which LCD Soundsystem already did with their breakthrough single "Losing My Edge" over a decade prior). As much as he may hide his obviously-dumb lyrics behind a sense of irony ("Let's make a baby / In the Mercedes / You lost the rubber? Let's make another," he intones during "You're Invited"), the bro-heavy vibes he exudes are too easy to take for face value. In truth, The Dare is a pretty good producer ("All Night" sounds like the carbon copy of a good James Murphy synth-pop banger), but as a big dumb lothario who seems to have only one inspiration, the album should more accurately be called "What's Wrong With The Dare?"

In speaking about Eminem's 2002 album "The Eminem Show", a great critic once noted that dissecting the aftermath will never be as fun as seeing what caused the controversy in the first place, which is why Eminem so often oscillates between playing the self-proclaimed rap hero and pop music's confrontational court jester. Now in his 50s but still a well-established legend, one Marshall Mathers made the unusual move of using his 12th studio album to "revive" the character of Slim Shady, using "The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)" as a way to have a conversation with his antagonistic younger persona as he tries to effectively cancel himself. While deliberately tongue-in-cheek, the parody doesn't work if people don't recognize it as parody, and instead, this album seemed like Eminem was regressing into his old persona instead of intentionally playing with his public image.

If it sounds exhausting to decipher that's because it is, and there are only so many jokes about Caitlyn Jenner and Christopher Reeves one can stomach before the shtick wears off. When he's not trying to advance the album's narrative, he puts out songs ever overly earnest (the Skylar Grey feature "Temporary") or features the worst bars ever (Big Sean will not recover from the chorus of "Tobey" where he says "Tobey Maguire got bit by a spider / But see me, it was a GOAT"). What's most disappointing about "The Death of Slim Shady" is that Em is still in fine form, still capable of immensely dexterous and clever rhyme schemes, but in trying to revive his old self, he ends up sounding dated and out of touch.

You can't count Katy Perry out – or can you? After 2017's widely-mocked commercial disappointment "Witness", she returned in 2020 with a record that didn't turn around her commercial fortunes but at least featured songs that hewed closer to the style of her "Teenage Dream" glory days. Yet after leaving her plum panelist gig on "American Idol" to pursue a comeback that would take her to the top of the charts, she seemed to miscalculate every single step along the way. Out the gate, "143" got flak for its alignment with producer Dr. Luke, the man who helped write Perry's biggest hits but saw his reputation tarnished by Kesha's accusations against him. Many in the public view him unfavorably, so for Perry to release the empowering lead single "Woman's World" with him at the helm made it seem like she completely lacked any sense of self-awareness. The singles just kept flopping, and the bad press notices kept piling up (her potential endangerment of a protected wildlife area during a music video shoot, her off-key performance during a Kamala Harris rally, etc.), and Perry didn't have any sort of backup play or ace-in-the-hole collaboration at her disposal. While she occasionally flirts with a dance-ready sound that works for her aesthetic ("Lifetimes"), tracks like the dark house "Dark Horse" rewrite that is "Artificial" and the disposable fluff of "Crush" border on forgettable. It's unfortunate that she's fallen so far down the pop diva food chain, but she has no one to blame but herself for her poor optics and even worse song selections.

"This will ruin the tour," an intoxicated Justin Timberlake allegedly told his arresting officer who didn't recognize him during a 2024 DUI incident. "What tour?" the officer asked. "The world tour," Timberlake repeated, instantly putting the exchange into the realm of legend. These supposed comments were Timberlake's only lasting contribution to the pop culture fabric of 2024, because the album he put out was on no one's radar, dropping out of the Billboard 200 after only four weeks. While the media-trained Timberlake knew that his strange 2018 release "Man of the Woods" was a flop, all the sure-fire bets he had up his sleeve didn't work on his new LP "Everything I Thought I Was". Reuniting with star-making producer Timbaland for an album-length collaboration? It'd be great if Timbaland didn't sound like he was on autopilot most of the time. Bringing back the NSYNC boys for the nostalgia circuit? He already played that card with the soundtrack for "Trolls Band Together" and that underperformed just as his new track with his former boy band compatriots fails again here.

While Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez may be slightly delusional about the size of their fan bases, they at least sing it like they mean it, whereas Timberlake often sounds like he's going through the motions, especially on the ballads like "Love & War". On the closing track, he asks a lover – and, by extension, his own audience – if he'll be loved under any unfortunate conditions. Well, Justin, when that same song features a lyric as gob-smackingly empty as "Sometimes you gotta put the car in reverse to move forward," it doesn't seem very likely.