- Black Messiah
This is music-critic Oscar season. Every December, music publications compile their 50 favorite albums into lists, and music fans either cheer on or eviscerate the outlets’ choices. The rankings are subjective and often appear arbitrary—what really distinguishes a 44 from a 45?—but they mean something to readers looking to put the year in context. Lists are a good way to figure out what you missed in the past 12 months; they let you see which albums everyone’s been talking about. And then there are the records that everyone talks about and no one ranks because they were strategically released in the midst of awards season, right when everyone thought the heavy hitters had simmered down till January.
It wouldn’t surprise me if D’Angelo’s team looked to Beyonce’s album as an example of how music can sell with no buildup. The shock of a sudden release is its own PR. Beyonce was the first album I bought from its eponymous singer—I’d relied on streaming to hear her music before, but the 80-minute event of her video album wasn’t streaming anywhere, and I wanted to watch it right then and there while everyone was still talking about it. I wanted to be part of the moment.
