Alexis Petridis's album of the week
The Guardian head rock and pop critic's lead review from each week's G2 Film & Music
Glass Animals: I Love You So F***ing Much review – bland bathos from one-time biggest band in the world
The British band’s fourth album smooshes interesting influences into pleasant homogeneity that won’t wash in today’s personality-led pop world
Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer review – a beautiful, brooding delight
Following her breakthrough in 2021, the singer-songwriter has overcome self-doubt to deliver a diverse album where loneliness is set against cosmic wonder
Kasabian: Happenings review – pivot towards pop could almost be Coldplay
The lad-favourites shift into neon hues on their second Serge Pizzorno-led album, as knockout choruses face off against some disappointing filler
Camila Cabello: C,XOXO review – Havana star’s bad-girl reboot is totally unconvincing
Leaving behind gooey balladry and family-friendly fare, the US star’s reinvention owes a clear debt to Charli xcx but leaves her grasping for space on her own album
Mabe Fratti: Sentir Que No Sabes review – rich, rewarding, spellbinding music from a true original
The full-blooded and emotionally driven fourth solo album from the avant garde pop cellist is abundantly melodic, constantly surprising and unequivocally fantastic
Aespa: Armageddon review – music is an afterthought in high-concept pop
Cutesy melodies, dubstep basslines, pop-punk and disco on the K-pop foursome’s debut album are outshone by their intriguing world-building, with interdimensional rifts and alien popcorn
Paul Weller: 66 review – sumptuous rumination on older age springs some surprises
In this elegiac 17th solo album made with guests including Noel Gallagher, Weller contemplates mortality with sun-dappled ballads – but there’s still an experimental edge
Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft review – still the great outlier of American pop
On this deeply involving third album, Eilish once again breaks the rules for arena-filling artists: it’s subtle and understated, yet jars the listener with eerie show tunes and explosive noise
Dua Lipa: Radical Optimism review – ‘psychedelic pop-infused’? Pull the other one!
The British superstar has said her new album is influenced by Britpop, rave culture and Primal Scream, but you could go mad trying to find the evidence
St Vincent: All Born Screaming review – the unmasking of a great American songwriter
Are we finally seeing the real Annie Clark? Replacing alter egos with raw immediacy, she delivers one of her best albums: restlessly inventive and packed with ideas
Nia Archives: Silence Is Loud review – bold, fresh jungle unbound by tradition
The Bradford producer confidently tethers her breakbeats to a pounding four-to-the-floor kick drum – which would have been unheard of in the 90s – on a pop-facing, innovative record
Fabiana Palladino: Fabiana Palladino review – sublime 80s pop innovation meets 21st-century chaos
The musician’s long-gestating debut album melds killer tunes to grimy distortion and the scuffed gloss of Jam and Lewis-era Janet Jackson, and marks the flowering of an original pop voice
Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter review – from hoedown to full-blown genre throwdown
Nico: The Marble Index/Desertshore review – an unforgettable trip to a very dark place
Shakira: Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran review – revenge served disappointingly tepid
Despite a hit diss track so withering it affected the stock market and enlivening turns from Cardi B and leading regional Mexican musicians, the Colombian’s wan 12th album washes out her adventurous spirit
Sheer Mag: Playing Favorites review – euphoric expansion by one of today’s great American bands
What started life as a disco EP designed to help the band through personal difficulties has evolved into a refined, joyful take on their distortion-lagged rock
MGMT: Loss of Life review – surprise TikTok stars play to their strengths
The newly viral US duo seem to take inspiration from Bowie, Simon and Garfunkel and the Gallagher brothers on an album of glossy, impressively melodic psychedelic pop
Idles: Tangk review – a return to joy as an act of resistance
It doesn’t all work, but there are plenty of smart, intriguing ideas as Idles prove they don’t just do howling fury
Kali Malone: All Life Long review – music to blot out the world’s clamour
Returning to the organ-playing that made her name and adding brass and vocals, the Thom Yorke-approved composer revels in the possibilities of her instruments
The Last Dinner Party: Prelude to Ecstasy review – the year’s most hyped band totally deliver
The five-piece ground their Sparks-like tendency towards excess and musical theatre with consistently well-written songs primed for festival singalongs
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