The music supervision team at PlayNetwork saw over 6700+ albums, EPs and compilations added to our extensive music library in 2017. With so much amazing music to pick from, our Music Supervision team finally narrowed down their top 10 albums of the year.
Continuing our theme of top album write ups, we’ve enlisted Associate Music Supervisor, Christian Zabala, who has been DJ’ing since he was 15 years old and has also DJ’d some of our client’s events. When he’s not working on finding new cool and hip songs for our clients, you will find him always with a deck of cards at arm’s length ready to perform a magic trick. Christian writes on why the new album Flower Boy was one of his favorite albums of 2017.
Artist: Tyler, The Creator
Album: Flower Boy
Twitter: @tylerthecreator
Track: 911
One of my top albums that I kept on repeat in 2017 was Tyler, The Creator’s fourth studio album Flower Boy. Up until this album, I wasn’t the biggest fan of his catalogue. I respected his hustle in building the Odd Future empire and being an influential icon for this generation of urban teens and young adults for all around branding. But outside of that and the flashes of brilliance from his previous work (i.e. “Find Your Wings” off Cherry Bomb or “She” off Goblin) he didn’t always stay on my radar.
Although with the release of Flower Boy, I somehow became his biggest fan. The record has amazing production inspired by early N.E.R.D./The Neptunes (maybe that’s the reason why I love this so much), from the beautiful strings on “When This Flower Blooms” to the relaxing sounds of “Boredom” and the feel-good vibes of “911/Mr. Lonely” – Tyler works hard to help the listener escape to the beautiful flower field seen on the album artwork. The lyrics are also sincere, open-hearted, and mature from Tyler’s previous catalogue. This is easily the best record he’s done and the most mature he has ever sounded. With help from Frank Ocean, Kali Uchis, Corinne Bailey Rae, and newcomers Rex Orange County, Steve Lacy and Anna of the North; Tyler gives listeners a new side of him that is less about being rebellious and more about understanding how to navigate this thing we call life.
