Review  — Plenty of our favorite artists released instantly iconic albums in 2017. From Jay-Z’s “44:44” to Taylor Swift’s “Reputation,” we were blessed with new music. Most “Best of 2017” pieces released from music websites and blogs across the internet praise the big and obvious choices: Kendrick Lamar, Sza and Tyler the Creator. While those albums were certainly defining sounds of the past year, here are three underrated albums released in 2017 which deserve some attention and hype as well.

The first album is Brooklyn-Based EDM artist Yaeji’s “EP2.” Yaeji breaks boundaries in music as a Korean-American female voice in the electronic music world. She blends Korean and American lyrics into her songs on this album as a nod to her strong cultural roots. Yaeji has a unique and intoxicatingly sweet voice — her songs on her second EP clearly set the scene for the unique type of sound and vibe she aims to concoct, showing the range EDM music can really span. Songs like “Raingurl” and “After That” showcase the electronic club music genre; however, the beat and haziness of her voice prevent the songs from being party jargon but rather ambient and chill sounds which still do not sacrifice intention for aesthetic. On the other hand, “Passionfruit” is a relaxed, smooth, and yet addictive interpretation of Drake’s “Passionfruit” and my favorite song on the album. 

Anyone who enjoyed Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN,” without a doubt one of the musical highlights of 2017 might be familiar with Steve Lacy. The grammy-nominated producer who produced “Pride” off of “DAMN” has also worked behind the scenes with other big names in the rap and R&B industry, such as The Internet, Tyler the Creator, Kali Uchis and more. In early 2017, he released a solo project called “Steve Lacy’s Demos.” The album is rather short, consisting only of six songs, none lasting longer than 3 minutes each. However, it is obvious that the 18 year-old is still on the rise, not reaching his musical peak quite yet through this experimental album. Yet this album shows the talent and refreshing voice that Lacy brings to the industry. He combines R&B with lo-fi and long guitar instrumentals — his signature sound — for a interesting and wonderful experience on this project.

Rap group Brockhampton’s recognition exponentially increased in 2017. Though they released two albums in 2017, their album Saturation II is perhaps their best, and certainly most catchy, album so far. The songs on Brockhampton’s albums usually each have a different sound due to the fact that they have 15 different creative leads who each play individual roles and specialize in specific aesthetics from rappers to graphic designers. For example, “Gummy” is heavy and hard rap, whereas “Summer” is a sensitive 80s-esque love ballad. In this album. Brockhampton incorporates a lot of 90s rap and R&B influence into their music, and the results are addictive hooks which get stuck in your head too easily.

Last year brought some great new, timeless music to enjoy well into the new year. It taught its listeners that R&B can sound like rock guitar ballads, and that women can be in EDM, too. These artists are all one to watch for in the upcoming year, introducing new genres of music which haven’t been heard ever before.