When she leans into vocal layering and harmony, the record comes alive. And while the production is minimal, the clarity it affords her words makes every lyric land with intention.

‘Savage Mode 2’ matches ruthless entertainment to phenomenal artistry, a collaboration that works on a number of levels. Once more exposing fresh layers to 21 Savage and Metro Boomin.

The stabilisers are off for global fusion; the first ride could have been a lot worse.

Preaching the same elements on 'Different Scales', this EP shows us what is to come on Jenkins' forthcoming album. If 'The Circus' is just a prelude, then old and new fans alike are up for a special treat.

This is really an album about empathy, and feels incredibly necessary today.

Deranged and balefully bleak.

It’s a triumphant comeback.

With six of the fourteen songs already in the public domain, the LP tips its hat to familiarity whilst still creating a whirlwind of excitement from fans.

The tough guy act only gets you so far, though. And that is why 'Karma 3' really comes alive when East exposes his character’s soft underbelly. ... Memories tainted by regret and guilt – the flip side of nostalgia – resonate in Motown-style acoustic instrumentation and chunky Golden Era beats combined with a supreme cast of vocalists.

‘Euro-Country’ is impeccably timed, but it’s also a weighty release, with the gorgeous Nashville-tinged songwriting allied to some fantastic polemic. This is a fantastic release – CMAT in excelsis.

‘Silence Is Loud’ is unafraid to look beyond this hyper-focussed lens. As such, you’ll encounter jazz and neo-soul vibes, alongside bass-bin rattlers galore.

With ‘Hell Is Here’, HIDE have shown that a quick trip to the dark side might not actually be a laugh, but it can be somewhat enjoyable, as long as you don’t mind the static.

Black Panther: The Album is an instantly enjoyable project that allows its featured artists to shine under the watchful eyes and ears of Kendrick Lamar.

In an age of hostile austerity manufactured by moral panic-inducing powers, Ezra Collective’s debut effort is a polyrhythmic balm for disillusioned youth seeking a dose of musical dopamine.

It's a joy.

A record of real depth, ‘Wall Of Eyes’ closes on a sombre note. Distinctive, melodic, and defined, ‘You Know Me’ doesn’t so much pull at the heartstrings as slice right through them, Thom Yorke’s voice dissolving into a mesh of strings. It’s a suitably potent moment to end the record on – poised and suggestive, it becomes a bridge from one phase, to something as yet uncharted.

Down In Heaven is a great, hazy summer album.

This first true-solo effort sees the man responsible for some of rock's most iconic riffery joining forces with the friends he met on the way (including The Cult's Ian Astbury, Lemmy and Iggy Pop) and is a rocking riot from the off.

Cyrus conveys a jaunting and heartening honesty throughout her lyrics as she reflects on love, guilt, addiction and the business of breaking hearts. In a year shrouded by isolation and starved of social interaction, where individuals have been forced to discover the unexpected joy of solitude, “Plastic hearts” might just be the soundtrack to through this journey as you embark on your very own Rocky-esque beast mode montage of shameless self-empowerment.

Scratchy, inchoate electronics, heavy, almost-metal power gestures and subtle violin all conspire at different points to make this a beguiling artistic protest of an album, and singularly one of the most considered and thought-provoking records of 2016.

As pure and rich as milk and honey.

Self-consciously designed to echo a transformative lysergic experience, ‘Yellow’ comes to embody everything Emma-Jean Thackray strives towards, and describes: you emerge in a quite different space than the one you entered in, the world around you subtly transfigured.

The album feels like an amalgamation of its two predecessors; the rap energy from ‘Scarlet’ and pop punch from ‘Planet Her’.

Come for the headlines, but stay for the below-the-bar thrills. ‘I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU’ is in turns earnest and surreal, confusing and pristine.

Jazmine Sullivan makes her Everest-like task look deceptively simple. A woman speaking her truth in poetic, soulful fashion, ‘Heaux Tales’ could be her defining chapter.

Represents some of Jack’s most entrancing to date. A complete 180 from ‘Jackman.’, it feels like a true passion project, while never being indulgent.

Her very personal, almost rapper-like approach to writing and melody is at its best on the LP’s most emotional cuts.

Utilizing much fuller and considerably more electronic arrangements this time around, the album is uplifting and hopeful, though no less poignant; the tender self-evaluation of "What I Have To Offer" providing one of many particularly sweet moments.