I'm glad he didn't. I love Springsteen and he'd just be tainted by getting directly involved with politics like that.

I might not be… Frank Sinatra!

Oh, they are, for sure. But it's hard not to feel a little let down when literal fascism is returning to America and all the mainstream left can do about it is pat themselves on the back and talk about how Hamilton and Lemonade are "revolutionary."

There's something horribly fitting about his final role being a blind prophet. He spent half of the 70s warning us about fascism, and it came to America just months after he died.

Blackstar is an album that grows on you. It took me months to really understand it.

Frankie Sinatra is a great song.

Absolutely. I'd put 22AM ahead of AMSP just for how shocking and different 22AM is, but those two albums are near-flawless. I've listened to them more than anything else that came out this year.

They would find a way to make it the best album of the year.

It didn't strike me as him whining. I always thought the song was pretty funny. I think what makes it work is how deadpan it is, like he's just sort of reporting on what he's seeing without taking any particular stance on it.

I will admit to liking "Lightning Crashes."

Those are my two favorites too! 8 (circle) is the best song of 2016 IMO.

What? That's one of the best songs on the album!

I think the new one is the best thing he's ever done by far. Feels like the Kid A of the '10s.

Nah, what I mean is that a lot of the critical discussions surrounding the album don't mention the music at all. I've seen more praise for it being empowering or for being "revolutionary" for feminism than for the actual music. I didn't intend to insult anybody who genuinely likes the album (I like it too!), I just…

Part of what made Yeezus great for me was that it's so intensely focused, and while it does have some lazy lyrics I think they work in the context of the album. TLOP's biggest problem is that it's not focused at all. I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish with it.

Hopefully it's more interesting than his last release, Beige: The Album.

The fact that people in their mid-40s are calling Radiohead unlistenable makes me feel so much cooler for liking them. I'm edgy, baby!

Hopefully Bon Iver and Gambino will be showing up on the best songs of the year lists (probably 29 #Strafford APTS and Me And Your Mama), though honestly I think both albums deserved to be mentioned here as well.

For what it's worth, I've liked it more with every listen.

They're a group of preteen girls packaged together for people to gawk at. Basically the definition of a novelty band.