The year 2015 saw a number of memorable events that have long-lasting implications. The Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality had people tweeting #LoveWins, multiple terrorist attacks in Paris garnered the world’s attention and pity, the Black Lives Matter movement drew public attention to the treatment of African Americans by police, the world cut a deal on climate change, refugees fled from the mess that’s Syria, and the ridiculous mutterings of a wealthy Republican asshole captivated the political press for most of the year. Then there were those not-so-serious things, like whether a dress was blue and black or white and gold, the public yearned to return to Jurassic Park and feel the Force again, and Don Draper taught the world to sing and share Coca-Cola.
The end of the year brings about resolutions and lists. There are always lots and lots of lists. There's something so human about trying to measure importance while filing, indexing and numbering things. It can sometimes venture into absurdity, but that's half the fun. They're either good lists which are interesting, or they're terrible lists and provoke argument over what people feel are either an unwarranted inclusion or errant omission. So win-win.
Let's throw some topics on the table for discussion: What stood out as the best and worst events of 2015? Which movies and TV shows impressed or didn’t? Which musical acts and artists dominated the year?
Let's get all list-o-licious, and start with …
Television
The "Best TV of 2015," according to the A.V. Club:
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Mad Men (AMC)
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The Americans (FX)
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Fargo (FX)
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Better Call Saul (AMC)
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You’re The Worst (FXX)
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The Leftovers (HBO)
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Hannibal (NBC)
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Transparent (Amazon)
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UnREAL (Lifetime)
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Review (Comedy Central)
Hollywood didn’t know how to harness Andy Daly’s formidable comedic talent until Review debuted in the spring of 2014, and the show’s two seasons have provided a brilliant showcase for it. No other show on Comedy Central—or TV, really—so perfectly threads the needle of bleak hilarity, as Daly’s “life reviewer” Forrest MacNeil destroys his life (and the lives of others) with his inexplicable devotion to his job. Season one set an impressive standard of insanity that season two gleefully topped, making MacNeil a cult leader, live life as a little person, try a glory hole, murder someone, be buried alive, and much more. It’s the kind of show that sneaks TV’s darkest throwaway joke into its opening credits, as a clip from MacNeil reviewing babysitting shows him walking through a field with police officers looking for a body. Review has so aggressively pursued outrageous experiences for MacNeil that it’s easy to wonder how a third season—which Comedy Central has, frustratingly, not yet announced—could match it. But the second season of Review proved that Daly and the show’s excellent writing staff are up to the challenge. What could they do with the confidence of a third season?
From the A.V. Club’s list of the “least essential TV of 2015”:
Worst new shows of 2015
Worst shows in a second season
Worst show of 2015
Getting Happyish to air was no easy task. The dark comedy about an advertising executive’s simultaneous midlife, mid-career, and mid-marriage crises debuted some four years after it was purchased by Showtime, a span of time that saw two title changes (from Pigs In Shit to Trending Down, then Trending Down to Happyish), Kathryn Hahn’s appearance on several shows worthier of her talents (Parks And Recreation, Girls, and Transparent, to name three), and the death of Hahn’s co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman’s involvement—his first turn as a series regular—was a major selling point when Happyish was first announced. But the series lumbered on without him, eventually casting Steve Coogan in the role of Thom Payne, a prickly sonuvabitch with an allergy to new-media buzzwords and sexual fantasies involving a Keebler elf. What arrived in the spring was a series utterly devoid of purpose, its satirical punching bags—smooth-talking entrepreneurs, soulless marketing campaigns—already sagging from other, smarter programs’ blows. Lacking a distinct perspective and a bizarrely toothless sense of the profane (its characters swearing as frequently and meaninglessly as a child who’s learned their first curse word), Happyish ultimately posed its own existential riddles: How was this worth four years of fussing, and what had Hoffman seen in the project in the first place?
The “10 Best TV Episodes of 2015” according to Entertainment Weekly:
10. The Last Man on Earth — "Alive in Tucson"/"The Elephant in the Room" (FOX)
9. You're the Worst — "There is Currently Not a Problem" (FXX)
8. Parks and Recreation — "Leslie and Ron" (NBC)
7. Scandal — "The Lawn Chair" (ABC)
6. Mad Men — "Lost Horizon" (AMC)
5. Master of None — "Parents" (Netflix)
4. Better Call Saul — "Five-O" (AMC)
3. Game of Thrones — "Hardhome" (HBO)
2. Inside Amy Schumer — "Last F---able Day" (Comedy Central)
1. The Jinx — "What The Hell Did I Do?" (HBO)
If this chilling final chapter of director Andrew Jarecki's true-crime docuseries had instead been the capper for a scripted drama, critics would have undoubtedly cried foul. The stalking. The burping. The seeming confession of guilt from suspected killer Robert Durst. It’s all too convenient. All too unbelievable. But The Jinx proved that, as is so often the case, truth really is stranger than fiction. When Durst was confronted with a pile of evidence against him, including the now-infamous “Beverley” letter, his hubris (and one hot mic) proved his undoing — and made for a whole new batch of glaring headlines.
The Top 10 shows in Hitfix's Television Critics Poll of 2015 television:
10. Veep (HBO)
9. The Jinx (HBO)
8. Mr. Robot (USA)
7. The Leftovers (HBO)
6. Game of Thrones (HBO)
5. Better Call Saul (AMC)
4. Transparent (Amazon)
3. Mad Men (AMC)
2. The Americans (FX)
1. Fargo (FX)
Season 2 of "Fargo" was basically everything we so badly wanted "True Detective" season 2 to be. Here was a crime anthology which came back with more characters, more storylines, and more overall ambition, but made everything work, with actors Patrick Wilson, Ted Danson, Kirsten Dunst, Bokeem Woodbine and so many more bringing these new figures to such vivid life, with an amazing visual language and soundtrack that perfectly suited the late '70s setting, and with the story and character arcs prioritizing fun even as they stayed true to who all these people are.
Variety’s picks for “the worst TV shows of 2015.”
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The Leisure Class (HBO)
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Hunting Hitler (History)
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Texas Rising (History)
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The Dovekeepers (CBS)
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Sex Box (WE)
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Seven Year Switch (FYI)
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Neighbors With Benefits (A&E)
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Hand of God (Amazon)
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Falling Skies (TNT)
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Donny! (USA)
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Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris (NBC)
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Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)
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Truth Be Told (NBC)
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Dr. Ken (ABC)
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Knock Knock Live! (Fox)
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True Detective (HBO)
Yes, the expectations were probably too high, but this star-studded production was as stiff, unimaginative and frequently illogical as the original was refreshing. And seriously, who runs to abandoned woods when being chased by a horde of bad guys?
The “10 Worst TV Shows of 2015” according to Amber Dowling of The Wrap.
10. The Bastard Executioner (FX)
9. Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family)
8. Scream (MTV)
7. Knock Knock Live (Fox)
6. True Detective (HBO)
5. Heroes Reborn (NBC)
4. Mr. Robinson (NBC)
3. Dr. Ken (ABC)
2. Duck Dynasty (A&E)
1. Two and A Half Men (CBS)
The best thing we could say about the sitcom’s final season is that it finally put us out of our misery. When the show title is no longer relevant and the former star has long since departed to drink Tiger Blood, you know you’ve hit rock bottom. Nothing against Ashton Kutcher or Jon Cryer, but this was a classic example of “how far can we really take this?” Let’s just drop a piano on all of our heads already.
These are the 10 best shows of 2015, according to Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone.
10. Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
9. Better Call Saul (AMC)
8. Veep (HBO)
7. Fargo (FX)
6. Empire (Fox)
5. Difficult People (Hulu)
4. The Americans (FX)
3. Broad City (Comedy Central)
2. Mad Men (AMC)
1. Mr. Robot (USA)
Once upon a time called right now: A shy tech geek in a black hoodie gets recruited into an underground squad of vigilante hackers with a Coney Island clubhouse. Their mission: take down the capitalist system. But as he keeps learning, the hardest system to hack into is your own mind. Mr. Robot is easily the year's most audacious drama — a punk psycho-thriller full of anti-corporate sabotage, digital paranoia and heavy drugs. (All the revolutionary talk is even more surprising on USA Network, of all places.)
Newcomer Rami Malek is fantastic as the hacker kid Eliot with the haunted eyes, with Christian Slater as his grizzled guru Mr. Robot. (I never figured 2015 would be the year I'd type the six fateful words "Christian Slater has never been better," but there you go.) The story hit home because it taps into the way too much solitude plants bugs in your brain, the way we use our phones as shields to hide from the world, the way hallucinations turn into memories, the way basic human interaction requires a backlog of personal history that can be just too painful to lug around. (The scenes of Eliot alone in his apartment recall Gene Hackman in The Conversation, a Seventies high-anxiety classic that's all over Mr. Robot.) And Slater has the right kicked-around look — this guy could be Hard-On Harry, the teen-outlaw DJ from Pump Up The Volume, except 25 bitter years older. Talk hard, Mr. Robot.
The top TV Shows of 2015, according to Eric Deggans of NPR.
12. The Nightly Show (Comedy Central)
11. Transparent (Amazon)
10. Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
9. Empire (Fox)
8. Master of None (Netflix)
7. Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder
6. The Jinx: The Lives and Deaths of Robert Durst (HBO)
5. Black-ish (ABC)
4. Better Call Saul (AMC)
3. Marvel's Jessica Jones (Netflix)
2. Fargo (FX)
1. Mr. Robot (USA)
On the surface, this series is a snaky, unpredictable drama about a disturbed hacker attempting to break the world's biggest corporation. But Rami Malek's performance as hacker Elliot Alderson is a masterpiece of detached charm. You start the series believing this is a story about an eccentric prodigy exposing how corporations control the world. But Malek's Alderson is an unreliable narrator, turning the series into a darker, more intimate mystery airing on a cable channel once known for slighter "blue sky" adventure dramas and mysteries. This is what the face of modern cable TV drama should look like: surprising, revolutionary and revelatory.
The top TV Shows of 2015, according to David Bianiculli of NPR.
10. Tie between Episodes (Showtime) and Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
9. The Man in the High Castle (Amazon)
8. Louie (FX)
7. The Walking Dead (AMC)
6. Mad Men (AMC)
5. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
4. The Good Wife (CBS)
3. Justified (FX)
2. Fargo (FX)
1. Better Call Saul (AMC)
Bianiculli: "I didn't expect it to be that good."
The most compelling performances on television this year, according to Sonia Saraiya of Salon.
8. Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
7. Constance Wu, Fresh off the Boat
6. Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
5. Rachel McAdams, True Detective
4. Khandi Alexander, Bessie
3. Jamie Camil, Jane the Virgin
2. Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
1. Aya Cash, You’re the Worst
Aya Cash’s character Gretchen, on this raunchy little romantic comedy, was introduced to the audience as a selfish, slightly unstable, but incredibly endearing firecracker—one who happily stole gift-wrapped presents from weddings and yelled back at shushing moviegoers. Midway through Season 2, though, creator Stephen Falk sprung a fast one on the audience, revealing that Gretchen has near-debilitating periods of depression. Mental illness has all kinds of faces on television, but what was astounding about “You’re the Worst” is how recognizableand accurate Gretchen’s experience was, especially when it came to the havoc it wreaked on her still-new relationship with Jimmy (Chris Geere). Through what was an incredibly ambitious season, Cash’s performance was a rock-solid constant, imbuing Gretchen with the same spirit of sass and wit that made her so appealing in Season 1 while also depicting the hollowed-out emptiness of depression.
The Hollywood Reporter’s picks for the worst 10 TV shows of 2015.
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The Brink (HBO)
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Dig (USA)
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Donny! (USA)
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Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)
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Flesh and Bone (Starz)
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Happyish (Showtime)
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The Slap (NBC)
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True Detective (HBO)
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Truth Be Told (NBC)
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Wicked City (ABC)
Perhaps ABC got a little too full of itself with American Crime and wanted to chase after another "cable drama" of sorts. Except Wicked City was tone-deaf from the start: absurd, offensive (the stylized violence toward women raised no red flags at the Disney-owned network?), predictable and juvenile. Stick to the soaps and comedies, ABC.
Movies
The 20 highest grossing films at the domestic box office (i.e., the United States and Canada) for all movies released in 2015 to date, according to Box Office Mojo.
Rotten Tomatoes – Best reviewed movies of 2015 (minimum 40 reviews required)
From Zach Sharf at Indiewire:
Quentin Tarantino's favorite film of the year is often a well-earned surprise (see "Toy Story 3" in 2010) or an out-of-left-field shocker (this is the filmmaker that picked "Midnight in Paris" as the best of 2011), but this year "The Hateful Eight" director is pretty much in line with the rest of the industry in picking George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road" as the movie of the year … "It would have to be the Mad Max movie, 'Fury Road.' I got a print of 'Mad Max' on 35mm and I watched it in my house, and I had it all weekend and I ended up watching it three different times, and I resisted seeing it for a while because I was like, '"Mad Max" without Mel Gibson? Forget that!' In a world where Mel Gibson exists, how can you cast Tom Hardy?... Then I saw the movie and, 'Okay, it’s terrific,' and he’s pretty good in it, I have to admit."
Metacritic – Best reviewed movies of 2015
1. Carol - 96 percent
2. Anomalisa - 95 percent
3. 45 Years - 95 percent
4. Inside Out - 94 percent
5. Spotlight - 93 percent
6. Sherpa - 93 percent
7. Timbuktu - 92 percent
8. The Look of Silence - 92 percent
9. Jafar Panahi's Taxi - 91 percent
10. Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem - 90 percent
The 10 best films of 2015, according to Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times.
10. Straight Outta Compton
9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Spotlight
7. Sicario
6. The Hateful Eight
5. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. The Big Short
3. The Revenant
2. Inside Out
1. Room
One of the very best films of the decade, is “Room.” This is a disturbing, magical, heartbreaking, uplifting, fantastical modern fairy tale with some dark edges and some moments of pure, spiritual sunlight. I loved every inch of this movie.
The 10 best films of 2015, according to Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.
10. Inside Out/Anomalisa (Tie)
9. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. The Martian
7. Tangerine
6. Straight Outta Compton
5. Brooklyn
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Carol
2. Steve Jobs
1. Spotlight
No 2015 movie left me more choked up or rapt with admiration than Tom McCarthy's ode to old-school investigative reporting. Kudos to the year's best acting ensemble: Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery and Brian d'Arcy James. At The Boston Globe in 2002, the Spotlight team nailed the Catholic Church for its legacy of child abuse and cover-ups. And the movie sets a new gold standard for 21st-century cinema about journalism.
Rolling Stone’s picks for the worst movies of 2015.
- American Ultra
- The Cobbler
- Entourage
- Fantastic Four
- Get Hard
- Hot Pursuit
- Serena
- Ted 2
- Vacation
- Mortdecai
His turn in the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass had people claiming that Johnny Depp was back — but before that, 2015 delivered what could be the nadir of his career (and yes, we're counting The Tourist). Playing the art-dealer antihero of Kyril Bonfiglioli's comic novels, Depp aims for a Brit version of Inspector Clouseau, and ends up delivering the sort of cringeworthy, over-the-top mugging that would give Benny Hill pause. You can see the Swingin' Sixties-style champagne cocktail this movie wants to be, but the zaniness and retro thrills are DOA. Even the star's upstaging mustache seems embarrassed to be associated with this.
The "best movies of 2015," according to A.O. Scott of The New York Times.
15. The End of the Tour
14. Grandma/Tangerine (Tie)
13. Girlhood/Diary of a Teenage Girl (Tie)
12. The Kindergarten Teacher
11. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution/What Happened, Miss Simone? (Tie)
10. Results/Welcome to Me (Tie)
9. Creed
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
7. Out 1: Noli Me Tangere
6. Taxi
5. Carol
4. Heart of a Dog
3. Spotlight/The Big Short
2. Inside Out
1. Timbuktu
Mr. [Abderrahmane] Sissako is both an indispensable political filmmaker and one of the great poets of contemporary cinema. His portrait of life under jihadi rule in northern Mali is brutal and shocking, but also gentle, generous and surprisingly funny. Mr. Sissako does not humanize violent extremists so much as demonstrate that they already belong to the species and reflect part of our common, tragic nature. But his movie also insists that the only effective and ethically serious way to oppose fanaticism is with humanism. Which is to say with irony, with decency and, perhaps above all, with art.
The best films of 2013 according to the A.V. Club Readers’ Poll.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Inside Out
3. Ex Machina
4. The Martian
5. It Follows
6. Sicario
7. Spotlight
8. Carol
9. What We Do In The Shadows
10. Room
The worst films of 2015 according to the voters in the A.V. Club Readers’ Poll.
1. Fantastic Four
2. Fifty Shades of Grey
3. Pixels
4. Jurassic World
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
6. Aloha
7. Jupiter Ascending
8. Minions
9. The Human Centipede III: Final Sequence
10. Chappie
The worst movies of 2014, according to Indiewire's The Playlist.
20. Fantastic Four
19. Burnt
18. Rock the Kasbah
17. The Cobbler
16. Monsters: Dark Continent
15. Stonewall
14. Victor Frankenstein
13. Kingsman: The Secret Service
12. Ted 2
11. Vice
10. American Ultra
9. Home Sweet Hell
8. Unfinished Business
7. Pan
6. Mortdecai
5. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
4. No Escape
3. The Green Inferno
2. United Passions
1. Entourage
Let’s dispense with the notion that we ever could have been looking for depth from "Entourage," the unbearable movie spin-off of Doug Ellin’s barely tolerable bro-bible TV show. It is, after all, about the most unapologetically overprivileged gaggle of white dipshits since "Sex and the City 2," so we were hardly going to it for insightful critique of the consumerist-capitalist system or for its revelatory investigation of the nature of religious freedom. But we did at least expect a couple of attempts at, you know, Hollywood satire, the thing the whole enterprise was putatively designed as. But no, there's not even that, as here the barely-ticking-over, wildly low-stakes plot about Vinny Chase (Adrian Grenier, just a pretty face) mounting his directorial debut — which looks almost as bad as "Entourage" — really only exists to hang a bunch of lazy showbiz clichés and B-list bit parts on, while some supermodels wander around in the background and maybe get banged. There’s something so meta about the awfulness of "Entourage" that it’s almost self-fulfilling: In creating a universe in which Chase and his gang — including an increasingly insufferable Jeremy Piven as Tourettic, Falstaffian agent Ari Gold — are actually successful, it then foists this movie on us, in which somnolent walk-ons from Andrew Dice Clay, David Arquette, Kelsey Grammer, Warren Buffett, David Spade and more pass for "celebrity cameos."
Music
The top 10 on Stereogum's list of the "Top 50 Albums of 2015."
10. Deafheaven – New Bermuda (ANTI-)
9. Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs (Drag City)
8. Colleen Green – I Want To Grow Up (Hardly Art)
7. Hop Along – Painted Shut (Saddle Creek)
6. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk!)
5. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (Asthmatic Kitty)
4. Vince Staples – Summertime ’06 (ARTium/Def Jam)
3. Carly Rae Jepsen – E•MO•TION (604/School Boy/Interscope)
2. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly (Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
1. Grimes – Art Angels (4AD/Eerie Organization)
Contrary to the prevailing notions, the philosophical antithesis of poptimism is not rockism, but auteurism. Even our most celebrated border-defying visionaries — from Kanye West to Taylor Swift to Beck — employ departments of collaborators, contractors, specialists, and secret weapons. In that respect, Art Angels is the opposite of a pop album: Claire Boucher didn’t delegate or commission anything here; she outsourced a couple of key features (Aristophanes on “SCREAM”; Janelle Monáe on “Venus Fly”), but wrote, composed, performed, recorded, produced, and engineered everything else herself. That is not, in and of itself, some inherent virtue. We’ve got more than enough isolated GarageBand mechanics generating infinite universes of myopic, monotonous music. Art Angels is not myopic or monotonous — it’s spacious as a stadium; as polished as a Porsche on the showroom floor. It feels alien at points, but it doesn’t seek to alienate anyone: Even at its most combative, it’s asking you to fight alongside it, not against it.
In that respect, Art Angels is very much a pop album. And it kinda sounds like pop music, too! But pop music doesn’t sound like this. Art Angels leaves me scrambling for comparisons, and returning not with E•MO•TION or 1989, but Yeezus and Nevermind.
The top 10 on Pitchfork's list of the "Top 50 Albums of 2015."
10. Kamasi Washington — The Epic (BRAINFEEDER)
9. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk!)
8. Miguel — Wildheart (RCA / BYSTORM)
7. D'Angelo / The Vanguard — Black Messiah (RCA)
6. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (Asthmatic Kitty)
5. Tame Impala — Currents (INTERSCOPE)
4. Vince Staples – Summertime ’06 (ARTium/Def Jam)
3. Grimes – Art Angels (4AD/Eerie Organization)
2. Jamie xx — In Colour (YOUNG TURKS)
1. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly (Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath/Interscope)
At this point, it should be no surprise that Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly is the Album of the Year on numerous lists, including this one. Upon its release, it was universally lauded. It was only March, but the writing was on the White House walls: To Pimp a Butterfly was an opus, a statement, a feat. It felt weighty, labored, accomplished. One hour and 20 minutes of big ideas handled with complexity, it was a dextrous addition to the canon of art expressing disenchantment with fame and success. It launched a thousand thinkpieces, and forced critics to think deeply about music—to the point that it was still generating back-and-forths about its merits, as late as last month, eight months after its release. Commercially speaking, it set first-week streaming records on Spotify, meaning that it was being listened to as fervently as it was being debated.
It's also Black as fuck. "Blackness" is a concept that remains fluid and intangible, but so solid that one can feel it when it’s present. And it was all over Butterfly. From the opening notes (a sample of Boris Gardiner's "Every Nigger Is a Star") to the closing—a fabricated conversation with Tupac Shakur—the album is packed with Blackness. Kendrick may not have given the public much advance warning for Butterfly’s rich sound—the luxe spillover of stripped funk and jazz grooving of Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, and many others—but he made his thematic intentions abundantly clear with the pre-release singles. The first, "i", with its Isley Brothers sample and message of self-love, was initially overlooked for its subversion; while Black folk were telling the world that #BlackLivesMatter, Kendrick turned the message inwards: "I love myself."
The top-selling songs on iTunes for 2015:
- “Uptown Funk” (feat. Bruno Mars) – Mark Ronson
- “See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth) – Wiz Khalifa
- “Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran
- “Hello” – Adele
- “Cheerleader” (Felix Jaehn Remix) [Radio Edit] – OMI
- “Honey, I’m Good.” – Andy Grammer
- “Shut Up and Dance” – Walk The Moon
- “Take Me To Church” – Hozier
- “FourFiveSeconds” – Rihanna and Kanye West and Paul McCartney
- “Lean On (feat. MØ & DJ Snake) – Major Lazer
- “Renegades” – X Ambassadors
- “Love Me Like You Do” – Ellie Goulding
- “Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd
The 5 worst singles of 2015, according to Entertainment Weekly.
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis — "Downtown"
- Pitbull feat. Chris Brown — "Fun"
- Charlie Puth feat. Meghan Trainor — "Marvin Gaye"
- Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea — "Pretty Girls"
- R. City — "Locked Away"
The top 10 songs on Pitchfork's "Top 100 Tracks of 2015."
10. Vince Staples — “Lift Me Up” (Def Jam)
9. Courtney Barnett — “Depreston” (Mom & Pop / Marathon Artists)
8. D'Angelo — “Really Love” (RCA)
7. Grimes — “Flesh Without Blood” (4AD)
6. Young Thug — “Constantly Hating” [ft. Birdman] (300 Entertainment / Atlantic)
5. Tame Impala — “Let It Happen” (Interscope)
4. Kendrick Lamar — “King Kunta” (Top Dawg Entertainment)
3. Jamie xx — “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” [ft. Young Thug and Popcaan] (Young Turks)
2. Drake — “Hotline Bling” (Cash Money)
1. Kendrick Lamar — “Alright” (Aftermath / Interscope / Top Dawg)
When To Pimp a Butterfly was released in mid-March, it was not quite a third of the way through what, by any measure, has been a miserable year. The world, and America in particular, and for minorities specifically, has experienced a veritable buffet of social garbage. And it looks like there's a decent chance the same will be true next year, too. Will we be alright, as Kendrick Lamar assures? And who is that "we"? In the realm of the pop anthem, "we" have had a long life. Perhaps it’s the "we" who are champions, who will rock you. But more likely it’s the same "we" who shall overcome. "Alright" spoke to black Americans oppressed and murdered, these days so frequently by those on the government payroll and sworn to protect. "We hate popo," Lamar raps, "wanna kill us dead in the streets for sure." It’s a basic sentiment that in this country has become undeniably truer day after day.
But after Lamar’s dirge comes the chorus: "We gon' be alright," an ebulliently simple five-syllable refrain, a future-tense assertion of delivery to a better, more peaceful place. In more than one instance, the song’s chorus was chanted at Black Lives Matter protests.
The top 10 songs of 2015, according to Billboard's Critics' Picks.
10. The Weeknd — “The Hills”
9. Justin Bieber — "Sorry"
8. Kendrick Lamar — "Alright"
7. Fetty Wap — "Trap Queen"
6. Alessia Cara — "Here"
5. Jack Ü featuring Justin Bieber — "Where Are Ü Now"
4. Adele — "Hello"
3. Major Lazer and DJ Snake — "Lean On"
2. Drake — "Hotline Bling"
1. The Weeknd — "Can't Feel My Face"
The top 10 on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2015" list.
10. Blur — The Magic Whip
9. The Arcs — Yours, Dreamily
8. Various Artists — Hamilton: Original Broadway Soundtrack
7. Jason Isbell — Something More Than Free
6. Courtney Barnett — Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
5. The Weeknd — Beauty Behind the Madness
4. D'Angelo and the Vanguard — Black Messiah
3. Drake — If You're Reading This It's Too Late
2. Adele — 25
1. Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly
The top 10 songs on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Songs of 2015" list.
10. Jack Ü feat. Justin Bieber, "Where Are Ü Now"
9. Tobias Jesso Jr., "How Could You Babe"
8. Future, "Fuck Up Some Commas"
7. Kendrick Lamar, "King Kunta"
6. Adele, "Hello"
5. Jamie xx feat. Young Thug, Popcaan, "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)"
4. Courtney Barnett, "Pedestrian at Best"
3. Drake, "Hotline Bling"
2. Fetty Wap, "Trap Queen"
1. The Weeknd, "Can't Feel My Face"
It was the "oooooh!" that changed everything. That single ecstatic syllable, slipping out just before each chorus, transformed Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. the Weeknd) from a cult R&B singer to a full-on pop star – just as decisively as a similar yelp of joy marked a new era in Michael Jackson's career when "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" hit 36 years earlier. Max Martin's satin-smooth production helped, too, vaulting "Can't Feel My Face" straight to Number One on the pop charts with Scandinavian efficiency. But Tesfaye's showstopping vocal performance is what makes it an instant classic. He spends the song remaking himself as a pop giant – cleverly disguising his obsession with drugs beneath a metaphor about a dangerously hot fling, and playing down his angst-y tendencies until there's just a hint of existential pain in his lighter-than-air falsetto. By the time the song is over, you'll do anything for another hit.
Celebrity culture, Trends, Fashion, etc.
From CNN’s review of pop culture “transformations” in 2015:
- Bruce Jenner becomes Caitlyn Jenner.
- Taylor Swift as a business powerhouse.
- The fall of “family friendly” celebs such as Bill Cosby and the Duggar family.
- Celebrity breakups such as Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez, and Miss Piggy and Kermit.
- Changes in late-night television.
- Adele becomes a megastar.
Adele was already successful with two albums, "19" and "21," but she became the biggest success story of the year in the music industry with her third project, "25."
Within days of its release in November, "25" became the top-selling album of 2015. Fans felt all of the feels about her single "Hello," and she thrilled viewers with her appearances and scored a top-rated concert special on NBC. Her North American tour sold out within minutes.
With her current momentum, we predict that 2016 will also be the year of Adele.
The Wall Street Journal’s list of the “10 best pop culture moments of 2015.”
-
The success of Fox’s Empire, which has more than 10 million viewers tuning in each week to follow the ups and downs of the Lyons, a hip-hop family behind a powerful media empire.
- Mad Men says goodbye with Don Draper discovering Coke.
- Katy Perry headlined the halftime show for the Super Bowl XLIX matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, but two unlikely participants ended up stealing the show: Missy Elliott and Left Shark.
- The Grateful Dead reunite.
- Taylor Swift kicks it with the Women’s World Cup soccer champions.
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuts trailers on Monday Night Football and crashes the internet.
- The Game of Thrones finale leaves the fate of Jon Snow up in the air.
- Adele’s “25” sells more than 3 million copies in a week, beating a longstanding sales record held by NSync.
- Caitlyn Jenner declares she is Cait.
-
Go Set a Watchman makes Atticus Finch a racist.
He is known as the noble hero of Harper Lee’s 1960 novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”: a father who raises his children to be empathetic and kind, a lawyer in the segregated South who defends a black man against false charges. Gregory Peck won an Oscar for playing Atticus in a performance hailed for its decency and grace. These are the reasons why it was so shocking to learn that Lee’s earlier version of Atticus is a racist. The revelation came in July with the publication of “Go Set a Watchman,” which Lee had originally submitted in 1957 only to rework it as “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (“Go Set a Watchman” was published by HarperCollins, which, like The Wall Street Journal, is owned by News Corp.) In his review for the Journal, Sam Sacks wrote that the new book “delivers a startling rebuttal to the shining idealism of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’”Peck’s son, meanwhile, said his father would have been disturbed by the decision to publish “Go Set a Watchman.” It was a literary twist no one saw coming.
Purewow’s best and worst fashion trends of 2015.
Among the best:
- A-Line miniskirts
- Ponchos
- Sophisticated plaid
- Lace-up flats
- Athleisure-inspired outfits
- One-shoulder tops and dresses
- Culottes
Considered the worst:
- Too-long sleeves
- "Naked” dresses
- Furry slides
- Yeezy season 2
- Off-the-shoulder tops that make it impossible to move your arms
- Cropped flares
- Floor-sweeping carwash skirts
Like most things, the carwash skirt is fine (nay, chic) when done in moderation. Add a few inches and an aggressive print, though, and you’ve lost us.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s picks for “top trends and worst crimes of fashion.”
Considered among the best trends:
- Tops and dresses which bare shoulders
- Wearing comfortable trainers with evening dresses
- The crop of structured lace dresses
Picks for the worst fashion mistakes:
- Micro bags the size of a woman’s hand
- Puffer jackets and vests
- Sarong pants
- Furry shoes
"Excuse me, is that a ferret on your foot?"
"Uh, no actually, they're my $2000 Gucci shoes."
I kid you not, it'll set you back just over $2000 to buy a pair of goat-hair slip-ons that look like small, furry animals hitching a ride on each foot. And it wasn't just Gucci; five or six other designers joined in, sending hairy feet down the runway.
Now, I don't mind a bit of short pony hair, and I love a sheepskin-lined boot, but pop the sheepskin on the outside like a goatee and you've lost me, which is exactly what Tibi did in its A/W15 show.
Suffice to say, we can all be grateful we don't live in the northern hemisphere, where people with more money than sense might be able to logically explain why they've covered their feet with animal hair.
According to Twitter, these are the most retweeted tweets of 2015.
10. Caitlyn Jenner’s first tweet — 259,000 retweets
9. Leonard Nimoy’s final tweet, before his death — 277,000 retweets
8. Niall Horan of One Direction wished his bandmate Liam Payne a happy birthday — 324,000 retweets
7. Kanye West urges people to “Please: Do everything you possibly can in one lifetime.” — 336,000 retweets
6. King Salman of Saudia Arabia tweeted a blessing and message of encouragement to his new subjects after assuming the throne — 370,000 retweets
5. Louis Tomlinson of One Direction tweeted a message thanking the group’s fans for their support — 415,000 retweets
4. President Obama tweeted a message commending and agreeing with the Supreme Court’s decision to recognize marriage equality — 447,000 retweets
3. Liam Payne of One Direction tweeted a message acknowledging the five year anniversary of the group — 500,000 retweets
2. Zayn Malik of One Direction tweets a message supporting the band’s single “Drag Me Down” after he left the group — 571,000 retweets
1. Harry Styles of One Direction tweeted a message saying: “All the love as always. H” — 751,000 retweets
Also, the Twitter topics and hashtags that dominated 2015 trends:
|
Music |
Tv |
News |
Politics |
1. |
#OneDirection |
#KCA
|
#jobs |
#tcot |
2. |
#GOT7 |
#TeenChoice
|
#Quran |
#LoveWins |
3. |
#NowPlaying |
#ALDubEBTamangPanahon
|
#ISIS |
#auspol |
4. |
#EXO |
#더쇼
|
#PrayForParis |
#leadership |
5. |
#FifthHarmony |
#AMAs
|
#LoveWins |
#GOPDebate |
6. |
#방탄소년단 |
#TheWalkingDead
|
#CharlieHebdo |
#WakeUpAmerica |
7. |
#iHeartAwards |
#Empire
|
#JeSuisCharlie |
#cdnpoli |
8. |
#MTVEMA |
#PLL
|
#BlackLivesMatter |
#UniteBlue |
9. |
#VMA |
#RisingStar
|
#地震 |
#Obama |
10. |
#BigBang |
#BieberRoast
|
#SandraBland |
#GE2015 |
The biggest “goodbyes and new beginnings in pop culture,” according to MSNBC:
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After months of speculation and a high-profile interview with Diane Sawyer in April, former Olympian turned reality star Caitlyn Jenner made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair.
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The sexually explicit and critically reviled literary phenomenon 50 Shades of Grey had its long awaited cinematic treatment in February, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
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Saturday Night Live turns 40.
- No performer had a bigger breakout year than comedian Amy Schumer.
-
The mounting allegations against iconic comedian Bill Cosby that resurfaced in late 2014 of sexual assault and drugging—and which he has vehemently denied—continued throughout this year. By now, more than 50 women have come forward, some of whom were featured on the cover of New York magazine.
- Jared from Subway goes to jail for child pornography.
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In another sordid story involving allegations of sexual abuse, the conservative reality TV family the Duggars saw their squeaky image fall to pieces when past accusations of child molestation against eldest son and right-wing activist Josh Duggar resurfaced in May. TLC subsequently canceled the family’s 19 Kids & Counting and, to add insult to injury, Duggar was linked to the infamous hacking of the Ashley Madison website.
- Jon Stewart exits The Daily Show, and the Trevor Noah era begins.
- David Letterman says goodbye, and Stephen Colbert says hello.
- Adele and Drake dominate the music charts.
- Director Andrew Jarecki’s true crime documentary series The Jinx, about alleged killer Robert Durst, became a breakout hit for HBO.
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Charlie Sheen confirmed he’s infected with the HIV virus in a shocking interview on NBC’s Today.
- Fifty-five years after the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the follow-up to Harper Lee’s book, Go Set a Watchman was released to controversy.
- 2015 was a huge year for nostalgia. Rocky, Jurassic Park, and Mad Max all returned to huge commercial success with brand-new iterations, but by far the biggest comeback of the year came in the form of Star Wars.
- Hollywood’s wage gap became a bigger issue and a public discussion.
Gender disparity in salaries for actors and actresses took center stage early this year at the Academy Awards, when Best Supporting Actress winner Patricia Arquette called out a double standard when it comes to paying women who grace the stage and screen. The conversation picked up steam throughout the year, especially after A-lister Jennifer Lawrence penned an essay in the feminist newsletter LennyLetter, asking rhetorically: “Why do I make less than my male co‑stars?“ Despite some pushback, Lawrence’s rallying cry drew widespread support from many members of the Hollywood community — even Democratic presidential candidate from Hillary Clinton.