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Staff List: The 20 Best Pride Albums of 2024

Best Pride albums of 2024: The 20 best LPs from LGBTQ+ artists this year

“We liked you better sad” has been a too-common cry of our biggest pop stars the past decade or so, but the unanimous acclaim (seven Grammy nominations for the set and its singles) and tremendous commercial returns (still in the Billboard 200’s top 10 after half a year) for Hit shows that joy and self-actualization can be just as quick a path to artistic success as misery and alienation. She seems to be having more fun with her music these days, playing with unique drum patterns and softer rock guitar melodies — as seen in album standout “Juna.” She’s also feeling more sensual in her lyrics, coming into her sexuality by musing in the aforementioned track, “You make me wanna go dancing/ Try on feminine/ Go buy a new dress/ Slip off a new dress.” As a whole, Charm is just as the title suggests — charismatic, whimsical and a rich showcase of Clairo’s songwriting talent. Whether you feel most welcomed by the bisexual anthem “Akira,” with its snapping pop-funk beat and “Pony”-like vocal belches, the bossa-novafied sex romp “Blissing” (which practically short-circuits with ecstasy on the post-chorus), or the yacht rock-ready electric piano and disco pulse of the home-video-filming “Noah,” you’re sure to find something to serve as your own situationship singalong.

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