Proving that she's both fearless and capable of almost anything musically, Dolly Parton has taken her induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame seriously and made a rock album built from a slew of favorite mainstream covers and several originals she wrote for the occasion. The respect she commands as a worldwide celebrity is reflected by the massive guest list whose vocal tracks were recorded elsewhere and mixed together in Nashville by producer Kent Wells and a veritable horde of engineers. Vocalists who make an appearance on the songs that they originally made famous include Sting ("Every Breath You Take"), Steve Perry ("Open Arms"), Elton John ("Don't Let the Sun Go Down"), Debbie Harry ("Heart of Glass"), and Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr ("Let It Be"). The voice of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant returns from the grave to sing a verse and duet on the choruses in the epic and appropriate closer, "Free Bird."  While Parton could have allowed a smile to peak out here or there on this massive undertaking, she plays it straight throughout.  Not surprisingly, women receive commendable attention as songwriters and guest players with performances by Ann Wilson, Parton's goddaughter Miley Cyrus, Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, Lizzo and others. There are also flashes where Parton stops playing rock star. Her original "World on Fire" is a plea for unity and common sense to will out: "Now tell me what is truth/ Have we all lost sight/ Of common decency/ Of the wrong and right/ How do we heal this great divide/ Do we care enough to try?" What makes these 30 tracks work is that no one can sell it quite like Parton. While her voice strains on some  numbers—she's always been more of a careful interpreter than a furious belter—she's full of old pro wiles and is the soul of authenticity throughout; she gives her all to every number. In the rousing "(I Can't Get No) "Satisfaction" with P!nk and Brandy Carlile, Parton's between-line exhortations are heartfelt and spot on. Rather than arty re-interpretations or an empty marketing concept, this is an abundance of what Parton does best: feel the songs she's singing.  © Robert Baird/Qobuz

It’s a late christmas present from Post Malone (extremely late). Beerbongs & Bentleys has arrived 4 months after it’s original scheduled release date of December, with the artist needing more time to perfect the record. And it’s worth the wait, as the jam packed LP has a star studded line up, with Nicki Minaj, Ty Dolla $ign and G-Eazy among the featured names. It’s 18 tracks in total, including the smash hits Rockstar (alongside Kanye West’s prodigy 21 Savage) and Psycho, with the latter garnering Post his first number one single in the US. The album as a whole is Post doing what he does best, auto-tuned vocals that flow like a meandering river over wavy synths and trap 808’s. However, unlike his debut album Stoney (2016), he has added some live drums to the mix (Over Now), as well as a more acoustic track with  Stay. Tracks like Paranoid, Rich & Sad and Over Now show Malone’s vulnerability despite the money and the fame but the predominant themes of modern day Hip-Hop are evidently overriding on this LP. Post is a master of creating catchy hooks that can be listened to in any setting and after infiltrating the airwaves with his breakout tune White Iverson (2015), he hasn’t looked back since. He’s the modern day Rockstar!  © Aidan Nickerson/ Qobuz

The Diamond Collection is a nine-track compilation from rapper Post Malone. The record features all eight of his diamond-certified singles, from his very first, "White Iverson," through "Congratulations," "Rockstar," and pop smashes "Sunflower" and "Circles." It also features his 2023 single "Chemical" from that year's Austin.© Liam Martin /TiVo

For Playboi Carti, red means many things: the colour of the Bloods, the gang with which he is affiliated; the colour of the lean that gives him inspiration; and of blood, because on Whole Lotta Red, his second album, The Atlanta rapper turns into a vampire. This effort, which appeared in the twilight of 2020, just when it was least expected, could wake the dead with its great billows of saturated trap and penetrating bass, and it closed out the year beautifully. All the Atlanta sound is here, condensed into twenty-four tracks, from codeine odes such as Sky or Teen X (featuring the ubiquitous Future), to cries of wild monsters, sometimes so deafening that you might imagine yourself in hell, like on King Vamp, F1lthy, or the unstoppable No Sl33p. "When I go to sleep I dream about murder", he intones on this last, as if to remind us that monsters not only populate this album, but also the streets Playboi Carti ran during his adolescence. As executive producer of the album, we find Kanye West, also a guest on the track Go2DaMoon, which introduces an absolutely monstrous banger called Stop Breathing. Whole Lotta Red is a masterclass in contrasts. Because despite the unity of the productions based on the TR-808, Playboi Carti masters everything: the slow groove of New N3on (a huge favourite from producer Maaly Raw), the bass that drives the crazy Punk Monk, the most melodic productions from beatmaker Art Dealer, or the sensitivity of F33l Lik3 Dyin, which closes this fantastic album. So the rumors were true: Atlanta is indeed home to the one and only vampire of rap. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

XXX is a bloated album; 19-track albums are a thing of the early millennium past. But this bloat is a gluttonous glory. Danny Brown is not a retread or nostalgia-pandering schmub. XXX -- named for his gutter-filthy mouth and his 30th birthday -- is an accomplishment. Where else would one correlate coitus with Stacey Lattisaw? Danny is one of his generation's most on-the-edge champions. Every song is telling: "XXX" is his ode to suicide; on "Die Like a Rockstar" he name-checks every star's downward spiral, including Chris Farley, Heath Ledger, and Belushi. XXX's greatest tone is Danny's out-of-control, nasal "Young Zee" snarl -- it's when he's at his nastiest ("How about me and your girlfriend, you with it?") and delusional ("Make Sarah Palin deep throat 'til she hiccup"), but most musical ("Bruiser Brigade" is about a sociopath crew, ready to set it off with cheap brew). For the last third of the album, Danny raps in a normal tenor -- it's startling. The production is dark, schizo, halting, and Detroit mechanical.© Vincent Thomas /TiVo

With Man On The Moon III: The Chosen One, Kid Cudi finally delivers the long overdue finale of his cosmic album series which started way back in 2009. For this release, Kid Cudi reunites with the old crew, including: Dot Da Genius, Mike Dean, Plain Pat, Evan Mat, and features new collaborators like, Phoebe Bridgers on "Lovin' Me" and Pop Smoke and Skepta on "Show Out," providing fans with a more transformative experience. The album is split into four sections, each attempting to capture Cudi's journey of self-discovery and battle against inner demons. Cudi is known to be raw and unfiltered about his struggles with depression and loneliness; his personal yet vague lyrics are able to resonate with so many fans. Tying these visions back to the album's cover art, the distinct division between the left and right sides of his face speaks to a state of mind of his internal dilemmas. While a "good rap" involves several qualities—lyrics, wordplay, cadence, and flow—that serve to create an intimate resonance between fans, Kid Cudi holds his own speciality in mushed humming (there are countless memes and videos dedicated to it) and melodic talking over solid beats produced by his crew. The humming is also forefront on the single "Tequila Shot." Instead of his usual "self development" lyrical backstory, "Tequila Shot" portrays the accumulated inner turbulence that he's failed to fight off. Kid Cudi revealed that this was one of the first tracks created for this album; it's a perfect transition into the trilogy's final chapter. © Abbie Wang/Qobuz

With their fourth album, All the Right Reasons, Nickelback ditch any pretense of being a grunge band and finally acknowledge they're a straight-up heavy rock band. But where their previous albums roiled with anger, there's a surprisingly large sentimental streak running throughout All the Right Reasons, and it's not just limited to heart-on-sleeve power ballads like "Far Away" and "Savin' Me." Appropriately enough for an album that finds Nickelback's emotional palette opening up, they try a few new things here, adding more pianos, keyboards, and acoustic guitars to not just ballads, but a few of their big, anthemic rockers. All this makes for a more varied Nickelback album, but it doesn't really change their essence.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Upon receiving a nomination to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, Dolly Parton demurred, claiming that she wasn't rock & roll. The Rock Hall wound up inducting her, and she accepted the honor, deciding to deliver her first full-fledged rock album in return. Hence, Rockstar -- a star-studded double album where Dolly attempts every sound under the rock & roll sun. Parton splits her time covering (very) familiar classic rock tunes and writing made-to-order originals, only occasionally shutting the studio door so she can sing on her own. The combination of overblown renditions of songs you know by heart and cuts that feel as if they were tailored for album rock radio in 1990 does have some charms, especially because Dolly embraces the goofiness of the entire project: the album opens with a sketch of Parton "shredding" on guitar, as if it was a dangerous thing to do in 2023. Occasionally the cornball patter can be a bit much, especially on "What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You," an otherwise amiable rocker bookended with Stevie Nicks and Dolly exchanging canned barbs, but the silliness is preferable to playing it straight; the po-faced preaching of "What's Up?" falls flat. Parton proves to be a generous host at her party, yucking it up with both Ronnie McDowell and Rob Halford and crooning sweetly with Peter Frampton and Chris Stapleton alike; she even deigns to spend some time with Kid Rock. By the time Rockstar reaches "Free Bird," the party has been rolling on for two hours and is starting to feel a little tired -- it doesn't help that Parton is duetting with the ghost of Ronnie Van Zant, either -- but that doesn't erase the good spirits created by the rest of the record.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

U.K.-based rock/pop group Yonaka present their debut album, Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow. The band self-produced the record, giving it a cathartic sound in the process. Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow features the singles "Awake" and "Bad Company."© Liam Martin /TiVo

The Diamond Collection is a nine-track compilation from rapper Post Malone. The record features all eight of his diamond-certified singles, from his very first, "White Iverson," through "Congratulations," "Rockstar," and pop smashes "Sunflower" and "Circles." It also features his 2023 single "Chemical" from that year's Austin.© Liam Martin /TiVo

Ganger is the highly anticipated second album from Veeze, a Detroit rapper who has been attracting a fervent cult following since the release of his earliest singles and his 2019 debut Navy Wavy. Guest appearances on releases by fellow Detroiters like Babyface Ray and BandGang Lonnie Bands, as well as major Southern rap figures like Gucci Mane and Lil Baby, have helped tide fans over for his second project, along with sporadic singles and leaked snippets. Veeze's entire style seems to be centered around trying hard to sound unfazed, yet he does appear to be putting effort into his witty rhymes and clever pop culture references. His delivery on Ganger is even more mush-mouthed than it was before, but it fits the syrupy, not-quite-trap beats. The single "GOMD" and its remix with Lil Uzi Vert are both included, as well as tracks featuring Babyface Ray, Icewear Vezzo, Lil Yachty, and Lucki. Ganger earned mainstream press attention and cracked the Billboard 200 upon its release in 2023.© Paul Simpson /TiVo

"Russian Roulette," released weeks prior to Rated R, just hinted at Rihanna's sudden desire to provoke. Even with the realization that it is metaphorical, the song startles with its hesitant gasps, spinning cylinders, and verses that are glacially paced, where a cold piano line and the slight inflections in Rihanna's voice are front and center. And then there’s an audible shudder followed by a discharged bullet -- the abrupt end to one of Rated R’s most restrained moments. It’s not the only instance where Rihanna’s rise in fame, combined with being the victim in the decade’s highest-profile felonious assault, added up to a perfect-storm scenario for a creative overhaul. Rated R is more like Good Girl Gone Evil, or Abused Girl Full of Vengeful Rage, not Good Girl Gone Bad, where the only casualties were some dishes. The closest the set gets to upbeat pop is “Rude Boy,” and by any standard it is stern; needless to say, there is quite a difference between “Can you get it up?” and “You can stand under my umbrella.” Much of this daring album is absolutely over the top, bleak and sleek both lyrically and sonically, but it’s compelling, filled with as many memorably belligerent lines -- two of which, “I pitch with a grenade/Swing away if ya feeling brave” and “I’m such a fuckin’ lady,” set the tone early on -- as a rap album made ripe for dissection. “G4L,” over a low-slung and sleek production, is the most fantastical of all, in which Rihanna leads a band of homicidal women, opening with “I lick the gun when I’m done ‘cause I know that revenge is sweet” and “Any mothaf*cka wanna disrespect/Playin’ with fire finna get you wet.” The breakup song, “Fire Bomb,” even though it is also metaphorical, is a close second in terms of lyrical extremity: “I just wanna set you on fire so I won’t have to burn alone.” Some of the breathers -- the songs that are less intense -- hold the album back since Rihanna sounds detached from them. The one exception is the wistful, bittersweet “Photographs,” a rare instance of the singer dropping her guard, but it really sticks out since it is surrounded by material that has her taking the variably authentic roles of abused lover, dominatrix, and murderer. Whether the album seems ridiculous or spectacular (or both), Rihanna's complete immersion in the majority of the songs cannot be disputed. That is the one thing that is not up for debate.© Andy Kellman /TiVo