This interview originally aired on "In the Moment" on SDPB Radio.
David Hersrud doesn’t usually pay attention to the lists proclaiming the best albums of all time.
But a recent list from Apple Music caught his eye. The list included the top 100 albums and crowned “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” as their number one pick.
The 1998 neo-soul, R&B album is also number 28 in Paste Magazine’s Top 300 list (top pick: Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life”) and it snagged the number 10 spot on the Rolling Stone’s list (top pick: Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”).
That got him thinking as he put together his list of the top albums of 2024 so far. Seven of his top 10 albums were from female artists.
Here are three albums by female artists Hersrud recommends:
Arooj Aftab: “Night Reign”
“Night Reign” is the fourth album from the Pakistani-American singer and composer. She won the best global music performance award at the Grammys last year.
Hersrud says she’s truly a world artist as her music transcends jazz, pop, classical, Hindustani and fusion music, making her impossible to pigeonhole into one genre.
He says she’s especially talented in taking a jazz classic like “Autumn Leaves,” which is the 11th most recorded jazz standard of all time, and making it sound like the listener is hearing it for the first time.
Laufey: “Bewitched (Goddess Edition)”
Laufey is an Icelandic singer-songwriter who started out as a cello soloist with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra when she was 15 years old.
When she graduated from the Berklee College of Music, Laufey switched emphasis to her vocal talents. She now releases jazz-inspired pop music.
Her second album “Bewitched” won best traditional pop vocal album at the Grammys. This year, she released the "Goddess Edition" of the album with four new songs.
China Forbes: “The Road”
China Forbes is the lead singer of the band Pink Martini, an orchestra that plays classical, Latin, pop and jazz music.
She’s also a co-writer of many of the band’s songs on their seven albums.
“The Road” is her first solo album in 15 years.