2024, the year for music and Los Angeles sports teams. Some of you may recall a google form that went out inviting you to vote on your favorite album of each individual month of 2024. You had options to vote for some of the most popular artists albums like “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” by Billie Eilish, “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar, “COWBOY CARTER” by Beyonce, and “Alligator Bites Never Heal” by Doechii. Here are the results with a short description of each of the winning albums.
Based on the votes received by the students from HMSA our best album of the months rankings are:
12th- “The Genuine Articulate” (The Alchemist) September
11th- “Ate” (Stray Kids) July
10th- “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” (beabadoobee) August
9th- “VULTURES 1” (¥$, Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign) February
8th- “WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU” (Future & Metro Boomin) April
7th & 6th – Tie between “HARDSTONE PSYCHO” (Don Toliver) “June & american dream” (21 Savage) January
5th- “SOS Deluxe: LANA” (SZA) December
4th- “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” (Future & Metro Boomin) March
3rd- “GNX” (Kendrick Lamar) November
2nd- “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” (Billie Eilish) May
1st- “CHROMAKOPIA” (Tyler The Creator) October
January
The options for albums in January were “american dream” by 21 Savage, “ORQUIDEAS” by Kali Uchis, “2 Faced” by LUCKI, and “How Do You Sleep At Night? With You” by Teezo Touchdown.
With the 94 student responses our winning album received 29 overall votes, that album was “american dream” by 21 Savage. “american dream” is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with 15 songs adding up to 50 minutes. Those guest artists were Doja Cat, Young Thug, Metro Boomin, Lil Durk, Travis Scott, Summer Walker, Brent Faiyaz, Burna Boy, Tommy Newport, Mikky Ekko, and Mariah the Scientist. This album had a bigger statement inside of it that most may not have caught. 21 expresses feelings of anger, pain, and rage throughout this album. This album was a tribute to the immigration troubles that ensued in the intervening years and the life of the American dream. “american dream” was made with the intention of giving people an inside look into what it is like to grow up in “the hood” and the mental state and struggles you go through when living through it.
February
The options for best album of February were “With YOU-tg- EP” by TWICE, “2093” by Yeat, “VULTURES 1” by Kanye West, ¥$ & Ty Dolla $ign, and “LLAMADA PERDIDA” by Prince Royce.
Our winning album for the month of February was “VULTURES 1” by Kanye West, ¥$ & Ty Dolla $ign with 26 votes. “VULTURES 1” is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with 15 songs adding up to a playtime of 52 minutes. There were only 2 guest artists on this album on the album’s most popular song “CARNIVAL” being Rich The Kid, and Playboi Carti. Although this album had no deep story or significance this album was Kanye West’s 1st collaboration album since 2018 on “KIDS SEE GHOSTS” with Kid Cudi.
March
The optional albums for the month of March were “GUTS (spilled)” by Olivia Rodrigo, “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” by Future & Metro Boomin, and “COWBOY CARTER” by Beyoncé.
The favored album was “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” by Future & Metro Boomin with 48 votes. “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with 17 songs adding up to a 1 hour playtime. There are 5 guest artists on this album being The Weekend, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Kendrick Lamar, and Rick Ross. One of the most popular and known songs on this album was “Like That.” This song brought a lot of attention to this album as it was one of the first songs directed towards the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef. Future & Metro Boomin have collaborated many times over the time of their careers, starting with Metro’s signature drop “If Young Metro don’t trust you, …” warbled by Future himself. To see this very strong duo still have faith in each other after their first collaboration in 2013. Future and Metro may not trust you but they definitely trust each other.
April
The provided album options for the month of April were “Bryson Tiller” by Bryson Tiller, “WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU” by Future & Metro Boomin, “PARTYNEXTDOOR” by PARTYNEXTDOOR, and “Might Delete Later” by J. Cole.
The winning album for April was “WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU” by Future & Metro Boomin with 28 overall votes. As some may know, similar to the way series of books come out the album “WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU” is a sequel album to their first collaborative album of the year “WE DON’T TRUST YOU”. Unlike “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” this album had a much softer approach and is surrounded by the ideas of what it’s like to be in love. This album consists of 25 tracks adding up to a play time of 1 hour and 29 minutes. Future & Metro Boomin got a group of 6 guest artists being The Weekend, Brownstone, Ty Dolla $ign, J.Cole, Lil Baby, and A$AP Rocky. Metro and Future have been working together since 2017. Their artistic abilities when it comes to music combine so well together; their level of musicality together is unmatched. Many believe this is one of the best and strongest musical duos currently in the industry.
May
For the month of May the optional albums were “GHETTO SUPERSTAR: THE INTRO” by DaBaby, “Armageddon” by aespa, “Better Off Alone” by A Boogie wit da Hoodie, & “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” by Billie Eilish.
The favored album was “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” By Billie Eilish with 55 votes. Billie didn’t have any guest artist on this album, but even without the extra help the album has 10 songs and one album clip. The album has an overall playtime of 44 minutes including the album clip. Some may have heard about her previous album “Happier Than Ever” which Billie and her brother Finneas describe as their “identity crisis album.” In an interview with Apple Music about “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” Billie and Finneas were reminded of their last album and then asked about this album and they responded “I’m comfortable in who I am now.’ I feel like I know who I am now.” I feel like it’s so beautiful to see how Billie and her brother went through such a process of self discovery in that span of time and get to listen to the difference. Each and every song on this album has a very deep and personal meaning to Billie and a lot of her listeners. Many were distraught when Billie Eilish didn’t win album of the year at the Grammys because this album wasn’t only ground breaking for Billie or Finneas but for their listeners as well.
June
The optional albums for the month of June were “BRAT” by Charli xcx, “HARDSTONE PSYCHO” by Don Toliver, “EXODO” by Peso Pluma, and “CRASH” by Kehlani.
The winning album was “HARDSTONE PSYCHO” by Don Toliver. “HARDSTONE PSYCHO” is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with a total of 20 songs, 5 Discs and 3 music videos adding up to a playtime of 1 hour and 12 minutes. Don had a total of 9 guest artists consisting of Kodak Black, Charlie Wilson, Cash Cobain, Travis Scott, Future, Metro Boomin, Teezo Touchdown, Lil Uzi Vert, and Yeat. Some of the most popular songs on this album are “TORE UP”, “BROTHER STONE”, “ATTITUDE”, “BANDIT”, and “NEW DROP”. Each of these songs have blown up across all platforms and created a lot more attention for Don from before even though he already had plenty beforehand. This was Don’s 5th album (not including CHOPNOTSLOP remixes and Deluxe versions) and it was groundbreaking.
July
For the month of July the album choices were “Mirada” by Ivan Cornejo, “Ate” by Stray Kids, “PERO NO TE ENAMORES” by Fuerza Regida, and “Swag Season” by Soulja Boy.
The winning album for the month of July was “Ate” by Stray Kids. “Ate” is a K-Pop album with 8 songs adding up to a playtime of 23 minutes. This is Stray Kids 9th mini album. This may be a K-Pop album but don’t be confused; this album not only had Korean in it but also English. Stray Kids is one of the most popular male K-Pop groups out here at the moment. There are 8 members in this K-Pop group and people adore them.
August
For the month of August the album options were “VULTURES 2” by Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, and ¥$, “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” by beabadoobee, “Short n’ Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter, and “Alligator Bites Never Heal” by Doechii.
The winning album for the month of August was “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” by beabadoobee. The album “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” is an alternative album with 14 songs adding up to a play time of 41 minutes. This album was made as an outlet for beabadoobee to figure out what was going on in her head at the time. In an interview with apple music she says “I just had so much to say, I didn’t really think about the way it sounded.” This whole album was just like a big therapy session and a release of all those pent up feelings she had inside.
September
For the month of September the album options were “The Genuine Articulate” by The Alchemist, “143” by Katy Perry, “UNA SEMANA INCREIBLE” by La Pantera, and “Rockstar Status” by Lil Surf.
For the month of September the favored album was “The Genuine Articulate” by The Alchemist. “The Genuine Articulate” by The Alchemist is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with 8 songs adding up to 22 minutes. The Alchemist only has one feature on this album on the opening song with ScHoolboy Q. There are 4 collab songs on the album with artists like Action Bronson, Big Body Bes, Havoc, Conway The Machine, and Larry June. As an artist who’s been in the game for many years all his collaborators and this album speaks on his versatility.
October
For the month of October the albums you could vote for were, “GLORIOUS” by GloRilla, “TYLA +” by Tyla, “SPILL THE FEELS’” by SEVENTEEN, and “CHROMAKOPIA” by Tyler, The Creator.
For the month of October the favored album was “CHROMAKOPIA” by Tyler, The Creator. Not only was this album the favored for October but also our HIGHEST OVERALL VOTED ALBUM OF 2025!! “CHROMAKOPIA” is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with 14 songs adding up to a playtime of 53 minutes. Tyler has 7 songs with feature artists such as Daniel Caesar, GloRilla, Sexyy Red, Lil Wayne, Latoiya Williams, ScHoolboy Q, Santigold, Lola Young, and Doechii. With Tyler mentioning local places like Leuzinger High School and the large amount of advertisement done with his tour trailer and still being on tour currently his album blew up. This album’s versatility and storytelling is unmatched and is loved by many. Tyler is such a versatile artist with such a versatile fan base his album took the world by storm.
November
For the month of November the album options were, “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar, “Eternal Atake” by Lil Uzi Vert, and “LOST IN HEAVEN” by Chase Atlantic.
For the month of November the favored album was “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar. “GNX” also made it into HMSA’s top 3 albums of 2024, taking 3rd place. “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar is a Hip-Hop/Rap album with 12 songs adding up to a playtime of 44 minutes.
December
For the month of December the optional albums to vote for were, “SOS Deluxe: LANA” by SZA, “Strategy” by Twice, “Missionary” by Snoop Dogg and Dr.Dre, and “HOP” by Stray kids.
For the month of December “SOS Deluxe: LANA” by SZA took the win.
For more on music, check out Mariah’s “HMSA’s Grammys.”
