Best Pop-R&B Album
“American Teen” by Khalid
The unifying theme of Khalid’s debut album is youth, but the 19-year-old Texan presents his adolescence with remarkable fullness, reflecting an incredibly broad emotional spectrum. “8TEEN” captures the anxious wanderlust of being just on the cusp of adulthood, while “Young Dumb & Broke” is energetic without ever letting go of the bubbling undercurrents of insecurity that inevitably swirl through any coming-of-age story.
Khalid blurs genre lines throughout the album. On “Coaster” he sings over almost nothing but a piano, while “Another Sad Love Song” features vocal harmonies and a pop beat. The thread holding it all together is Khalid’s airy, emotional croon. His voice is both optimistic and vulnerable, allowing the album to be reflective without ever being self-absorbed, soft without being saccharine. It has all the heart of R&B without ever relinquishing a certain pop vitality.
Khalid’s angst is measured with pride and his confusion is measured with joy. His growth feels personal and realistic. “American Teen” is multidimensional in a beautiful way — mature yet youthful, melancholy yet delightful.
— Ben Hitchcock, A&E Editor
Best Horror Movie
“Get Out”
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut “Get Out” is surprising in a number of ways. At the most basic level, it’s an incredibly well-written, well-acted and well-directed movie. Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams star as Chris and Rose, a mixed-race couple en route to visit Rose’s white upper-class family for the weekend.
It’s hard to go into much more detail without revealing major plot points, but if that teaser sounds like it could be a comedy just as easily as a horror movie, that’s because it is. Peele shows impressive directing chops in this movie, which at times is hilarious, horrifying and a little of both.
Perhaps most importantly, “Get Out” is self-aware on an uncomfortable level. Many of its characters parody and reflect the white liberal demographic — the same white liberal demographic that swarmed en masse to see the movie in theaters. Parts of the film undoubtedly had audience members squirming in their seats, the desired effect of any provocative and relevant work of art.
“Get Out” is the perfect blend of horror, comedy and social commentary America desperately needs.
— Dan Goff, A&E Editor
Best Television Season Finale
“Girls”
Prior to the sixth and final season of “Girls,” many speculated about what an endgame would look like for a series that had been casually fumbling through protagonists’ lives for five seasons. The confusion at the prospect of the end of “Girls” is actually a testament to how skillfully showrunners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner have rendered the niche slice of life of four exceedingly flawed, privileged white twenty-somethings in Brooklyn. “Girls” has never conformed to the conventions of dramatic structure, instead opting for a messy and episodic yet emotionally true narrative and posing a fundamental question. Can these characters break out of their selfish, destructive ways and change into autonomous, fully realized adults?
“Girls” explores this question to unparalleled heights in its heartbreakingly superb final season. Dunham and Konner have never been interested in depicting characters on a clear trajectory to self-actualization. Accordingly, Ray (Alex Karpovsky) and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) — easily the show’s most likeable characters who make sincere advances toward success and contentment — receive minimal screen time across the season’s 10 episodes. Instead, the season focuses on Hannah (Dunham), the show’s painfully self-centered heroine who gets pregnant, attempts to make career strides and detaches herself from naive ideals of friendship and love — all authentic storylines with a compelling undercurrent of despair and denial.
The sixth season is “Girls” at its best, as well as a shining example of a serial narrative that doesn’t overstay its welcome and stays grounded in its characters.
— Darby Delaney, Senior Associate
Best Sci-Fi Movie
“Arrival”
It seems almost unfair to put “Arrival” in the category of sci-fi films, because it outshines any other movie in recent memory. Admittedly, the plot is without a doubt in the realm of science fiction — it’s about the arrival of alien spacecrafts to Earth — but the movie’s excellent writing delves deeper than the typical alien flick.
Most remarkable is the movie’s unbelievable twist. It’s hard to explain a final twist without giving away any spoilers, but suffice it to say that it’s the rare plot twist which simultaneously surprises viewers and makes it feel as though everything in the movie has fallen into place and tied together beautifully.
But it’s not just the impressive twist that makes “Arrival” so noteworthy. The film’s main conflict is not humans repelling alien invaders, as one might expect. Rather, it’s a conflict over how to approach those who are new and alien to us — Dr. Louise Banks’ (Amy Adams) diplomacy and understanding or the military’s hostile and aggressive response.
It’s a universal question — how do we respond to the unknown, to that which is different and even, at times, scary? “Arrival” stands out because it asks these hard questions and urges self-contemplation. Perhaps most impressively, it raises all these issues while still being immensely entertaining.
— Thomas Roades, Senior Associate
Best Podcast
“S-Town”
“S-Town” is the latest project from the creators of both seasons of “Serial,” but don’t call it season three of “Serial.” This new project narrated by Brian Reed is not a mystery, but a tragedy.
“S-Town” follows the life of John B. McLemore, a haunted yet brilliant man stuck in his town of Woodstock, Ala. (which McLemore calls “S—t Town”). What starts as a lead on a potential unsolved murder quickly becomes a meditation on McLemore’s tragic life.
The podcast released all seven episodes simultaneously, a change from the weekly and biweekly format of “Serial.” This bingeable story weaves in and out of many facets of McLemore, dissecting difficult themes about life, legacy and entrapment.
Throughout the course of the seven episodes, Reed delivers the narrative in such a personal manner, it feels as if he is telling this story directly to you. Be prepared to laugh and cry and feel disturbed but also hopeful. “S-Town” is not easily summed up — it’s philosophical, anecdotal, demanding yet ultimately rewarding.
This story of a small town in Alabama is one of the most important and special pieces of pop culture to come out of this year.
— Sam Henson, Senior Associate
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