For NPR Music's hip-hop and R&B editor, no list could capture an accurate picture of the year, yet there's still value in calling out the albums that felt unignorable.
As a kid, the former Alabama Shakes singer/guitarist was told repeatedly she didn't look like a lead singer. "It made me sing ... louder and perform just as hard as I could," Howard says.
The former Alabama Shakes leader is in total control of her new album's genre-defying odyssey through this thing called life, evoking the mastery of another do-it-all maestro: Prince.
The Alabama Shakes singer exploded preconceptions with her 2019 solo debut. On What Now, a follow-up born from a few years of life-quaking resets, she's ready to leave any remaining limits behind.
