| 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2 November 2018 | |||
| Recorded | c. 2017–2018 | |||
| Studio | Lighthouse Studios, Berlin | |||
| Genre | Synth-pop | |||
| Length | 36:17 | |||
| Label |
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| Producer | Molly Nilsson | |||
| Molly Nilsson chronology | ||||
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| Singles from 2020 | ||||
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2020 (also written as 20/20, Twenty Twenty, and Twenty-Twenty) is the eighth studio album by Swedish singer-songwriter Molly Nilsson, released on 2 November 2018.
The album takes its title from the year 2020, [1] inspired by posters for the 2020 Summer Olympics that Nilsson saw during a trip to Tokyo in 2017, and by the then-upcoming 2020 United States presidential election. [2] [3] [4] The fact that the year is a leap year and its similarity to "20/20 vision" also inspired Nilsson. [5]
Nilsson started working on 2020 when the release of her previous album Imaginations was delayed. [6] As usual, the album was recorded in her own Lighthouse Studios in Berlin. [2]
2020 is set in the then-near future and is "at least a little bit of a concept album". [7]
The album has been described as political and anti-capitalist, [8] [9] with one writer saying it is about the "thrill and terror of living in late-capitalist end times". [10] It deals with topics including the patriarchy, [11] climate change, [12] gun control, [4] and the passage of time. [2] [12] Several writers highlighted the album's optimistic outlook despite the topics it addresses. [2] [12]
The album's first single "Serious Flowers" was released on 9 July 2018, along with a music video. [13] A second music video, for "A Slice of Lemon", followed on 10 August 2018. [14] On 11 September 2018, a third music video was released for "Days of Dust". [7]
2020 was released on vinyl, CD, cassette tape, and as a digital download on 2 November 2018. [15] It was available for streaming on NPR a week before its official release. [8] It was made available on Spotify around half a year after its original release. [10]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [16] |
| Les Oreilles Curieuses | 8.5/10 [4] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 7.5/10 [1] |
| Loud and Quiet | 7/10 [12] |
The album received positive reviews. Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian rated the album "similarly excellent" as Nilsson's preceding album Imaginations (2017), [17] while Shaad D'Souza of The Fader declared it her "best album to date". [10]
In a positive review, Tim Sendra of AllMusic called the album Nilsson's "warmest, most accessible album yet", concluding that it "features Nilsson at her best as a songwriter, performer, and crafter of lightly gloomy synth pop". [16] In another positive review, Claire Biddles of The Line of Best Fit noted the "warmth of [Nilsson's] arrangements and lyrical sentiment" and described the album as an "excellent record about salvaging hope from worldly and interpersonal wreckage". [1] Ollie Rankine, in a positive review for Loud and Quiet , noted Nilsson's "vigour and optimism" in the face of a "gloomy forecast of our collective future". [12]
In a review of "Days of Dust", Sophie Kemp of Pitchfork said that the song "takes [its] listener to the final golden hour before the metaphorical end of the world" and noted its nostalgic, ironic, and macabre undertones. [18] Leah Mandel of NPR highlighted "Blinded by the Night" as "the record's most haunting track". [2]
All tracks are written by Molly Nilsson.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Every Night is New" | 3:45 |
| 2. | "A Slice of Lemon" | 3:52 |
| 3. | "Out of the Blue" | 2:47 |
| 4. | "Your Shyness" | 3:32 |
| 5. | "Intermezzo: My Mental Motorcycle" | 3:10 |
| 6. | "Serious Flowers" | 4:03 |
| 7. | "I'm Your Fan" | 2:35 |
| 8. | "Gun Control" | 3:51 |
| 9. | "Days of Dust" | 3:32 |
| 10. | "Blinded by the Night" | 5:00 |
| Total length: | 36:17 | |
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