Clairy Browne

The Writing's On the Wall

Destiny's Child ·1999

"I was in high school when this came out and I used to dance to this in my bedroom all the time. I love 'Bills, Bills, Bills.' And, yeah, this was pre-... when there was four of them."

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Outkast ·2003

"Yeah I feel a little bit sorry for Big Boi in this because I feel like 'The Love Below' really steals the show. There's so much going on in this album that's such a broad influence. And even though it's all his old-school influence, he still manages to make shit sound really fresh."

New Amerykah, Pt. 1

Erykah Badu ·2008

"Since I was talking about Badu, I got 'New America.' So she's probably the only artist that I have consistently listened to for 15 years on a weekly basis. Even has super early stuff, and she's really, really evolved over the years."

Rid of Me

PJ Harvey ·1993

"I think I was listening to this when I was going through my super grungy phase and wearing mohair jumpers and sticking little bindis on my face... my first impression of her was this totally unapologetic, raw, not pretty, but really sexual woman. Y'know, she's like a fucking superhero."

channel ORANGE

Frank Ocean ·2012

"It's been a long time since I got obsessed with an album as a whole. I think what he's done here is totally brilliant. To me, he's reinvented R&B by using synthetic sounds in a kind of ironic way but made them fresh again."

Paranoid

Black Sabbath ·1970

"I like that song 'Paranoid.' I know everyone does, but I have this issue with misheard lyrics. I always thought it was 'tennis with my woman because she couldn't beat me if she tried.'"

The Essential Etta James

Etta James ·1993

"Etta James. It's the essential. It has everything on it. She is just such a formidable and dynamic, emotional soul singer. 'I Would Rather Go Blind' is my favorite song on this album. It just takes you everywhere. It just really rips your heart out. To me, it's like, yeah, it's perfect."

Black Reign

Queen Latifah ·1993

"She's tough. I like tough women. The song I love is 'U.N.I.T.Y.' It's a super rad feminist track. I just recently played it in a DJ set at my birthday party and everybody went off. Because she just doesn't take any shit from anybody."