Most music artists, when they find their sound and niche, tend to stick to it, growing their fanbase and only experimenting slightly within their genre. Sometimes, however, an artist will venture outside their typical sound, and test out an entirely different genre that is completely new to them and their fans. Whether they are successful is one thing, and whether they choose to take that success and run with it, transforming their sound to fit a brand-new genre is another—there is certainly a difference between an experimental album and a transitional album.
While more artists than you would think have released an album which, in hindsight, would become a transitional album, fewer artists have released an album which shows them testing out another genre only for that album. Even when they are wildly successful (and some of them have been, even resulting in Grammy wins), many artists revert to the sound they know for themselves after the fact. Here are nine albums for which an artist tested out an entirely different genre and completely succeeded.
9
Dolly Parton
Rockstar (2023)
When Dolly Parton was nominated and subsequently selected as an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she initially turned the honor down, explaining that she was not a rock artist and was a devout country artist instead. When the Hall of Fame kept her name in their 2022 induction class, however, Parton took it upon herself to make sure, at least on her own conscience, that she earned such an honor with an actual rock album. Thus, Rockstar was born.
The nearly two-and-a-half-hour album consists almost entirely of covers, with only about one-third of the 30 tracks being originals written by Parton. Additionally, of the 30 tracks on the album, 28 of them feature another artist. The bulk of the album comes from covers of classic rock tracks where Parton duets with the song’s original artist, some of the most notable being “Magic Man” featuring Ann Wilson, “Every Step You Take” featuring Sting, and “Heartbreaker” featuring Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.
8
Beyoncé
COWBOY CARTER (2024)
Beyoncé is the kind of artist who has stayed within her genre(s) of R&B pop, primarily because of how successful she has really been; she is the prime example of the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Since she got her start with Destiny’s Child in 1998, her upbeat pop and soulful sound has made Beyoncé the most decorated female artist of all time. In 2024, she furthered that achievement in the single most unexpected way: with a Grammy for Best Country Album for COWBOY CARTER.
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COWBOY CARTER is a 27-track country album that anyone who isn’t a die-hard fan of Beyoncé simply couldn’t have seen coming. Notably, Beyoncé recorded a cover of the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” as well as a cover of country legend Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Beyond that, however, this album is full of original country hits, including the smash hit “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the UK singles chart, and the Canadian Hot 100, among others.
7
Childish Gambino
“Awaken, My Love!” (2016)
Donald Glover, better known musically as Childish Gambino, is one of the most prolific rappers of the 21st century. Most notable were his albums Camp and Because the Internet, which reached numbers 11 and seven on the Billboard 200, respectively. Those two LPs saw a broad range of sound from Gambino, from hardcore explicit rapping on Camp with “Bonfire” to the upbeat mainstream pop rap of “3005,” his first single to reach the Billboard Hot 100, on Because the Internet. Gambino then released another more pop-heavy EP, Kauai, in 2014, before releasing the vastly different “Awaken, My Love!” in 2016.
Though he had experimented a bit with his sound in the past, Gambino had largely remained a rapper by trade, making these two singles and the subsequent album a surprise, to say the least.
Roughly one month before the album’s release, Gambino released the single “Me and Your Mama,” followed by “Redbone” one week later, which was surprisingly his first single to break the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Though he had experimented a bit with his sound in the past, Gambino had largely remained a rapper by trade, making these two singles and the subsequent album a surprise, to say the least. Clearly, however, his fans found it a rather pleasant surprise, as the album was his highest-charting LP to date, and his first to go platinum in the US.
6
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
The Silver Cord (2023)
Anyone who is familiar with even a fraction of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s vast discography knows just how broad the band’s sound can be with regard to genre. The six-piece Australian rock band has released an impressive 27 studio albums in their 15-year tenure, most of which fall somewhere along the psychedelic rock to heavy metal spectrum. Their 25th studio album, The Silver Cord, however, was a stark departure from most of what they had done in the past, focusing heavily on an electronic and synthesizer-based sound.
The album was produced by frontman Stu McKenzie, after drummer Michael Cavanagh purchased a vintage electronic drum kit on impulse.
The album was produced by frontman Stu McKenzie, after drummer Michael Cavanagh purchased a vintage electronic drum kit on impulse. McKenzie told DIY Magazine, “As soon as he plugged it in… I thought, ‘That’s the sound of the album right there, it’s so amazing and distinctive. We have to commit to this.‘” And so they did, for a seven-track masterpiece which, if you opt to listen to the extended version, comes in at just under two hours. The Silver Cord saw the band forgo the use of traditional instruments entirely—they even used a guitar synthesizer rather than an actual guitar.
5
Bring Me the Horizon
amo (2019)
Characterized by lead vocalist Oli Sykes’ intense screaming metal vocals, British band Bring Me the Horizon is an alternative metal band through and through. Their first album to chart on the Billboard 200 was Suicide Season, followed by There Is a Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It., There Is a Heaven Let’s Keep It a Secret., and Sempiternal. All three of these albums were decidedly emo metal, with heavy guitar riffs, throaty screams for vocals, and thrash-influenced drum beats. The band pivoted with the release of amo in 2019, an album devoid of nearly every aspect of their previous successes.
Amo is more of a pop rock album with the slightest influences of emo and metal, but only if you’re actively listening for them. In an interview with Clash Magazine, Sykes explained, “…we’ve created an album that’s more experimental, more varied, weird, and wonderful than anything we’ve done before.” The album’s release was preceded by five singles, so the full LP wasn’t entirely a shock, but it was a huge success; the departure from their typical sound resulted in their first and only album to reach the number one spot on the UK Official Albums Chart.
4
Beck
Sea Change (2002)
Beck is another artist who does not typically stay within the confines of one genre, or really even two. The mononymous musician can be best described as alt-rock, but with some folk and psychedelic influences, branching as far out as hip-hop, too. Sea Change was his eighth studio album, and, surprisingly, despite its notably and starkly different sound from previous hits like “Loser” and “Where It’s At,” it was his highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 at the time.
Beck wrote Sea Change after a tumultuous breakup of a nine-year relationship, and the result was an acoustic-driven 12-track LP full of sincere lyrics straight from the heart. An album review by critic David Fricke in Rolling Stone called Sea Change “…the best album Beck has ever made, and it sounds like he’s paid dearly for the achievement.” The album is much more mellow than fans were used to, but with Beck’s sheer musical genius and proven affinity for nearly any and every genre of music, it’s no surprise that fans embraced the album just the same.
3
The Smashing Pumpkins
Adore (1998)
The Smashing Pumpkins are a rather unique alt-rock band that doesn’t really fall neatly into any one subgenre; some people refer to them as shoegaze, where others, like myself, would never in a million years call them a shoegaze band. Regardless of their difficult-to-categorize sound, it is, all things considered, relatively consistent from album to album. With the exception, of course, of their fourth studio album, Adore. Without founding drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and following a rather difficult period in vocalist Billy Corgan’s life, Adore was a decidedly gothic rock album.
Despite the album’s stark, though short-lived, departure from their typical sound, it was still massively successful, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200.
With their first three albums, The Smashing Pumpkins were a guitar-driven rock band, complete with elements of feedback, distortion, and heavy drum beats, all capped by Corgan’s distinct vocals. Adore, on the other hand, did not feature guitarist James Iha in nearly the same vein. Where Iha typically enjoyed some of the most iconic guitar riffs in alt-rock history, much of his instrumental prowess was replaced with an electronic, ambient darkness on Adore. Despite the album’s stark, though short-lived, departure from their typical sound, it was still massively successful, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200.
2
The Rolling Stones
Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
One of the most influential classic rock bands of the era, The Rolling Stones certainly explored elements of other genres, primarily blues and pop, in their expansive discography. The band rose to fame in the mid 1960s, on a bit of a similar, albeit offset by a few years, timeline to fellow British rockers, The Beatles. As such, the bands were often compared to one another, as was clearly showcased with the psychedelic, acid rock releases of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request only a few months apart.
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Their Satanic Majesties Request suffered only in that it was released after Sgt. Pepper’s; one wonders if The Beatles would have received similar criticism had The Rolling Stones released their psychedelic departure album first. The Stones did not really return to the whimsically odd and distinct sounds of this album again, reverting to their blues-rock roots with their next album, Beggar’s Banquet. That did not at all detract, however, from the genius of Their Satanic Majesties Request, their first album to be identically released in the US and the UK, and with some of their greatest hits on its tracklist.
1
Radiohead
Kid A (2000)
Radiohead have never been strangers to pushing the envelope with regard to genre and sound. The transition from their debut, Pablo Honey, to The Bends, to OK Computer is unlike any three-album transformation in history. Fans who had been there since day one were able to witness in real time as the incredibly prolific band really discovered their sound, but upon the release of their fourth album, Kid A, fans were left thinking, “Wait, what?” Fittingly released at the turn of the century in October 2000, Kid A was an utterly weird, experimental, electronic album which no one saw coming.
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When asked in an interview that ran just days before Kid A‘s release if he felt rock music had ‘run its course,’ vocalist Thom Yorke said, “Oh yeah, absolutely… I 100 percent agree with (that).” (The Guardian). Well, if anyone had any doubts about his agreement with that statement, Kid A squashed them, with its sonic, ambient backing, spoken vocal effects, and groundbreaking use of digital guitar looping. There wasn’t at the time, and there still hasn’t quite ever been an album like Kid A.
