Retroverse Year

2004

R&B returns to the throne with precision and swagger — Usher's 'Confessions' and Alicia Keys' 'Diary' turn personal drama into national choreography. Green Day's 'American Idiot' reminds rock it still has something to say, while Kanye West announces himself as a producer who thinks like an artist. The charts feel like a conversation between the club, the couch, and the conscience.