What is a “concept album”, exactly? This question seems almost like an attempt to define the undefinable, but in an attempt to simplify and understand the term, I have identified three main categories into which concept albums can usually be placed. Additionally, to display the diversity and flexibility of the medium, for this article, I’ve aimed to focus on records that are often not discussed in the discourse around concept albums.
The first, most basic category I’ve identified is the purely mood-based. Every concept album should have a common atmospheric theme, whether musical, aesthetic, or both. One of my favourite recent examples of this style is FKA Twigs’ 2024 Eusexua, bound together by its illustration of the freedom, sexuality, and joy that accompany nightlife, but following no specific plot beyond that. Charli XCX’s 2024 Brat contains similar tones, bound further together by its consistently hyper/electro-pop musical style. These records exemplify the simplest, solely aura-focused style of the concept album, held together solely by commonalities of musical style and mood.
The second form of concept album is slightly more complex, employing specific emotional or political themes. While these albums sometimes contain loose plots, those are always overshadowed by the overarching themes. This is my favourite style of concept album, as the broad themes allow listeners to create or relate a personalised definition, story, meaning, or lived experience. Little Simz’s 2021 Sometimes I Might Be Introvert exemplifies this style brilliantly, following Simz’s journey of internal self-exploration, the loose story of which is eclipsed by the album’s themes of introversion and femininity. Similarly, Gorillaz’s 2005 Demon Days explores the idea of internal and external “demons”, ending with an optimistic exaltation to the future. Demon Days, like Introvert, has a vague plot, but this is again overshadowed by the album’s ever-relevant themes of emotional and political darkness and the importance of retaining optimistic hope.
Thirdly and finally: the explicitly plot-driven. The Who’s 1969 Tommy, not just an album, but a literal “rock-opera”, is one of the best examples of this. Often credited as one of the most influential concept albums, beyond a consistent mood or relatable theme, Tommy chronologically follows a central character’s life story in a highly cohesive studio album.
Discussing Tommy, it feels only right to quickly discuss a few other concept albums hailed as similarly influential (each emerging several times on “best-of” lists). Notably among these are the Beatles’ 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, critical due to its early date of production and flashy, character-based aesthetic consistency; Green Day’s American Idiot, so heavily plot-driven that it was converted into a musical within just six years of its 2004 release; Marvin Gaye’s 1971 What’s Going On, an artfully crafted description of social struggle and political and everyday peril; and Pink Floyd’s 1979 The Wall, another “rock-opera” which explores the dangerous solitude which accompanies celebrity status.
Now back to the plot-driven concept album, some of the best recent examples being Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City–also credited on several “best” lists, with a clear plot detailing the dangers of gang culture–and his 2017 DAMN.–which, both normally and in reverse, tells a narrative of the dangers of the sinfulness coexistent in American, gang, and celebrity cultures. Furthermore, Ethel Cain’s 2022 Preacher’s Daughter – with its vivid story and allegedly growing accompanying cinematic universe – and Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave Suite in 1985’s Hounds of Love–following a character lost at sea and beginning to drown–are excellent, underappreciated examples of artistically complex conceptual records.
Many artists, even if acclaimed for their music, do not get nearly enough credit for the concepts they create alongside this music. While people have turned circles trying to define what officially qualifies a “concept album”, I’d argue that it is better to expand the definition and focus on how it makes a listener feel. If something creates a consistent mood, welcoming listeners into a unique and intriguing world, it should be qualified as conceptual. Extra complexities like plots and vivid character development are simply icing on the cake. Concept albums exist with far more regularity than often attributed, so next time you listen to an album, ask yourself, “Is this conceptual?”, you might be surprised.
“Little Simz – Openair Frauenfeld 2019 03” by Frank Schwichtenberg is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.