| 2020 | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Molly Nilsson |
| Cover: | Molly Nilsson 2020 album cover.jpg |
| Recorded: | –2018 |
| Studio: | Lighthouse Studios, Berlin |
| Genre: | Synth-pop |
| Length: | 36:17 |
| Label: |
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| Producer: | Molly Nilsson |
| Prev Title: | Imaginations |
| Prev Year: | 2017 |
| Next Title: | Extreme |
| Next Year: | 2022 |
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, 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.[1] The fact that the year is a leap year and its similarity to "20/20 vision" also inspired Nilsson.[2]
Nilsson started working on 2020 when the release of her previous album Imaginations was delayed.[3] As usual, the album was recorded in her own Lighthouse Studios in Berlin.
2020 is set in the then-near future and is "at least a little bit of a concept album".
The album has been described as political and anti-capitalist,[4] with one writer saying it is about the "thrill and terror of living in late-capitalist end times". It deals with topics including the patriarchy,[5] climate change, gun control, and the passage of time. Several writers highlighted the album's optimistic outlook despite the topics it addresses.
The album's first single "Serious Flowers" was released on 9 July 2018, along with a music video.[6] A second music video, for "A Slice of Lemon", followed on 10 August 2018.[7] On 11 September 2018, a third music video was released for "Days of Dust".[8]
2020 was released on vinyl, CD, cassette tape, and as a digital download on 2 November 2018.[9] It was available for streaming on NPR a week before its official release.[10] It was made available on Spotify around half a year after its original release.
The album received positive reviews. Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian rated the album "similarly excellent" as Nilsson's preceding album Imaginations (2017),[11] while Shaad D'Souza of The Fader declared it her "best album to date".[12]
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". 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". 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".
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.[13] Leah Mandel of NPR highlighted "Blinded by the Night" as "the record's most haunting track".[14]