2021 - Year In Review Pt.1

 

IT was the year that a pandemic allowed geeks the chance to shine. Amidst a severe restriction on live performance, super-fans were busy viewing, cutting and editing together film of their favourite artists and readying them for blockbuster release, funded by an ever increasing demand and driven by competition from the streaming wars.

      With time to kill, we were allowed to indulge ourselves in a number of gems, with Peter Jackson's "The Beatles: Get Back", Questlove's "Summer of Soul" both on Disney+ and Todd Haynes' "The Velvet Underground" on Apple TV+ all released to great acclaim.

      Each of these documentaries covered the late sixties, part of the analogue era when very little film was actually recorded, in sharp contrast to today where it is so ubiquitous. And it looks we will see more and more as super-fans endeavour to unearth rare footage and bring fans young and old upto date with classic artists who will have had very limited exposure visually, especially when compared to today's pop stars.

      As well as the change in technology making this possible, the changing emphasis in consumption - from cinema to home streaming/television - and the change in behaviours - as we strive to become a more inclusive society - have been catalysts too. 2022 already promises "Pistol", a Disney+ mini-series on the Sex Pistols directed by Danny Boyle whilst Questlove is already planning a new movie on one of the stars of the Summer of Soul the legendary Sly & The Family Stone...

      What of music itself? Before I list the best/my favourite - delete as appropriate - forty singles of 2021, firstly some obvious observations.

      2021 saw the return of the big pop star as well as the return of live music. The former saw new music from Adele, Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish, Lorde and most surprisingly Abba. The latter saw the partial return of live music which did at least allow me to attend one festival - incl. Rag 'n' Bone man pictured above - but alas gigs were still either largely cancelled or postponed.

      Whilst it was challenging for most artists, the Adeles of the pop world were seemingly protected from the pandemic, their brand being strong enough to brush off the absence of gigs and concerts, in part due to their ability to monetize the few gigs they did do (such as Adele's performance at the Royal Albert Hall). The return of such illustrious acts did at least see higher sales of vinyl here in the UK, although Fleetwood Mac's 3rd place showing still shows how much catching up there is to do on a number of fronts.

Top 40 Singles

1. BTS - Butter

A pop masterpiece influenced as much by Bruno Mars' love of (uptown) funk as K-Pop - a watershed moment? I'm staggered though why critics churlishly decided to ignore it?

2. Lil Nas X - Montero (Call Me By Your Name)

In 2019, he gave us the song of the year in Old Town Road and Lil Nas X almost repeated the feat again, with arguably a better song.

3. Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

Fender could have chosen the easy way out and 'gone pop' but he stuck to his guns and delivered songs of emotional vulnerability and honesty including the title track to his sophomore effort. In Fender we trust.

4. Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open

After opening for his 24K Magic World Tour in 2017, Anderson Paak teamed up with Bruno Mars, jokingly coming up with the idea of Silk Sonic before they were named by Bootsy Collins when he first heard them play. This song quickly blew up last spring, producing this hilarious Late Late Show parody by James Corden and co along the way.

5. Coldplay - Higher Power

The biggest rock band on the planet team up with the biggest producer on the planet Max Martin and hey presto! Higher Power is Chris Martin bringing his love of A-ha to the fore and combining it with Martin's reknowned pop beats. A much needed shot of positivity in these interesting times.

6. Japanese Breakfast - Be Sweet

7. Riton x Nightcrawlers - Friday feat. Mufasa & Hypeman

8. John Mayer - Last Train Home

9. Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u

10. ABBA - Don't Shut Me Down

11. Bailey Ibbs - Helter Skelter

12. Sam Fender - Spit Of You

13. Joel Corry & Jax Jones - OUT OUT feat. Charli XCX & Sweetie

14. Muna - Silk Chiffon feat. Phoebe Bridgers

15. Jungle - All Of The Time

16. Rag 'n' Bone Man - All You Ever Wanted

17. Post Malone - One Right Now feat. The Weeknd

18. Kings of Leon - The Bandit/100,000 People

19. The Lathums - How Beautiful Life Can Be

20. Manic Street Preachers - Orwellian

21. Snail Mail - Valentine

22. Ed Sheeran - Overpass Graffiti

23. Fred again.. - Marea (We've Lost Dancing)

24. Big Red Machine - Phoenix feat. Fleet Foxes & Anaȉs Mitchell

25. PinkPantheress - Pain

26. Wolf Alice - Smile

27. Yousef & Camelphat - April

28. St. Vincent - Pay Your Way In Pain

29. J Lloyd - Beato Classico

30. PinkPantheress - Break It Off

31. Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license

32. Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits

33. Calvin Harris - By Your Side feat. Tom Grennan

34. Self Esteem - I Do This All The Time

35. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen - Like I Used To

36. Disclosure - Seduction

37. Little Simz - Rollin Stone

38. Jungle - Keep Moving

39. Lorde - Mood Ring

40. slowthai - Cancelled feat. Skepta

Top 10 Albums and Top 10 Discoveries - will follow later this month in Pt.2..

      A tough list see big hits by Adele and Billie Eilish just miss out whilst artists with good albums containing a number of singles fail to make the cut (Arlo Parks, Black Country, New Road etc). The top five pick themselves as funk and disco infused pop continues to reign supreme, whilst rock & roll continues to disappear.

      Have we ever seen a more disparate list? Whilst hip hop/R&B still rule the US (led by The Weeknd), bar the odd EDM or grime track, it's pop that still largely rules the UK, so much so that anything outside struggles to get a look in, even losing out to singles over a year old (Blinding Lights, Heatwave etc). Surely the rules aren't working?

      The charts never used to measure number of listens so why now? It's by default of course rather than design now we generally don't acquire music but surely there will be less Pop in pop and less current and exciting sounds and movements if we don't change the rules? Take the end of the seventies. Would the new romantic scene in the early eighties ever had hit the charts with the current set of rules? No it wouldn't have because Bee Gees, Wings and Boney M would still be 'outselling' them. So it's time to change the rules as otherwise, as BBC 6Music's Mark Radcliffe suggested earlier last year, perhaps we will reach a point sometime in the future where we just won't see new music being released any more?