best of 2021, pt. 2
Hope you all had a good New Year after what was definitely a weird 2021. Hoping the world is at least a somewhat better place this year.
As promised, more of my favorite albums from the year!
Kississippi: Mood Ring
I didn’t know about Kississippi or the singer behind it, Zoe Allaire Reynolds, until very recently, and this is another example of just a pure light pop album to enjoy. I think my favorite type of music is music that SOUNDS upbeat but has some serious/sad elements and this delivers. As Pitchfork points out, “Reynolds isn’t interested in stewing in sadness; she finds joy in feeling so much in the first place.”
Re the type of music I like: my friend said the funniest thing to me today when I was talking about how I have tickets to see Vance Joy later this year as an excuse to go to Nashville, but that I don’t really listen to him, and she was like, well you would if he were a female artist….and, to steal a trope from TikTok, the woman was…too stunned to speak. Because…yep. There may be zero male artists on this list.
Favorite lyric: I think this is just really good lyricism, from Twin Flame:
Anywhere is better than where you are typically/I'm a human built imperfectly/But I’ll give you empathy/That’s the only promise I can keep
Lorde: Solar Power
Look. Lorde probably will never deliver anything as good as Melodrama again and we seem to have moved past whatever was or was not going on with her and Jack Antonoff (though, thank God they still work together). But that doesn’t mean that her latest, Solar Power, isn’t great in its own way. There’s something refreshing about seeing her grow up a little and move into her mid twenties with such wisdom and grace (but with plenty of her trademark snark). Critics didn’t LOVE this album so here is a cherry-picked positive note from an NME writer who makes the point that some albums need time to really shine. “This is an album that grows in quiet stature with every listen, new nuggets of wisdom making their way to the surface, peeking through its beautiful instrumentation that weaves a stunning, leafy tapestry.”
Favorite lyric: I think Stoned At The Nail Salon really sums up the vibe of her entire album
'Cause all the music you loved at sixteen you'll grow out of/And all the times they will change, it'll all come around/I don't know/Maybe I'm just/Maybe I'm just stoned at the nail salon again
Halsey: If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
I’m just a huge Halsey fan and there’s probably nothing they will do that I won’t like. I am certainly not the biggest alternative fan, but this collaboration with Nine Inch Nails (made up of male artists, who like I said above, I don’t really listen to!!) is pure artistry. As Vulture put it, “Halsey is a total natural here, unafraid to share deep, dark thoughts with the listener, ready to cut loose amid the din of sinister synths and punishing guitars'“
Halsey is always amazing at creating and drawing you into her sweeping universes, and this one is the perfect mix of feminine rage and biting lyricism — as well as softer moments, particularly when she’s singing to/about her baby. And just like every good Halsey album, there’s at least one song about a queer relationship.
Favorite Lyric: I’m obsessed with the outro from “You Asked For This,” where Halsey flips the switch from lyrics about subjugation to literally claiming their power.
I want my cake on a silver platter/I want a fistful in my hands/I want a beautiful boy's despondent laughter/I wanna ruin all my plans/I want a fist around my throat/I wanna cry so hard, I choke/I want everything I asked for
Maisie Peters: You Signed Up For This
A self-described Swiftie, Maisie Peters is brutally honest with her lyrics, inviting the listener deep into her young adult brain. There’s heartbreak, of course but also a refreshing current of optimism throughout the album, particularly in John Hughes movie, where she sings, “If you don’t want me/then you’re not the one.” As PopMatters put it, it’s “a loveable, introspective pop journey into the chaotic emotions that often accompany the transition into early adulthood.”
Favorite Lyric: the entire bridge of I’m Trying (Not Friends)
Not friends, no we're somewhere in between/Coz you're awful and I miss you and I killed you in my dream/Last night, even then you didn't care/It's a low when even in my dreams you still don't want me there/Got friends, got at least a healthy five/Yeah, some people think I'm funny, baby, don't look so surprised
CHVRCHES: Screen Violence
I don’t do horror movies, so it means something when I like an album that almost entirely revolves around a horror concept. Once again, I got sucked in by the upbeat melodies to the extent that I didn’t even realize this was a horror album during my first listen — probably because the horror they are depicting revolves around our phones. I haven’t necessarily listened to a lot of CHVRCHES in the past, mostly their big pop hits, but as Variety points out, “This lyrical evolution finds Chvrches’ singer Lauren Mayberry engaging in narrative storytelling on a level previously unseen from a group largely best known for its carefully crafted explosions of exuberant synth.”
Favorite Lyric: From California:
No one ever tells you/There's freedom in the failure/Dying in a dream feels like home/No one ever seems to say, say so
Kacey Musgraves: star-crossed
Like the Lorde album mentioned above, this album is not quite as good as Kacey’s previous, Golden Hour. But one thing Kacey has always delivered on is her authenticity, and this was her baring her entire soul and what may be the hardest moments of her life for the sake of art. This album may be a bit quieter, but her sadness is just as powerful as some of the sweeping joy we’ve heard from her in the past. As Pitchfork notes, “Kacey Musgraves’ chronicle of marriage and divorce looks to the stars but takes pains to stay grounded. Writing in the plain language of someone desperate to be understood, she sounds alternately vulnerable and triumphant.”
Favorite Lyric: From breadwinner
He wants a breadwinner/He wants your dinner/Until he ain't hungry anymore/He wants your shimmer/To make him feel bigger/Until he starts feeling insecure
Adele: 30
There is not a lot I can say about this album that hasn’t been said already but wow the power and the vulnerability here, we are so lucky that Adele has deigned to share any of it with us. As Pitchfork put it, “Once again, Adele transforms her heartbreak into a searching, graceful, and incredibly moving album. But the complexity of her emotions and the nuanced production make this her most ambitious work to date.”
Favorite lyric: From the stunning album closer Love Is A Game:
How unbelievable (Unbelievable)/Of me to fall for the lies that I tell (Lies I tell)The dream that I sell (Dream I sell)/When heartache, it's inevitable (It's inevitable)/But I'm no good at doing it well/Not that I care (I don't care)/Why should anything about it be fair?
Snail Mail: Valentine
Once again, we love a somewhat sad singer songwriter here. I can’t do this album as much justice as Pitchfork does here, “Valentine documents love in all stages, but mostly in disrepair. Its palette extends beyond pinks and reds: There’s the envious green of seeing an old love with someone new, the consuming black of bottoming out, and, occasionally, the clear blue of weightless bliss, however fleeting.”
Favorite lyric: from Automate
Automate me/And I'll never find a love like this/I'm free/But who was I to ever want like this?
chloe moriando: Blood Bunny
This is yet another feisty album from an opinionated teenager, and I am here for it. They’re unapologetically themselves, from an album opener on their public perception to looking back on past relationships to a song literally about eating boys. As NME put it, “Whether channelling her larger-than-life musical heroes or shrouding her music in something more subtle, Moriondo’s lyricism shines through – she’s yet another Gen Z star willing to try the pop-punk outfit on for size. The fit? Pretty damn good.”
Favorite lyric: From Manta Rays:
Your honey voice echoes in every noise/And I know this is just how it goes/I know, I know, I know, I know/My therapist will tell me that it's best to let it be/But I wanna light fires, I wanna explode, I wanna be everything you want to know