2021 Music
While it seems like I spent a lot of time devoted to music over the past year, especially on the blog with my weekly roundup of music, it was a fairly quiet music year for me. I wasn’t on top of everything and missed a lot of music towards the end of the year. It also seemed like a lot of my favorites were fairly quiet. Especially compared to last year, when there seemed to be a new online concert every week, or new live clips and singles. Maybe the pandemic is just hitting us all a lot harder this year, but things were definitely off. That doesn’t mean I didn’t listen to some really great music. On the contrary, I found some great things this year, an ult group came back, and I even added a new group or two.
Starting the post like I always do with my top ten songs of the year. I make a thread every year on Twitter where I explain my choices that you can find here.
Here they are in the order they were released:
‘White Light’ by Lanalogue (ft Nody Cika)
‘Obsessed’ by jujuland
‘Wonderland’ by Aimer
‘above the clouds’ by DAY6
‘OK or Not’ by 2PM
‘AuRoRa’ by ONEWE
‘BEcause’ by Dreamcatcher
‘SOOP’ by JENYER (ft. Heo Gayoon)
‘Fargo’ by TRAP
‘joke!’ by Se So Neon
I actually had some challenges making the list. A lot of the songs on my top 25 I really, really like so narrowing them down to ten was hard. This year I tried to keep an ongoing list of my top songs - a place for the best of the best - and while it helped in remembering songs (and not having to do go through the hundreds of songs I enjoyed over the year), I realized quickly the group was just too good. I finally came up with the list like I normally do, these are the songs that I just had on repeat the most. This list also had a good bit of songs that I fell deeply in love with the minute I heard it.
But, there must always be a winner and this year’s #1 song went to an artist who I’ve loved for years, and generally always makes their way to this list. This year that goes to Aimer with her song ‘Wonderland’. Aimer does everything I love and combines it in a way that is just artistic perfection. ‘Wonderland’ combines a rock guitar line with sweeping folk and string instrumentals and creates this really majestic song paired with her voice. It builds with intensity throughout the song’s length and echoes the lyrics perfectly. The music video is also great, with its creepy and dark Alice in Wonderland storyline that actually goes with the lyrics. If you know Aimer, the song is par for the course for her, but it held on to me all year since its release in April.
Here’s my top 25 in a full list:
While my top songs list was hard to narrow down, my album list proved even harder. This was the year of amazing full albums, and it was extremely hard for me to narrow down this list. Even as I work on this post, I’m still debating my choices. It’s interesting because I felt this year I didn’t have enough time to listen to full albums like I had the year previous. I found myself focusing on listening to all the music that was coming out for my weekly posts that I didn’t have the time to listen to more, and yet quite a few crept in and got me.
The list, in the order they were released:
-Unseen World by BAND-MAID
BAND-MAID is always going to jump to the top of my lists. They consistently put out great music, and music I love. You really can’t go wrong with them. Solid vocals, solid instruments.
Songs to check out: After Life, I Still Seek Revenge, and Sayonakidori
-Walpurgis by Aimer
Aimer does no wrong, but this album in particular is probably my favorite of hers. So many of my top songs are on this and when I want to feel all of the feelings, she’s the one I go to.
Songs to check out: SPARK-AGAIN, 季路 (kiro) and 春はゆく (haru wa Yuku)
-The Volunteers by The Volunteers
An album that is just good from top to bottom, The Volunteers went out of their way to release a phenomenal first full album. Produced by lead vocalist Baek Yerin’s label, the group debuted this year. They’ve got a great 90’s indie alt-rock vibe to them.
Songs to check out: Let me go!, Radio, and S.A.D
-Must by 2PM
2PM is back, and picking up perfectly from where they left off, giving a solid EP. If you are an older fan, you’ll appreciate the songs, but I think it also is a solid choice for new fans. The only problem with this EP is that it’s not a full album. While I had wanted that, I’m glad that it was at least an extended EP.
Songs to check out: Make It, OK or Not, On My Way, and Hold You
-Right Through Me by Even of Day
I know this might seem like sacrilege, especially seeing as DAY6’s The Book of Us: Negentropy - Chaos Swallowed Up in Love was released this year as well, and it’s not on this list. I love them, but really just fit more with the Even of Day sub-unit for the majority of the songs this year. I like what they did with this group, and I thought that this was a great follow up from their first album, The Book of Us: Gluon. It transitioned what they did in that to this well, and I think it effectively transitioned Even of Day from DAY6.
Songs to check out: WE, Right Through Me, and WALK
-COBALT by Meaningful Stone
This is the shortest EP on my list at only five songs, but I loved those songs enough to make room for it. Meaningful Stone a great indie rock singer/songwriter. Her album from last year, A Call From My Dream, caught my eye and this EP has solidly added her as a favorite.
Songs to check out: Dancing in the Rain and Fly
-Trap by TRAP
I’ll talk more about TRAP later in this post, but for now I will say that this is the top album of the year. It’s what I’ve wanted to find in Korean artists, and have been obsessed with this album since hearing it for the first time.
Songs to check out: Fargo, Surface, and New World
-Happiness, Flower by Soumbalgwang
Soumbalgwang is one of those artist that I just keep coming back to. In fact, their Fuze EP made it to last year’s list highlighting my favorite indie albums. Happiness, Flower is the type of album you want to throw on and turn up while you are driving around when you need to just drown your thoughts in nothing but music.
Songs to check out: Ember, Eve, and Happiness.
-This is NOT by Jun Doohee
When Jun Doohee’s ‘Bad Flower’ came out at the end of the last year, it immediately became a favorite, and here we are this year with a full album. His songs have that sound that you’d hear them as like a theme song for an HBO crime show, or straight out of True Blood with a great classic rock sound with a bit of grisliness (is that even a real word? I’m making it one, I’m no true music reviewer) and I am so incredibly into it.
Songs to check out: Just a Dream, Bad Flower, and Desire
-Sand by Bosudongcooler
Don’t be fooled by the fact that this album was released in November, it’s the perfect lazy beach day album. The songs make you feel like your floating on water, letting the current sway you, totally relaxed.
Songs to check out: Breath, Dani, and Rubber
One of the major comebacks in kpop for me this year was that with 2PM. 2PM has been my top kpop group for a very long time, well before I was on social media talking to anyone other than myself about dramas and music, so this felt like my first true comeback because there were people to share it with me. Since I’ve also still been unemployed, and just generally not doing well mentally, I spent a lot of the year in various stages of insomnia and being able to be up during livestreams and stages was a much needed bright light. Their comeback was great, and it was really nice to see them all together.
This was also the year that I really solidified my love of the kband ONEWE. This was something that had started last year (their song ‘Parting’ was on my top list last year), and I’ve just given in fully. Especially with DAY6 in various stages of enlistment and change - I have had time to focus on them, and they are good. I think they are fantastic with all their singles, but I’m partial to rock ballads and they are doing them well. Their song ‘Rain to Be’ was also fun. I also got into the girl group Purple Kiss, who debuted at the beginning of the year with their song ‘Ponzona’. Their discography is a bit different, they live in this world of fun darkness and I’m always partial to vocally-led groups. A lot of their songs have a jazzy quality. They also have members who are actively helping write and produce music, something that is not seen a lot. I look forward to what they do in the future.
I did find a lot of new artists in 2021, but a lot only had a few songs available and/or I didn’t make time to listen to the rest of their discography. That’s one of my missions this year and hopefully can track back to their work. But my favorite new discovery of the year hands down goes to the post-grunge band TRAP. I found them in the middle of October when their music video was released and fell hard. Their first full album, Trap, is fantastic and a no skip album from top to bottom. I’ve seriously played that album more than most of my other albums, and some of those have been out for much longer. While their one of those groups that are really hard to find things about (combine a very unsearchable name with my lack of Korean), I take any and everything I can, which their is a few things. Besides their album, they do have a couple more songs on Spotify, and a YouTube channel where they do live clips or covers and other various videos. I’m hoping to hear more from them soon, and now that they are officially on my radar that’ll be easier. If you are into grunge like I am, you’ll really like their songs.
I think every year I talk about how I want to focus more on my favorite artists and have the intention to and every year I fail at that in some respect. I’ve been focusing a lot of my energy the last few months of 2021 focusing on what type of content I want on this blog and really looking at if some of the things that I had been doing are worth carrying into the new year. I have decided to move my weekly music highlights to Twitter posts, more loose than I had at the beginning of the year. They took too much time for me, and I felt they just weren’t as beneficial here as they could be on the timeline. Because of this, I hope I’ll be able to focus music posts on more in depth looks on my favorite artists and more album reviews.
Check out previous years: 2019 and 2020
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