2021 , what a year!
We can all admit this was one of the hardest years we’ve lived in our lives! Starting with a huge lockdown, lots of people didn’t realize what was actually happening in their lives. Usually as a new years’ resolution you make plans for the future and in the beggining of 2021 it seemed like our future was taken away (maybe it did, we just don’t realize it yet!) But, I don’t want to sound pessimistic or gather my inner thoughts from 2021 in this post. Let’s talk about the music that was released.
Well, it began in 2020, that artists found themselves locked in their houses, away from gigs, away from media exposure. All that existed was us (literally everybody) in social media world. Everybody was connecting from the platforms that were invented the past decades (and some new ones that broke the latest years). And all this situtation made artists to write lyrics, to speak from their heart, to experiment in new sounds and to finally use their home studio! The situtaion in music wasn’t easy at all (at least in the beggining, with all the covid-10 measurements taken). But, of course humans found their way to connect and to record their music for their audience. The release was easier than before, most of them found themselves on streaming services with a great whole marketing plan to promote it (or not).
Generally, there wasn’t much rock music but it seems like it will make a comeback in the future. Soul R’n’B was phenomenal in 2021. Lots of artists released new material under this genre and generally there was (somehow) a rewind on the sound. Hope it lasts! Also Pop (on the classic sound of pop) was at the highest point, but it seems like it’s not going to be around for too long, once the festivals and the gigs start to flow again (hopefully in summer 2022). Techno music from the underground made a huge comeback (as it was easier for artists to sit in their home studio, smoke a joint or do some coke and experiment with the sounds on their PC programs). House music on the other hand, needs a crowd to go wild and that was definitely missing from 2021, so the genre found itself on a huge decline. The experimentation was quite good this year. Let’s not stick to more analysis. Music saves (as we always used to say) and during this pandemic it definitely helped lots of people survive their inner spirit.
I listened to almost everything from 1940’s to now and discovered some great paths in music, even some great artists that I didn’t have time to listen to in the past, until now. But… I’m not going to bother you with past releases (yet). Let’s stick to what 2021 left behind. These are 100 songs that I handly picked from 2021. The list contains hits, tunes, album tracks and some favorites. Everything included. Go ahead, play it and rewind the sound of 2021.
The Sound of Nick Zois 