A Few Albums That Meant Something to Me in 2021
cw: This year, I compare several artists to a nascent Kanye West
Halsey — If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
Favorite Track: “Easier Than Lying”
Influenced, perhaps disproportionately, by her infernal Chainsmokers collaboration, I had not been a fan of Halsey’s music up until now. However, I stumbled across this record on Album Of The Year’s upcoming releases page and found that everything from the cover art to the pre-release buzz conflicted with my preconceived notions of Halsey.
One of favorite emotions to hear expressed in music is anger. As an emotion, anger is focused in a way that often lends itself to good art. While anger is far from the only emotion expressed in this record, the artistry is focused, ambitious and full of intent. Simultaneously motherly and sexual, incensed and loving, these dichotomies are a clear representation of Halsey and how they should be perceived.
BBY KODIE — Emotions Running High
Favorite Track: “Arose Out The Fire”
I feel privileged to watch a legend in the making. When first playing Emotions Running High on a plane to Denver, BBY KODIE’S first full length felt like his own The College Dropout.
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone so young and so confident on the mic while also being on the beat. And I don’t mean in the I’m-better-than-all-of-you sense that exists at the root of hip-hop. Rather, this confidence is in the clarity of his vision, both now and with what is to come.
Kodie does have some maturing to do. His first major release lacks range in both sonically and with its subject matter. Kodie is honing his craft and he hasn’t yet made his Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy known to the rest of us. But he will.
Olivia Rodrigo — Sour
Favorite Track: “good 4 u”
Every so often a ready-made pop star comes into public consciousness over the course of weeks. A couple years back, it was Billie Eilish. While I had to react to Billie in real time, a dear friend tipped me off in this instance, and what a ride it was.
Each single besting the last, the album’s full rollout necessitated back-to-back listening sessions. One on the way to hike summer-struck Jay Peak, another on the way back.
Can you write a better pop song than “good 4 u”? I can’t. It’s at once bubblegum and edgy, and, holy shit, what a melody. Like any teenage emotion worth putting to paper, here and throughout the record, that melody won’t stand still for a beat.
Charli XCX — Pop 2
Favorite Track: “Unlock It (Lock It)”
As I’ve said in years previous, I slept on Charli. The first half of my 2021 was split evenly between Griselda and Pop 2. The Plugs I Met 2 led to Pop 2 led to Conway’s La Maquina led to Pop 2 led to dance parties alone in a cabin in the winter woods of Maine.
As soon as I got comfortable with the record and identified “Unlock It (Lock It)” as the deep cut sleeper hit, the track blew up on TikTok. And deservedly so. This made a real time event out of my retrospective reckoning with Pop 2.
She is what I hoped PC Music would become as a college sophomore discovering what would later become known as hyperpop. And, she has a penchant for collaboration paralleled only by a certain Mr. West. File this under ‘Ones to Tell the (foster) Grandkids About’.
Benny The Butcher — Pyrex Picasso
Favorite Track: “The Iron Curtain”
However unfair it is to compare the three, Benny the Butcher is currently my favorite member of Griselda. While you can’t ignore Conway’s lyricism and Westside Gunn as a master curator, Benny is assuredly the star.
In a year when pop-punk was revived, Benny and Griselda continue orchestrating not just a revival, but the development of a conversation started in the 1990s by Capone-N-Noreaga and Three 6 Mafia. On a mixtape that was released quietly, Benny the Butcher is at his most clinical. Whether boastful or introspective, he is incisive throughout Pyrex Picasso, and gave me one of my favorite records of 2021.
Also worth mentioning:
Mach-Hommy — Pray for Haiti
Boldy James — Bo Jackson
Stove God Cooks — Reasonable Drought
