A lot can happen in a year, and a lot happened in 2021. Whether you had a good year or a bad year, one thing that helped us all get through it was music. The music industry had a huge impact this past year and so many new pieces of music were released that changed the world for the better. We were introduced to some incredible new artists/bands such as Arlo Parks and Glass Animals, as well as the return of many familiar favourites. As we step into 2022, we can’t help but not look back at the new music that was released this past year.
According to Billboard, the Top New Artist of 2021 is Olivia Rodrigo. This is no surprise considering she had one of the most popular albums of 2021. Her debut album “SOUR” was released in May and faced massive success and even earned her seven Grammy nominations.
The word “sour” is a great fit for this pop album as the songs express a whirlwind of emotions, including anger, jealousy, confusion, overthinking, and pain. Any bitter emotion that comes with the heartache of a breakup can be found in this album. The album consists of eleven songs that are all worth a listen and focuses on the devastation and sorrow that comes when someone you really cared about has seemed to forgotten all about you.
Some of my favourite songs off the album are “brutal,” “deja vu,” and “jealousy, jealousy.” The opening track “brutal” talks about the difficulties of teenage life and all the disappointments and struggles that are faced in what are supposed to be our “golden years.” Track 5, “deja vu,” is a retrospective about all the things that happened in the artist’s past relationship and how they’ve noticed that all the good memories that were made are now being repeated in their ex’s new relationship. This track has a dreamy pop feel to it and gives off immense summer vibes, which make it the perfect song to blast in the car with all the windows down. Track 9, “jealousy, jealousy” is a song about the unrealistic standards of beauty that have been set by society especially on social media. The artist talks about how they constantly compare themselves to other people on social media and how they feel they should look a certain way in order to meet the ideal beauty standards.
Overall, this album was beautifully written and is one of my favourites. I definitely suggest giving it a listen if you haven’t already and I can’t wait to see what new impactful music is to come in 2022.
