IEYL’s 2021 Music Roundup Part 1

A look at some of the year’s star artists

This year we saw a lot of change in the music world. Touring has resumed, artists have come out of hiding (hi Adele!). Vinyl has made a triumphant return. In the middle of all of this beautiful noise, there have some musicians who went above and beyond this year to give us some of their best work. Like last year, I’m going to share some of the best music-related things that came out of the year. Looking back, that piece was a tough read, so this year I’m going to break it up in two!

So who showed up? Who delivered? This piece will talk about the top veteran, all-around artist, and rookie who demonstrated artistic excellence in 2021.

Enjoy! :D

Veteran of the Year

Coldplay

The universally beloved band is known for meeting the moment and representing the times. For example, they demonstrated ever-growing optimism In 2000, with Yellow.

Lost! ended up capturing the doomed feeling sprung on by the global recession. More recently, with Everyday Life, the band reconciled with injustices and matters of representation in a way that remarkably foreshadowed the coming years. In 2021, Music of the Spheres highlighted Coldplay’s fearlessness and international appeal.

Its an album about human bonds and connectivity. It’s simultaneously universal and dangerously personal. On the heels of their saddening 2025 new music retirement date, this album and time for Coldplay feels all the more special. They aren’t afraid to continuously try new things and jump on the field with young pop groups that are carrying the torch.

In 2022 the band is going on an ambitious multi-continent world tour. The goal is for the tour to have a net-zero carbon footprint. As a frequent concert attendee and lover of live albums, I’ve always had a soft spot for Coldplay’s theatrical concerts (One day I’ll write about one New Years’ Eve I spent at a Coldplay-Jay-Z show).

They’ve kept rock music alive and well over the past two decades and reaffirmed the importance of engaging and skilled live performances. The tour for Music Of The Spheres will surely be big, exciting, and uniting.

The music on Music of the Spheres sees the band in similar territory. The tracks are big, infectious, and mesmerizing. The catchiness of “Biutyful” still rings in my ear. The hit single “My Universe” is the collaboration of the year. The calming album highlight “Let Somebody Go” with Selena Gomez is an unexpected match made in heaven. The song names are also timely.

Coldplay purposefully met the moment with several songs titled simply by emojis. The craziest part is that few have done it before, and virtually no one at Coldplay’s level. As the band transitions into their sunset years it’s exciting to hear them repeatedly finding inspiration in the world and working with it to make the planet a better place for all of us.

Honorable Mention:

• John Mayor
• Foo Fighters

Artist of the year

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens always lets the music do the talking. Known for his elusive personality, the Michigan native has dropped frequently in the past two years. In 2020 he dropped both the collabo album with his stepfather, Lowell Brams, called Aporia. In the same year, he dropped the solo project, The Ascension.

The prolific singer-songwriter expanded further into his electronic soul world with Aporia and complemented it with more vocals on The Ascension. These projects are dazzling and mind-bending records. Expect to hear a lot of synthesizers and even more chord progressions.

Shortly after the release of Ascension, Sufjan announced his next project, the behemoth five-piece album, Convocations. In it, he is wrestling with feelings of grief and loss after the passing of his biological father.

This 2 and a half hour epic is well worth the listen and is conscientious to its core. I personally spent a lot of morning drives to work sifting through its orchestral pieces and meditative hums. Each section has its place and nothing feels overdone. Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when Sufjan announced this past summer, mere months after Convocations’ arrival, that he had a collaborative album coming out with Angelo De Augustine. My immediate thoughts were, “where does he find the time??”.

Fortunately, the music is far away from the themes of Convocations. Potentially as an escape from the heavy feelings associated with loss, Stevens and De Augustine made this album after watching countless movies together. The project dives into different character psyches and gives incredible insights into their decisions and motivations. It’s a gorgeous and therapeutic listen. The care and tenderness Stevens and De Augustine approached the instrumentation with is jaw-dropping. These songs sound rich and cared for.

Stevens is a guide for any artist who wants to succeed on his own terms. The hardworking musician even isolates his social media posts and strictly updates the fans through his personal website.

Steven’s ear for soothing melodies and thought-provoking lyrics is repeatedly impressive and always mind-tingling. I’m going to be living with these projects for some time.

The ability to jump straight from heady sadness to out-of-body songwriting is what makes Stevens such a fun and entertaining artist to watch. He’s constantly reinventing himself and bringing others along with him on these tough journeys.

Hopefully, Steven’s found some peace and acceptance with the loss in his family, and is continuing to fill his life with more of the people and things he loves.

Honorable Mentions:

• Kanye West
• Taylor Swift

Rookie of the Year

Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo’s story is intriguing because most of us didn’t see her coming. Only devoted listeners of music from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series knew about the young star’s talent.

The rest of us heard “Driver’s License” without any ideas about Rodrigo or the star she’d become. We just knew it was one hell of a single. The next great thing she did was keep her foot on the pedal and speed things up with “Deja Vu”. More poppy and less sad, “Deja Vu” proved that she can make a banger out of similar themes of rejection and moving on.

The album was, at this point, heavily awaited — my self included — and man, did she deliver.

Like milk that goes bad, a by-gone relationship just tastes sour. In fact, love itself can feel sour. The headspace Rodrigo was in wasn’t much different than a lot of high school students who’ve experienced fleeting connections and broken promises. Nevertheless, like great artists before her in the recent past, like Khalid, or Eilish, or Lorde, Rodrigo found new insights and brought them out to the masses.

As a result, those of us who already experienced high school felt the pain again because she showed us that the pain we faced then doesn’t end there. Instead, the breakup could be in your late twenties, mid-thirties, or even much older. That’s because love can be sour at anything point in your love life. That’s the nature of love.

At the time of Sour’s releases, Rodrigo never performed the album’s hits. By late summer into the fall, she would bring these songs to life in several arenas.

From Austin City limits to NPR Tiny Desk she connected with audience members and let us know that she could hit all of those notes on the album. I personally loved her rendition of “Drivers License” on NPR Tiny Desk.

Not only does the song feel even more depressing, but her talent on the piano added to the songs technical difficulty. Through her live performances, Rodrigo also showed off her crowd engagement skills but mostly focused on performing the songs right. Baby steps.

Rodrigo’s future will be closely analyzed thanks to Sour’s success. That’s inevitable. But before those years come let’s just sit down and congratulate her on the powerful year she’s had. Sour is a concise breakup record that peels off its layers the more you commit to it.

The emotional maturity demonstrated on “Enough For You” feels like a flashlight in the darkness. “Traitor” is the therapy session we all wish we had right after we were left out in the cold. “1 Step forward, 3 Steps Back” reimagines a special Swift song with ease. Rodrigo completely made that song her own.

“Favorite” beautifully captures that moment when you look back at old texts or photos with a smirk on your face. In order for an artist to cut through the mold, they need to have talent and relatability. In addition, the timing needs to be right. This element is completely out of their control.

Rodrigo met her timing with grace and accessible love songs for multiple generations to indulge in. Kudos to a memorable year and hopefully for many more to come.

Honorable mention:

• Joyce Wrice
• Baby Keem

Sneak Peak For Part 2: I hope you found this piece fun and informative! For part 2, I’m going to unpack my favorite songs and albums of the year. In addition, I’m going to talk about the best live album that came out in 2021. Stay tuned!