My Favorite Things 2021: Music
As 2021, comes to a close. I’ll be sharing my favorites of the year, and chatting about my top picks. Today I’ll be sharing my top picks in music. Narrowing down music into compilation posts is always a daunting task for me since I listen to a wide variety of music on a daily basis.
Like in 2020, I listen to way more Spotify than radio, music playlists on YouTube, etc. I’ve been listening to a lot of Lo-fi or indie music playlists especially since it helps me as I work from home, plus it’s comforting to me. 2021 was also a challenging year like the one before and I always find music to be therapeutic.
Here’s a list of some of my 2021 favorites in music:
Spotify Stats
To be honest, I was surprised that a Taylor Swift song was my most listened to song of the year, but I think that only would be true for Spotify because there were other artists I streamed way more heavily. Podcasts were kind of my saving grace while I worked from home since I consumed them like candy. There are many more genres I listen to not mentioned here, but I also won’t deny that I Lo-fi is sneaking into my top 5 of favorite music genres.
Songs
There’s no way I could list all of my favorite songs I listened to, but here is a sampling of songs that I had on replay constantly all year long.
- Superbloom by MisterWives
- Body by Meghan Thee Stallion
- Waning Moon by YellowMellow
- Dear My Friend by Pentatonix & Little Glee Monster
- Levitating by Dua Lipa
- Sweet by Bren Joy, Landon Sears
- Girlfriends by Boys World
- Red Lipstick by Lee Hi
- Old Soul by Bruno Major
- Up by Cardi B
- Bicycle by Chung Ha
- Come Over by VanJess
- Blue Hour by TXT
- Watercolor by Wheein
- Hypotheticals by Lake Street Drive
- Movin On‘ by India Shawn & Anderson Paak
- Leave The Door Open by Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak & Silk Sonic
- Telepatia by Kali Uchis
Breakout/New to Me Artists
Here are some artists I’ve discovered throughout 2021 that are new to me and that I recommend to add to your own music playlists:
- HYNN
- Ryokuoushoku Shakai
- Rina Sawayama
- Boys World
- Shin Giwon (pianist)
- Bruno Major
- STAYC
Albums
My list of albums is so small since 90% of albums I’ve been listening to is all old stuff. I haven’t listened to hardly any full albums released in 2021. But here are a few favorites of mine.
Touch Your Heart OST – This Korean Drama is one of my contenders to top my TV show favorites for 2021. This OST has a solid mix of genres that reflect the drama itself and the rom-com aura it presents. It’s an OST that has a good blend of pop and jazzy mid-tempo ballads.
Homegrown EP by VanJess – I have been following this sister’s duo career from when they started out doing music covers to today. I love that they have come into their own sound and this whole EP has a retro funk vibe in the sound and overall imagery for the MV, etc.
Miki Matsubara Best Collection by Miki Matsubara – One of the many trending singers of City Pop is Miki which I discovered through YouTube. This CD includes all of her hit sounds and some of my favorite songs by her. Her jazzy vocals shine on each track and there are so many songs that will make you get up and dance!
What were your music favorites in 2021? Are there any albums, genres, or songs that you constantly had on repeat? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Oh boy, lots of new-to-me music to check out! I love these end-of-year wrap-ups; I always get lots of fun recs.
(I surely have listened to new music this year, but my mind is a perfect blank about it. The pandemic has wiped my brain clean.)
I hope you find some fun recs in the wrap-up. I went to write about music and I also forgot a lot of the newer stuff I listened to. It’s been a whirlwind of a year.
When I see other listeners’ Spotify roundups I always wish that I listened there!
I have no idea what my most-listened-to title would be, but I bet it would surprise me. LOL
It always shocks me to learn how much I had a song on repeat on year. But I love looking at other’s yearly wrap-ups cause I always find new artists to listen to.