New Music Highlights: January — May 2021
Since the start of 2021 — and really, since April of 2020, I’ve been feeling a lot of anticipation: for lockdowns to end, for the chance to get vaccinated, for real college to resume and for concerts to start again. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a near-total halt in performances of live music. Over the past year, we’ve seen the effects of this on the releases of albums and singles, with countless projects being delayed until a time when touring is more feasible. This has highlighted just how much artists depend on touring — oftentimes, artists make more money from touring an album than from sales and streams of the project itself. So, although unfortunate, it’s far from surprising that the music industry at large slowed down because of the pandemic.
While waiting for things to ramp back up again, the feeling that I’ve been getting from many of this year’s releases so far is also one of anticipation. New albums and singles have been released every week at a slow, but steady pace, but for every huge artist that does release a project, like the poorly conceived Justice by Justin Bieber, it feels like there are two artists that are rumored to have near-complete projects that are still radio silent. Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Lorde, and Adele are likely sitting on full projects, with no word so far as to when these projects will be released. By this point in 2020, albums such as After Hours, Future Nostalgia, Fetch The Bolt Cutters, and how i’m feeling now were dominating conversations and pushing popular music into new places. 2021, by comparison, has had its fair share of great music so far, but it’s been relatively devoid of album releases that really feel like events.
Because of this year’s relative lack of tentpole releases from some of music’s biggest stars, the spotlight has been able to be shifted over to newer voices, as well as smaller, independent artists. One of music’s biggest stories so far this year has been the meteoric rise of Olivia Rodrigo, who released her debut single, “drivers license”, in early January, to massive commercial success. Her debut album, SOUR, was released in May, positioning her as a strong new voice in pop with a lot of potential to grow. Meanwhile, pop’s underground has continued to push boundaries. A. G. Cook and other artists associated with PC Music have engaged in a streak of collaborations and remixes, with seemingly every week bringing a new look into the glitchy, surrealist world that they have built.
After all of this anticipation, it finally feels like events of all kinds are starting to happen again. Here in Chicago, Lollapalooza and Pitchfork Music Festival are returning in the summer. Artists from Billie Eilish to Lucy Dacus have announced albums and tours. Lorde was just announced to be headlining Primavera Sound 2022. Music is coming out of hibernation.
Below are some of my favorite singles, EPs, and albums from the first half of this year. Take some of these with you this summer as we put the pandemic behind us.
Sha Frasier
Managing editor and editor of News/New Releases
Singles
Hip-hop
JID — “Skegee”
Noname — “Rainforest”
Polo G — “RAPSTAR”
Folk/Country
Phoebe Bridgers — “Summer’s End - Spotify Singles” [John Prine cover]
Taylor Swift — “Mr. Perfectly Fine (From the Vault) (Taylor’s Version)”
Taylor Swift — “right where you left me - bonus track”
Waxahatchee — “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” [Dolly Parton cover]
Rock
Lucy Dacus — “Hot & Heavy”
Paul McCartney — “Seize The Day (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)”
Pop/R&B
Angel Olsen — “Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)”
Fiona Apple — “Love More” [Sharon Van Etten cover]
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble — “Soon It Will Be Fire (feat. Moses Sumney)”
Jessie Ware — “Please”
Mykki Blanco — “Love Me”
Olivia Rodrigo — “deja vu”
Post Malone — “Only Wanna Be With You”
Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen — “Like I Used To”
Silk Sonic [Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak] — “Leave The Door Open”
Slayyyter — “Over This!”
Tkay Maidza — “Where Is My Mind?” [Pixies cover]
Electronic
CFCF — “Heaven”
Cola Boyy & The Avalanches — “Don’t Forget Your Neighborhood”
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ — “Try Not To Be Afraid”
Kero Kero Bonito — “The Princess and the Clock”
Perfume Genius — “Describe (A. G. Cook Remix)”
SOPHIE — “UNISIL”
EPs
No Rome, Charli XCX & The 1975 — Spinning (A. G. Cook Remixes)
Bubblegum bass, hyperpop
Albums
Hip-hop
BROCKHAMPTON — ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE
West Coast hip hop, pop rap
slowthai — TYRON
UK hip hop, trap
Folk/Country
The Antlers — Green to Gold
Indie folk, dream pop
Lord Huron — Long Lost
Americana, indie folk
Pop/R&B
Arlo Parks — Collapsed in Sunbeams
Neo-soul, bedroom pop
girl in red — if i could make it go quiet
Indie pop
Lana Del Rey — Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Singer/songwriter
St. Vincent — Daddy’s Home
Psychedelic soul, art rock
Global
Arooj Aftab — Vulture Prince
Chamber folk, ghazal
Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés — CLAMOR
Art pop, glitch pop
Mdou Moctar — Afrique Victime
Tishoumaren, psychedelic rock
Electronic
A. G. Cook — Apple vs. 7G (Silver Edition)
Hyperpop, EDM
Danny L Harle — Harlecore
EDM, trance
Iglooghost — Lei Line Eon
UK bass
Porter Robinson — Nurture
Electropop, synthpop
Wavedash — World Famous Tour
Future bass
Edited by Sha Frasier
Cover art by Miriam Sills