2021: Albums & Conclusions

Originally posted July 2025

ALBUMS:

Marking key at bottom

ADELE “30”

I don’t think I’m going to say lot. Adele is very well established and it’s pretty universally agreed that she’s very good even by those that don’t particularly care for her sort of offering. This is Adele as you know Adele. Its very good. It doesn’t break new ground or delve into new territory. There are some brilliant tracks. She tackle subjects like loneliness and depression in a down to earth, warm, honest and relatable way. Her delivery of this made me well-up at a few points. She stated she’s taking a ‘long break’ after this. I’m going to make a bet her next album will be “40”. 7

Joy Crookes “Skin”

A Bangladeshi-Irish south Londoner creating neo-soul / neo-crooner sound laced with social commentary. There’s an ‘energy’ to it that cannot be denied. I was listening intently from start to finish. You can hear the influences of Ella Fitzgerald & Nina Simone as well as the more recent Amy Winehouse. There’s some great melodic writing such as “Poison” and some very serious lyrical subject matter such as “Unlearn You” which seems to be about a loved one abusing that love with sexual violence. Of course, I like “Kingdom” because it mocks Britain for how its collective narcissism has led it directly into the state it’s in. One to watch I’d say. 7

Ed Shreeran “=”

A really strong rock-y opening in “Tides” with a few sections of great contrast as the lyric ‘stands to still’ sees the music drops out for a slow a cappella passage. There’s amazing contrast between the tracks. “Shivers” is a great essay in pop song writing. This is followed by an acoustic guitar number in “First Times” and then “Bad Habits” with its big production and addictive repeated music figure that dominates the track above the thudding bass. There are very upbeat tracks like “Overpass Graffiti”, melodic piano ballads like “The Joker and the Queen”, tear-jerkers like “Visiting Hours” and fun numbers like “Sandman”. This is a step up from the 2023 Sheeran albums I heard. Good job. 7

Little Simz “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert”

Winner of the Mercury Prize 2022. There’s also widespread agreement among critics that it’s the best hip hop album of the 20^th century. And..... I hear it. I was enthralled from start to finish. It has hip hop at its core, sure. But there’s soul, R&B, jazz, rock, electronica, afrobeat, and more. There are flourishes of experimentation, orchestral passages, places where it feels like we are in a musical....... when it got to the end I thought ‘you know what? I’m going again’..... and did. 8

Olivia Rodrigo “Sour”

She’s good, to be fair. I still struggle to get past thinking of Avril Lavigne. Its pop dressed as rock (for those who find it important to differentiate). I found some of the lyricism a bit ‘fingers down the throat’ on this one which she seems to have improved somewhat by “Guts” (2023). That said I think “Sour” is a little better than “Guts” overall. 6

Self Esteem “Prioritise Pleasure”

I found this interesting. Its a little experimental but mainly in just a few areas. Firstly, with its massive grand harmonic vocals. Secondly, with its ‘sound’ which seems to be done mainly post-recording by adding effects and twiddling knobs at the mixing desk. Its good. However, some of the reviews I’ve read massively overstate the experimental nature. 6

Dave “We’re All Alone In This Together”

Thought provoking title. The lyrics are a little pop-politics and pop-philosophy, but poignant nonetheless. I found this an ‘easy listen’. It was quite pleasant. Is there such a genre as ‘easy listening hip hop’? 🤔 6

Berwyn “Tape 2/Formalhaut”

This was quite good. However, I listened to a Berwyn album from 2024 (or early 2025). This 2021 album is the more acclaimed of the two. Yet, to the best of my recollection, I preferred that one. Nevertheless...... 6

Lorde “Solar Power”

Sort of ‘indie pop’ I guess. ‘Alternative pop’. I dunno. It’s quite interesting – it tends to move a little away from conventional song-writing and pop formats. It doesn’t dynamically flatline like a lot of Indie does. I’d say it has potential to be really brilliant but not quite there at this point. 6

Black Country, New Road “For The First Time”

It’s turning out I really like this group. Their new 2025 album got an 8 from me. And so does this. Its different too. Firstly there’s the single male vocalist.... the latest album is multiple females. This album leans more towards jazz whereas the new one is more baroque-pop/rock. Even the innovation and experimentation is different. There’s a bit more ‘focus’ here – with smaller ideas being emphasised and thrashed out until they’re done. In comparison, the new album is sort of ‘freer’..... ‘developmental’ perhaps. 8

Doja Cat “Planet Her”

I’m really liking Doja Cat. Great fun. Great sass. Lots of interesting ideas thrown in. I found it more difficult stretched out for the length of an entire album, however. Good, though. 6

Rag ‘n’ Bone Man “Life By Misadventure”

Although it’s good I was surprisingly disappointed with this. I know Rag ‘n’ Bone Man. Although I’ve never listened to the 1^st album all the way through I know much of it and know how massive it was. Maybe this suffered from the ‘difficult second album’ problem. I say that because I also liked the more recent album. I gave it a 7. This was has a few excellent track on it and is pretty good over all. 6

Justin Bieber “Justice”

I wanted this to be one of those times when I end up saying ‘you know what.... [insert pop star you expect to have no time for]....... they’re pretty good really. This wasn’t quite one of those times. That said, I kinda forget that the Justin Bieber I’m thinking of..... annoying little teen runt...... was actually 15 years ago now. We’re several albums in and one assumes he must have matured somewhat over the years. Its not bad to be fair. But, its exactly what you’d expect to hear from a male solo pop artist or a boy band. If you asked AI to do it – it would produce this album. There are some notable positives I took from it. There are some great tunes in isolation. “Peaches”. “Anyone”. I really do like “Holy” and will likely listen to it again. I really enjoyed the rich piano chords in the opening”2 Much”. There’s good balance too, from upbeat pop to heavier R&B pop to vocal/piano ballads and vocal/guitar acoustic offerings. There are moments when I think it is a mark higher. But on balance I think its a standard 5. 5

Celeste “Not Your Muse”

This is one of those ‘great but unoriginal’ listens. Its a mix of soul, traditional R&B, a little jazz, and a modern touch. I thought I was reminded of a particular artists, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I think that’s because its a few. Amy Winehouse (early Winehouse before she worked with Mark Ronson), Adele, Alicia Keys, Macy Gray.......... I’m sounding more knowledgeable than I am. But my point is......... brilliant but by no means original. A perfect example is “Stop This Flame”. I recognised it and was singing along to it (in my head). But I thought ‘hang on a minute.... 2021? I’ve know this track for way longer than that, right?’. I looked it up. Turns out not. But that’s what I mean – it’s all so ‘familiar’ it’s like you’ve known it for years. Is that praise or a criticism? I don’t know. Other standout tracks are “Not Your Muse”, “Beloved”, and “Give A Little Love”. 7

Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders & London Symphony Orchestra “Promises”

This was certainly interesting and I enjoyed it to a large degree. I’d call it minimalist electronic jazz. Dunno what else its been called. The problem with minimalism is while it can be brilliant and/or fascinating it has very obvious and deliberate limitations (although minimalist composers would probably argue otherwise). This was basically a number of broken jazz chords repeated (in sequence, I think) repeated with sax improv in-between each one. There is a number of other things going on from time-to-time in the background such as a build of dissonant strings towards the middle. But that essentially sums up your 45 mins. I’m not sure how I feel about it for that length of time, interesting as it was. 6

Billie Eilish

My Dad Alan believes that, on the whole, journalism has got decidedly poor in recent years. He speaks of the reporting of current affairs and politics. However, while doing the Gwim project, I’ve recognised that this may extend to music journalism as well. Billie Eilish is a prime example. It’ll be no surprise to anyone who has read anything I’ve been writing that I look for...... or rather listen for things to be: A bit different. A bit creative. A bit innovative. Maybe a bit experimental. Whatever. Interesting.   ........ to get my attention and earn a higher mark. When it comes to big mainstream pop, music journalism pushed me constantly in the direction of Taylor Swift and Ed Shearan, claiming them to be  modern equivalents of David Bowie or Kate Bush. They are not. They are good..... but not that. Now I’ll get to my point. None of it really signposted me towards Eilish. They kind of did touch on her creativity a bit. But mainly, it’s all about her anti-sexualised image, speculations about how her personal life influences her lyrics, and her Tourette’s syndrome. The fact that she might be much more comparable to those afore mentioned figures did not particularly stand out to me in anyone’s writing. Its poor music journalism.

Anyway, to the music.......................... yea, it’s brilliant. Because I’m working backwards I haven’t got to the 1^st album yet but I think I’ve heard nearly all it’s tracks now, so have a good overview of it. It feels like this album moves on from the sound of that 1^st album without losing the identity of Eilish. The intriguing opening pulled me right in with its dulled pulsating synth chords. I loved the way the sound of a dog seems to create the hook for “I Didn’t Change My Number”, which is a superbly written song. “Oxytocin” is a great track with an understated sinister, even threatening, sound. “Therefore I Am” sounds closest to tracks I’ve heard from the 1^st album. I think they call it ‘goth-pop’ or something. The choir-like vocal work on “Goldwing” add a beautiful yet sad tone to the proceedings. This contrasts starkly with the incessant repetition of a track like “Overheated”. I don’t even really know what’s going on in “NDA” and that’s why I think its my favourite track. The title track opens in the style of parlour music with vocals and acoustic guitar and bass before transitioning into a distorted punk sound. And this contrasts with the spoken word electro-pop “Not My Responsibility”. I bloody love the whole thing. 8

Any Conclusions

I actually think 2021 was better than 2022. This means there may not be a nice neat correlation between Covid and quality – a downwards arched curve that begins in 2020 reaches its bottom point in 2021 and then comes back up. That said, I feel we are still experiencing significantly reduced quality compared to 2023 onwards. So, maybe there’s still something in the theory. I guess it will become clearer once we reach 2019. My Billie Eilish experience leads me to believe that music journalism has decreased in quality over the years. I would have to research that further (and boy would that be a task) because it could just be an exceptional example. Although the albums I heard were not bad at all (there were two 8s within that small collection) I felt that my 2021 listening, although an improvement on 2022, was fairly disappointing. I’m doing 7 weeks for every year, so 2022/2021 spanned 14 weeks, meaning I’ve now had over 3 months of disappointment doing this part of the project. So.......... it really needs to pick up lest I question continuing.

Marking key (in a nutshell)

10 – Perfect (only 3 albums in history)

9 – Basically 10/10 (I just don’t quite view them in the same way as the 3 albums)

8 – Outstanding (possible nit-picking criticisms)

7 – Brilliant

6 – Good

5 – Average

4 – Has potential but below average

3 – Some good points but not very good overall

2 – Poor (possibly a few good points)

1 – Abysmal