billie eilish – The Concordian

The Concordian staff delve into their 2021 favourites.

Silk Sonic – An Evening with Silk Sonic

Guillaume Laberge – Music Editor

With life returning to more or less normal, 2021 was an incredible year for music that saw the release of countless quality records that I will be coming back to in the upcoming years. While Tyler, The Creator and Kanye West dropped some of the best albums of the year, it is Silk Sonic that takes the cake with An Evening with Silk Sonic. Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak team up to deliver nine ‘70s R&B/soul and funk infused tracks that make you want to put on the tightest pants possible, a silky shirt, and go dance all night at your local club. The nostalgic, sexy, and luxurious sound it provides is unmatched and this album has been assembled meticulously to near perfection.

The War On Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore

Saro Hartounian – Assistant Music Editor

Four years after their release of A Deeper Understanding, Philadelphia-based rock band The War On Drugs came out with their fifth and latest LP I Don’t Live Here Anymore. Frontman Adam Granduciel stays true to his writing style filled with melancholic lyrics of grief and the epic quest for love that, during COVID, sounds nigh impossible. The influence of shoegaze bands like Slowdive and Cocteau Twins explains the record’s tragically bittersweet undertones. Adam and his band are revitalizing the ‘80s genre of yacht rock with their Bruce Hornsby-esque lyrical stories and Christopher Cross-like rhythm. Heck, even the intro of their fourth track “I Don’t Wanna Wait” sounds like Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.”

Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever

Maggie Morris – Managing Editor

Sorry not sorry, this album was everything I needed in 2021. While some fans were disappointed by the change of vibe from Eilish’s last album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, I found it to be the perfect next step for the artist. As Eilish matures, so does her voice, and this album showcases the vocalist at her best. The title track is probably my favourite off the album, but shoutout to “Billie Bossa Nova” and “Getting Older” (I mentioned that she’s maturing before our eyes right?).

Genesis Owusu – Smiling with No Teeth

Evan Lindsay – Co-News Editor

I had never heard of Genesis Owusu before this album, and I don’t know if many people had, considering this is his debut record — and what a debut it was. Smiling with No Teeth successfully delivers an incredible mix of alternative hip hop, R&B, pop and rock in a way that feels entirely original and familiar at the same time. Wearing his influences (like The Talking Heads) on his sleeve in a way that’s entirely his own, Owusu’s sound is frantic and chaotic in all the best ways, with dark and hard-hitting bangers like “The Other Black Dog” and more soulful R&B tunes like “Waitin’ on Ya.” There’s a little something for everyone on this album (there is also a song about his love for fishing if that sounds like your bag). Constant stylistic changes and themes of racism and depression create an ambitious and engaging concept album that should not be missed. This album felt so fresh, new and exciting to me that it had to be my album of the year. Go listen to it, it’s sick.

Feu! Chatterton – Palais d’argile

Ashley Fish-Robertson – Arts Editor

I’m the type of person who, after finding a catchy album, will play it on loop every morning during my commute. When I first heard “Un Monde Nouveau,” Palais d’argile’s opening track, I was instantly hooked. Lead singer Arthur Teboul’s voice is absolutely haunting, especially on “Avant qu’il n’y ait le monde” and “La mer,” as he churns out surreal lyrics that sound as if they were plucked directly from a Louis Aragon poem. This album offers something for every mood, whether you feel like dancing or curling up in the fetal position while fretting over all the assignments you have yet to start.

Taylor Swift – Red (Taylor’s Version)

Mélina Lévesque – Features Editor

She’s happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time and I am living for it. Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) reminds listeners of the growing pains of getting older, falling in and out of love, and learning about who you are during this journey we call life. Yes, I absolutely adored Red in 2012, but Red (Taylor’s Version) radiates a different level of poetic perfection.

Whether it’s the new badass breakup anthem “I Bet You Think About Me” featuring the one and only Chris Stapleton, or the tear-jerking “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” this album has both broken and filled my heart in more ways than I could have imagined. Swift’s superpower truly lies in her ability to reflect moments from her life through her music and unite listeners through the emotion in her songs. As a life-long Swiftie, I am incredibly grateful that this woman exists and continues to bless us with her passion for storytelling.

Hans Zimmer – Dune (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Hunter Walwaski – Head Copy Editor

2021 saw my purveying love for music take somewhat of a backseat to my newfound interest in film, so it only made sense that my AOTY pick followed suit. While Denis Villeneuve’s masterful take on the Dune-iverse shouldn’t go unnoticed, Hans Zimmer’s accompanying score played a major role in the film’s enveloping atmosphere. From the Sahara-tinged operatic screams on “Gom Jabbar” and “Ripples in the Sand,” synonymous with the spiritual mysticality of the planet Arrakis, to the clockwork-like percussion on “Blood for Blood,” Zimmer helped bring chills to my (multiple) viewing experience of this film. Without a soundtrack as solid as this, it’s fair to say that one of 2021’s biggest flicks wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful, making the album deserving of a spot on this list.

Radiohead – Kid Amnesiae

Cris Derfel – Copy Editor

Bundled together with a double reissue of Kid A and Amnesiac is Kid Amnesiae, Radiohead’s love letter to their own most important albums. Not only have I had new tracks like “If You Say the Word” on repeat since release, I’ve rediscovered songs I’ve listened to hundreds of times — “Like Spinning Plates” reimagined as a haunting piano arrangement was an instant favourite, as was “How to Disappear into Strings.” The album somehow manages to evoke both the frigid emptiness of Kid A and the uncanny nostalgia of Amnesiac while simultaneously bringing something new to the table, and with each listen I notice something new. Radiohead continues to reinvent themselves, and I’m here for it every step of the way.

Tyler, The Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

Victor Vigas – Former Music Editor

Akin to 2020, 2021 was a great year for music; we as listeners got to reap all the creativity that was brewed over months and months of shutdowns. Thankfully, Tyler was there to headline it with CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST. I know, I know, Tyler and album of the year have felt synonymous since Flower Boy, but I can’t think of another record that surprised me more than this, especially as a follow up to 2019’s Grammy-winning IGOR. There’s just something about DJ Drama making his voice heard from top to bottom alongside a Tyler that raps introspectively over beautifully executed samples that takes the cake for me. I do have to give credit to Little Simz, Young Thug, Twenty One Pilots, and Silk Sonic, though.

The Weather Station – Ignorance

Aviva Majerczyk – Former Commentary Editor

The Weather Station, a.k.a. Toronto-based singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman, is at the peak of her form on her latest album, Ignorance. Backed by a jazzy band, Lindeman’s heartfelt singing feels painful and urgent. The instrumentation of this album is dissonant as fluttery melodies are overlaid by Lindeman’s themes of heartbreak and loss. However, it is more than just a breakup album, as Ignorance’s lyricism parallels the loss of a relationship to the existential loss of our planet to climate change. The perfect album for a crisp, moody fall day, Ignorance is A-tier folk rock.

Graphic by James Fay

As the world changed around me, I had music to get me through it

Listening to music is a crucial part of my life. Before the pandemic, my headphones were on before I was out of the door. I would hit play on my music soon after. I would lip-sync throughout the entire length of my commute, and sometimes I would get odd looks, but I felt happy and that was all that mattered.

However, as much as music was there every day, I started to lose that deep connection with it. Music just became the typical part of my life, and it still impacted my moods, but I no longer felt inspired by music anymore. Songs like Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” and Kesha’s “Praying” were no longer special to me — I was just a product of the repeat and shuffle buttons.

March 2020 was the start of two incredible new chapters in my life. On March 12, I found out I was pregnant. On March 13, strict COVID-19 measures were put in place — and nothing has been the same since. So within two days, I got amazing news and some of the scariest news of my life to date.

For the first month after hearing about the pandemic, I didn’t bother listening to music at all. I took away a source of pleasure and entertainment because I didn’t think I deserved to have anything enjoyable. My life was consumed by the news. I would hear the introduction music for Global News Morning, and my days turned to dread really quickly. That sound meant non-stop COVID-19 news, and it would send me into a spiral of fear.

There was one day in late April where my husband and I decided to limit our news intake and take a break from the information. That’s when I decided to listen to music again; because if I was going to feel a whirlwind of emotions, I would rather it be because of music.

My first idea was to search music from the early 2000s, because it was music that was so far removed from the pandemic. Songs like “Sorry, Blame It On Me” by Akon and “Beautiful Soul” by Jesse McCartney made me feel nostalgic. I was able to sing them from start to finish with no missed lyrics, and I felt accomplished. During a time where I was still suffering from morning sickness and not being able to leave my apartment, something as simple as singing a song made me feel amazing.

While the pandemic had me feeling down, I didn’t want to limit my intake of sad music. Sometimes I just needed a good cry and music was a safe way to do that. I listened to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” because it was sung in a death scene in an otherwise silly action movie that struck me. The reason I wanted to do this was because I wanted to be in control of my sadness, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Playing a music guessing game was something my husband and I decided to bring back to our games list, but this time around, we had had a lot more fun with it. We would each pick a pre-made playlist on Spotify and have the other person guess what song was playing. He and I are both competitive people, so games like these are fun for us. By reintroducing this game into our lives, we got to disconnect from all the ugliness the pandemic had caused. We started to play it more often because we had nothing else to do, but we also got to bond more. We decided to pick more obscure lists like wrestling entry music. Getting to experience the snippets of music, most of which ended up being unfamiliar, allowed me to feel happily frustrated when I didn’t know the answer.

Since I had a lot of time, I would sometimes put music channels on our TV, and through that, I got to experience everything from happiness to disbelief. I found a lot of new music through those channels, like Ashe. Some of the best songs I have heard from her are “Moral of the Story,” “Save Myself” and “Shitty Places, Pretty Faces.” Her music speaks to me on such a profound level.

I felt confused sometimes when I heard some new music that I found to be awful. Whether the discoveries made me feel positive or negative, I felt fortunate to be able to rebuild my relationship with music.

Now that my son is here, and nearly a year since the lockdown started, music has become even more important to me. Music is now my source of energy and calm. I listen to a lot of baby songs now because I use that to bond with my son, though he seems to be more interested in the music I like instead, which makes me smile. Music has also become a teaching tool, and as someone who loves to teach, it enhances my overall relationship with music and with my son.

As cliché as it sounds, music has become my escape from the hardships of the pandemic. I have had the chance to redefine my relationship with music in a way that I didn’t think would happen. I realized that I was taking my love of music for granted, and now I no longer do that.

Graphic by Taylor Reddam