21 of 2021: The Best Albums of 2021
It’s been a long time since I’ve broken out this ol’ Tumblr account. Life has changed in the...Jesus...four years since I last posted on here. But the fact of the matter is this; I was motivated to crank out my first end-of-the-year list for myself in quite sometime. A huge shout out to multiple random people that I’ve never met who approached me saying they actually read my nonsense throughout the years. Big reason I threw this list on this old account (seriously, people use Tumblr still? Shock). Thank you for the support and with that, here are 21 albums that kicked total ass in 2021, a year when good music was more necessary than ever.
21. Vince Staples – Vince Staples
Vince Staples gets straight to the point with no bullshit. His self-titled album, another knockout, is Staples’ least abrasive sonically, toning the energy down with his focused lyricism front and center. Unlike other Staples albums, there’s no real political or social commentary explicitly explored. Instead, this self-titled album plays as stories told from someone who’s lived them, painting vivid portraits of a life consumed by violence and fear. The inevitability of death permeates the album, be that the inevitability from the lifestyle or simple matter of fact that no one lives forever. Vince Staples reveals the traumas that brought him to the conclusions of life – violence and pain that would define his entire outlook.
20. Sault – Nine
Everything about Sault’s fifth album Nine felt subtly monumental. The British soul/funk collective stays secretive, save for the knowledge that it’s a collab effort from producer Inflo with Cleo Sol (whose delivered a phenomenal album in 2021 with Mother) delivering some knockout lead vocals. In pure enigmatic fashion, Nine was only available for download/streaming for 99 days before disappearing forever. Though it may be gone, the thoughtful meditations of race and modern sociological issues resonated long past the album ran off into the night. Maybe it was the catchiness of the tunes; sticking these ideas in the mind through a subtle release that will never be forgotten.
19. Turnstile – Glow On
An absolutely BITCHIN hardcore punk album that brought soaring emotions, Glow On is the best album from Maryland band Turnstile. Glow On shreds the fuck out. But it’s not all punk jamming; Brandon Yates’ vocal performance take on an anthemic quality soars along with the rifts, morphing the production into something dream-like and intoxicating. Glow On feels like a gung-ho, go for broke type of hardcore album grappling with existential ideas in the fiercest way possible, blurring genre lines but remaining a punk statement throughout. My favorite type of punk and an album that was a perfect catharsis throughout the year. Definitely damaged my hearing with this one.
18. Squid – Bright Green Field
Hands-down the best debut of 2021, Squid are a post-punk British oozing with bountiful, off-the-cuff eccentricity throughout Bright Green Field. This is an album that indulges in any tendency as it sees fit, playing in its own labyrinthian world with listeners invited to spiral along. Whiplash is expected when songs veer from one end of the punk spectrum to whatever makes sense in the moment. As a band, Squid sound so secure in their vision here that it’s boggling to comprehend this as their first album. I randomly stumbled across Bright Green Field after a night of drinking, engulfing myself in its often unsettling atmosphere. This is one that begs to be listened in the dark, headphones cranked to deafening levels for the best “descent into madness” experience of 2021.
17. Tune-Yards – sketchy.
It’s easy to forget, but Tune-Yards have been working in the industry for 15 years, delivering quirky art pop with Merrill Garbu’s lead vocals always acting as some of the genre’s most distinct. Each Tune-Yards album provides unique soundscapes, but sketchy. is possibly the band’s most eclectic and colorful work thus far. A more personal album than previous projects, sketchy. is a confidently anxious project that confronts all manner of issues by puffing its chest and doing what it needs for release. It’s always bizarre, as all Tune-Yards albums are delightfully weird in general, but sketchy. comes in guns blazing with pure intent and passion. I was taken off-guard by how much I loved revisiting the world crafted here throughout 2021. Tune-Yards don’t give a shit and will express the heart on their sleeve as seen fit, something I’m 100% here for.
16. Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
Little Oblivions, the third album from singer/songwriter Juilen Baker, is an utterly punishing experience. Not in how abrasive the album isn’t, but how Baker’s self-destructive lyricism paints a vivid portrait of tormented emotions that feels like something beyond personal. Utilizing a full band rather than the simplicity of acoustic folk, Little Oblivions feels at once fittingly huge and painfully intimate. Like the diary of someone grappling with trauma in the midst of ego death, Baker brings a wide-eyed unpredictability of someone with nowhere to go but within. Little Oblivions isn’t a sad record because of the topics, it’s the singer’s own approach to the material that hurts the most. You want to tell Baker everything will be alright, despite knowing that’s bullshit.
15. Self-Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
When Rebecca Taylor left the band Slow Club to reimagine herself as the bonafide Madonna-esque popstar Self-Esteem, it seemed like a jarring shift of intent. And yes, indie-folk to pop-bombast is a pivot for the ages, but Self-Esteem’s true nature is more personal and direct than the quiet intimacy afforded to folk. Her second album as Self-Esteem, Prioritise Pleasre, is a direct takedown of relationship dynamics and sexist gender politics that eschews preachiness by delivering the years’ biggest anthems of self-gratification. Even when the album is fighting with fire in its eyes, there’s a genuine sensitivity that comes through with fantastic songwriting as Taylor isn’t pointing the finger or laying the blame; she’s showing her side and bearing her soul for anyone willing to listen. Taylor’s Self-Esteem moniker isn’t a statement of who she is, it’s statement reminding herself who she is. This album feels like she’s shaking you, crying passionately for understanding from every angle.
14. Kanye West – DONDA
To anyone that knows me: yes, I knew you knew DONDA would make my best of 2021 list. But the thing is, the experience of the DONDA lead up is crucial to understanding what made this Kanye West’s best album since The Life of Pablo. Constant delays, the massive listening events that showed an artist crafting the album in real-time, the constant turmoil of Kanye’s personal life; all factored into DONDA being as grand as it is. You don’t listen to a damn near two-hour experience this messy and nitpick the flaws; you admire some of Kanye’s biggest, boldest, and most emotional work yet. It’s a slop-show structurally (my god, the deluxe is worse) and saves the best for the second half, but it’s a Kanye flex in every way imaginable. Being a Kanye fan can sometimes seem like a full-time job of defense and head-shaking, but 2021 was the gift that kept giving for Kanye fanatics with DONDA smack dab in the middle, defining a true cultural moment.
13. Laura Mvula – Pink Noise
Despite being nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2016, British artist Laura Mvula was unexpectedly dropped from her label RCA. A heavy blow to any artist and one that would undoubtedly drudge up the worst emotions. Five-years-later, Laura Mvula returns not with negativity, but with Pink Noise - a glistening and sexy slice of 80s/90s pop with Mvula radiating more confidence and style than ever before. It’s her biggest sounding album, dominated by a vocal performance bursting with attitude, sass and passion. This feels like an album specifically for Mvula to prove her self-worth to herself, to show the labels and critics that she’s worthy of her own artistry. Screw the labels and critics – Laura Mvula deserves the happiness radiating on every inch of Pink Noise.
12. Doja Cat – Planet Her
Easily the biggest surprise of 2021. I knew Doja Cat to be a talented rapper/singer with a dash of controversy, but hadn’t dug a complete project from her. Like other big name female rappers who’ve conquered the charts, Doja exuberant viral personality is tantamount to Planet Her’s energy and quality. She’s given us a chart-topping pop album that feels spaced-out and confident from beginning to end. Planet Her isn’t just full of catchy tracks specifically designed for maximum plays; these tracks earn your repeated listens with fantastic production and Doja Cat’s uniquely animated voice that’s as entrancing as it is hype as fuck. The pop-mainstream doesn’t always deliver on the album experience, but Planet Her powered through as one of the most worthwhile entries in some time. Sometime, a little faith in “what’s popular” can pay dividends.
11. Jayda G – DJ Kicks (Mix)
I’m going to keep it real – “Both of Us” by Canadian house producer Jayda G is one of my favorite bangers to share with people. It’s full of raw emotion that builds at a breakneck pace to an explosive soulful climax without ever losing any propulsion that house music needs to be a success. It’s incredible and while I’ve waited to see a solo-release of some sort from this incredible new talent, I’m floored with Jayda G’s contribution to the DJ Kicks series. It’s a soulful blend of house utilizing a plethora of raw samples for maximum impact on the dance floor. Once Jayda G starts the set, she sounds like a veteran of the genre with complete control of her craft, creating art through movement. It never loses momentum and I dare say it’s the best installment in the DJ Kicks series heard in years. Jayda G continues to be an artist to watch, especially when a simple DJ mix holds a candle to the best works of 2021.
10. Czarface & MF DOOM – Super What?
If 2020 didn’t suck shit enough, the death of hip-hop legend MF DOOM was a crushing blow to the entire rap community and artistry in general. DOOM amassed a following of rabid fans by simply being one of the best wordsmiths (an opinion I strongly share) of the genre. If DOOM’s death was a crushing blow, another collab with hip-hop supergroup Czarface was exactly needed to soften the hit. Super What? was delayed due to the pandemic and because of this, DOOM never comes off like an incomplete presence is in top form. DOOM may not be in every song, but his tracks feel like a pure showcase for a legend in prime form. Each member of Czarface (7L, Esoteric, Inspectah Deck) sound like they’re honored to be part of an icon’s legacy, delivering top-tier bars and production. It’s rare to get posthumous performances that live up to the life of the artist, but Super What? works as a bittersweet send-off to one of the all-time greats.
9. Tyler, The Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
I remember the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All era of Tyler, The Creator like it was yesterday. The brutal shows of the collective, the abrasive (sure…problematic) attitude and sensation of a group bringing something new as a collective; it was exciting to see where it would all go. Throughout each subsequent solo album, ex-OFWGKTA leader Tyler, The Creator consistently challenged the perception of his brash persona, slowly peeling layers of his persona to reveal the intimate and personal side like never before. If Flower Boy was his descent into personal territory, and Igor was a bizarre interpretation of those sensibilities, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST is Tyler, The Creator revealing and celebrating himself to the fullest. Tyler raps is ass off, bringing DJ Premier along for a personal odyssey that looks at the past to come to terms with the present. CMIYGL feels like the most cohesive vision of the Tyler persona; a soul-bearing rap epic that might just be his best album yet.
8. Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray – Leave the Bones
I’m going to be 100% honest about this entry – I didn’t know, and still don’t, much of the history behind Lakou Mizik or Joseph Ray. I know Lakou Mizik as a multi-generational Hation roots band and Ray won a Grammy for a Skrillex/Nero remix of one of his tracks. Whatever the case and lack of knowledge, I feel the music within Leave the Bones speaks for these artists better than any online search would bring. I like it that way; keeping Leave the Bones a multi-cultural house record that destroys the dance floor with peace, love and unity. It’s an album that immediately brings a better mood with an exuberance pouring out with every track. The less I know details, the more I focused on the act of crafting such joyous tunes. One of the purest experiences of 2021.
7. Bo Burnham – Inside (The Songs)
Okay, so I tend to avoid comedy albums on end of the year lists, let alone one containing songs from a Netflix special. The thing is, no other piece of media grappled with the intimate issues 2020 left in its wake like the songs featured on Bo Burnham’s new special Inside. These songs are certainly hilarious at times, but strikingly catchy and produced with a level of craft often reserved for the biggest names in the business. Even without the visual aid of the film, Inside (The Songs) features tracks that feel remarkably honest and timely. Every one of Burnham’s songs seem to come from such an honest place of observation, like watching the world crumbling in 2020 felt to so many people. It becomes a mental health awakening that rightfully deserves to be in the conversation of the best album/film 2021 had in store. If you’ve ever felt trapped and insecure about yourself, maybe unsure how to channel personal energy, Inside (The Songs) has something guaranteed to get a laugh through a few tears.
6. Porter Robinson – Nurture
In the seven(!) years since Porter Robinson’s debut album Worlds became a sensation of the electronic dance genre, times have changed. The initial burst of new and fresh EDM led to an oversaturation in the pop sphere, almost diluting what made some of the genre’s best so great in the early part of the 2010s. Nurture isn’t Porter trying to recreate the success of Worlds nor is it any sort of commentary on the state of modern dance music – it’s a full blown statement of an artist who used the gap in albums to refine his sound and come to terms with his own place in the world. Nurture feels like a sigh of relief - like a hug from a loved one that hasn’t been seen in years or a feeling of peace rather than anxiety in moments of solitude. Worlds has a special place in my heart, but Nurture is a personally fulfilling album that glistens with hope every step of the way.
5. Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
With her breakout mainstream appearance in the new Venom film (best scene in an otherwise mediocre movie), it’d be forgivable if Sometimes I Might Be Introvert being the FOURTH Little Simz studio album came as something of a shock. The British-Nigerian rapper delivered a major critical darling in 2019’s Grey Area, displaying her incredible flows and intricate wordplay to a whole new legion of fans and leaving everyone frothing for a follow up. Everything was all warm-up; Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is the rapper’s best work by a country mile, no tall feat considering the quality of her previous albums. Little Simz matches her thoughtful bars with some of the best production of any album in 2021, booming along with soulful samples and kinetic beats that keep up with her madcap delivery. Easily one of 2021’s premier hip-hop records, Little Simz delivered something special that rightfully boosted her into a whole other level of fame.
4. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee
To say Michelle Zauner had the glow-up of 2021 would be an understatement. After two solid albums leading Japanese Breakfast, the singer shifted her focus towards writing and landed a New York Times bestseller with her memoir Crying In H-Mart. Zauner’s book is a beautiful read, meditating on life with her mother using food as a gateway into poetic ruminations on bittersweet memories that defined a relationship forever. While the book is the meditation on death, Japanese Breakfast’s third-studio-album Jubilee is the catharsis. It’s the band’s most confident and assured work yet, delivering some of the finest singles in 2021 (“Be Sweet”, “Posing In Bondage”). Though Crying in H-Mart isn’t required reading to connect with Jubilee, the pairing of both crafts a thoughtful narrative of the human experience at once gut-wrenching and all too real. It’s the remembrance of small moments that stay with us forever, no matter how insignificant in the moment, that define our lives forever.
3. Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend
Hot off the heels of the 2018 Mercury Prize winning album Visions of a Life, Wolf Alice were in a situation award-winning, acclaimed bands find themselves; where do we go from here? Rather than completely reinventing, Wolf Alice doubled down and worked to perfect specific vibes on their newest album Blue Weekend. This is alternative rock by definition only; each song expertly plays as a series of vignettes, indulging in rock, shoegaze, folk, trip-hop and dream-pop without losing an ounce of cohesion. Wolf Alice keep a narrative of relationships and proceeding anxieties as a loose guideline to tell a mood-piece. Each song feels so distinct, its own contained story with something for any kind of vibe. Melancholic, joyous, or spacey; Wolf Alice have specifically designed the entire album to work on a multitude of emotional waves.
What separates Blue Weekend from the slew of dream-pop releases is not only the perfectly curated moods, but the fact that Wolf Alice delivered their best album by working towards improving everything that came before. The genres being explored don’t see reinvention often, so it’s up to bands like Wolf Alice to prove that a moody-shoegaze-alternative album can be thrilling. Not just music, but worlds to escape and discover ourselves within. A world of our own, separated from reality and finding the biggest truths. Blue Weekend is a masterpiece of the genre(s) that will be a blueprint (sorry) of what these sounds can accomplish in a new decade.
2. CHVRCHES – Screen Violence
While touring their third album Love Is Dead, CHVRCHES received horrific threats of death and rape, often directed toward frontwoman Lauren Mayberry. The taunting from Chris Brown based off comments Mayberry made about domestic abuse set shitty Brown’s fans into a frenzy, attracting shitty Tyga fans to pick at the electropop band. Upping security, CHVRCHES powered on to finish the tour only to have Covid-19 isolate the band with the rest of the world. With the band already disillusioned with the touring life, isolation could have been the kiss of death. Instead, the band fittingly recorded their latest album Screen Violence over video sessions in isolation for what is easily the heaviest album the CHVRCHES discography. It’s also their best.
Lauren Mayberry sounds better than ever. Though the threats gave her enough material to tackle misogyny headfirst, Mayberry is more concerned with expressing the confusing and terrifying mental repercussions of trauma. Everything is based off the worst case “what if” scenario in Mayberry’s lyrics, yearning for the comforting past not out of naivety, but weariness. CHVRCHES are at their glitchy electronic best, throwing in more guitars and reverb than ever before which compliment the band’s darker turn. Mixing cinematic production with Mayberry’s awe-inspiring performance makes Screen Violence the most dramatically satisfying album from the band. It’s as if isolation allowed everyone to fully express themselves in a world of their own. Screen Violence doesn’t find answers in the turmoil, but confronts them head on with an aggression of someone backed into a corner. Of all albums in 2021, Screen Violence is the most personally impactful, digging deep into the darkest side of mental health with honesty and heartbreaking realism. It fucked me up.
1. Jungle – Loving In Stereo
The best albums of 2021 felt like the reprieve needed after a tumultuous year the world still grapples with. Many, myself included, were impacted on a personal scale in a myriad of ways that shifted perspective of life as we knew it. In a digital age, the worst tendencies of man are on full display for all to see and as such, every self-accomplishment can feel insignificant or inconsequential to the madness around us. The best music of 2021 felt like an affirmation that no matter the context, everyone struggles with acceptance on a personal and collective scale that requires looking inward first. The new Jungle album Loving In Stereo is the album of 2021, for me, because it epitomizes everything music does to free the mind from the darkest depths.
It’s right there in the Apple Music description, spoken by Jungle producer/multi-instrumentalist Josh Lloyd-Watson: “This is the antithesis to our last record – where that was about heartbreak, this album is about freedom, picking yourself and moving forward,” before adding “It’s an album made for bringing people together; upbeat tunes to set people free.” And that’s precisely what Jungle deliver on Loving In Stereo – wall-to-wall groovy bangers that actively beg you to cut loose and feel yourself. It’s a massive album that feels like a monument for liberation at every turn, at every groove, with something amazing around every corner. We may be living in rough times, but hope for a better tomorrow is always possible with the focus on beautiful moments and how they can eventually overtake the bleakest of times. Jungle aren’t going to save the world with Loving In Stereo, but albums like it make it a better place.














