Looking back at some of the most noteworthy albums of 2021.

Joseph Krebaum, Special Writer December 13, 2021

Another year of pandemic needs another year of great music! Only this time, music is no longer a disturbance in difficult times, but a soundtrack to the progress the world has made. 2020 is a year for all of us to remember and enjoy memories through music, and 2021 is the year when people begin to create new memories. 

The live concert is now back, giving the artist more motivation to create the material, giving us more motivation to listen to it and to connect it with the experience that is still fresh in our minds. As the year-end chart season approaches, I decided to revisit some of the top albums that I think are 2021. Hope everyone can find something here. If you have not done so, please check them!                   

"Pop" is often a dirty word among the original fans of Coldplay. It would be an understatement to say that people who liked their first four albums were disappointed with this kind of interstellar effort. But to be fair, the public sentiments of Coldplay have always played a role in their hottest songs. Therefore, after experiencing an experimental but commercially disappointing "daily life", it is not surprising that they will return to this path. 

Indeed, the outstanding songs in the shiny duet "Let Somebody Go" with Selena Gomez are as gentle as some of their best singles (such as "Yellow" or "Fix You"). However, what is even more impressive is that Coldplay sounds really ethereal in the most atmospheric track "Infinity Sign" on the record.   

However, the biggest advantage of "Celestial Music" is that it does not sacrifice cohesion for the sake of texture, while "Daily Life" is quite hierarchical, but the theme is not balanced. In the final analysis, let the Internet say what they think of "celestial music" because Coldplay never cares about whether it's cool. They are the ultimate emotional ring band, and no matter what the critics say, their ability to switch from one color to another throughout the album is still impressive.              

The hard rock band Chevelle in Illinois, named after Chevrolet's antique car, has been releasing delightful albums for more than two decades. However, this time is a little different. After all, this is Chevelle's first album as a duo rather than a trio (their long-term bassist left the band in 2019). Unlike their previous LPs, the framework of "NIRATIAS" (Nothing Is Real and This Is a Simulation) is like an outer space exploration with their iconic lyrical mystery. This alone makes people think "NIRATIAS" is a novel project, and it is actually very interesting and interesting!  

Take the flexible zero-gravity "Mars Simulator" as an example, or "Peach", one of the hardest rock songs on the album. But like all of Chevelle's albums, there are some serious, more melodic moments, such as "Endless" or "Remember When", the latter is the most beautiful song on the record. 

Whether you lean towards (pun intended) melody or pleasant weirdness, this space journey will ultimately be exciting.                                  

Political metaphor? Husky singing? Traditional punk rock instrument? Yes, that is an anti-album, okay! In their ninth studio album, this Chicago melody hardcore four-piece band continues to follow their "If it's not broken, don't fix it" spirit. What could win back the audience better than returning with co-producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore? They and the band performed their magic on 11 solid tracks, including the nominal national anthem "Nowhere Generation", the explosive "Sudden Urge" and the passionate "Middle of a Dream". 

Of course, it may sound exactly the same as the Rise Against album should be, but the difference from other albums is the cohesion and consistency of this series of absolute firecrackers. In the 41-minute streamlined operation, the album never lags behind, even with the mandatory soundtrack number "Forfeit"​​​ From a commercial point of view, the performance of this album is not as good as their previous LP, at least not on the Billboard 200 in the United States, or even in the top 10. Maybe you can make up for this by supporting something Rise Against's best album to date, and one of the greatest albums of the year!

Ironically, recording some of the most frustrating works for an album called "Happier Than Ever" is usually a weird thing for pop artists, but not for Billie EIlish. For the sophomore endeavors, Eilish took quite a lot of creative risk. Assuming the role of a casual singer in the 1940s? Check. Add a stern voice track? Check. Maintained the sultry, slow-paced atmosphere for most of the album? Check! Eilish did a lot of interesting things on her second LP, and to be honest, it was a challenge to encapsulate them all into a short paragraph. Perhaps the most compelling aspect of "Happier Than Ever" is its production and mixing. Everything is mixed so softly, it is ideal to listen to it with headphones. It is definitely not played on party speakers (unless you have very good speakers)! Even with the "popular" label, "Happier than ever" still doesn't sound entirely mainstream, except for its noisy title song, which may be how Eilish originally wanted it to be.

After releasing their rather boring third album "Love is Dead", Chvrches is out this time! Although "screen violence" followed the same formula that their first two studios worked on ("the bones you believe in," then "every opened eye"), Chvrches made it clear that they would not repeat themselves. The band changed a little bit by adding some hazy guitars to the mix, a shift that hadn't been heard much before on previous albums, and some truly dazzling arpeggios. But what really makes this effort stand out from their past three albums is the undercurrent of horror in the lyrics and tunes. "Screen Violence" is a happy independent pop music, but slightly dark. By experimenting with horror, toxicity, and despair in lyrics, larger beats, and more prominent guitars, the band finally succeeded in making something that not only replicated the sounds of the 2010s, but surpassed them, and ultimately made "screen violence". Best Album of 2021!

Honorary nomination (listed in alphabetical order by artist name): 

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