After experiencing a terrible 2020, most media critics reached a consensus: Maybe this year we will not make the "worst album" list. People have had enough, musicians are struggling to earn sustainable income, so it makes sense to promote rather than laugh. Although the music industry has returned to a semi-strong state in 2021 (including the incredible Lollapalooza music festival), a large number of albums recorded in isolation this year have been released, and there are also some masterpieces. Frankly speaking, a few are not. This list is not meant to list bad records-some of them are actually very pleasant. However, whether it is to punish excessive expectations or just a noticeable drop in quality, these albums have disappointed us in one form or another.
Ed Sheeran quickly became a one-man Coldplay team, which is not a good thing. Like other well-known British groups, Sheeran has transformed from aggressive sweet singles and interesting co-written works to selling out the stadium in order to simplify his voice. Although the 2017 "Divide" was full of inevitable hits that oversaturated the airwaves, "Equals" felt like Sheeran lacked imagination. On the plain and versatile drum machine, he sounds out of touch with the entire culture. At one time, he was praising his son and daughter, but at another time, he was going to be furious all night. There is nothing wrong with living a double life, but "equality" feels scattered on the subject. His emotions ranged from creepy language ("I will never leave your life") to widely brushing those damn millennials because they play too much on their phones ("Looking through the pictures behind the screen, forgetting Lost/lost conversations for messages you will never read"). When he encountered a solid pop melody like "Stop the Rain", he certainly decided to bury it in the second half of the record, right next to the first dance song at a wedding such as "Love in Slow Motion". Judging from his recent output trajectory, his next record will be called "Minus".
Even today, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are still innovators. Although the former prince’s disciples have created a musical identity for themselves, which helped define much of the 80s and early 90s (including their stratospheric album with the muse Janet Jackson), they have been in the past few years The work has been sporadic. Even though their collaboration with Janet in 2015 is "unbreakable", it proves that the magic is still there, but their long-awaited debut album "Jam and Lewis, Volume One" proves that not all good things will last. From Mariah Carey to Boyz II Men to Morris Day to Mary J. Blige's soul guest singers celebrities, "Jam and Lewis, Volume 1" committed the ultimate boring crime of music. No matter which singer sings which song, "Volume 1" has always been rooted in the very calm feeling of R&B in the late 1990s. Drum machines rarely deviate from their path, the bass line is craftsman-like, and guest appearances are also popular. There are some really good takeaways here (Usher's collaboration "Do It Yourself" made them play with a series of fascinating textures), but when half of your album's songs are longer than five minutes, you know something is wrong. Maybe they can make course corrections through "Volume 2".
It's hard to be disappointed with such a stupid one-off game, but once the freshness fades, this Foo Fighters EP covering Bee Gees is very slight. The guitar was amplified and Dave Grohl was very happy by showing off his falsetto in front of "Dee Gees", but when the band basically kept the song unchanged, and in the case of "Tragedy", it actually even deleted some melody lines. The impact is hardly felt. Although any of these songs are fun to perform live (this may happen because the second half of this album is a live studio clip of the songs from their 2021 album "Midnight Medicine"), but overall The feeling of the still surprising title "Hail Satin" is... Hmm. These people obviously had a lot of fun during the production process, but the perfect coating of classic music from the disco era prevents our listeners from having fun like them. Grohl may have made a joke, but unfortunately this EP missed a punchline.
Do you remember when Kanye kept postponing the release date of his new album, instead of focusing on promoting it to the radio, he held a stadium-sized listening party, only to lose a record that many people called "unfinished" ? Yes, we also remember the "Life of Pablo" in 2016. Compared with the endless "Donda" in 2021, it looks like the Sistine Chapel. In nearly two hours, it was obvious that despite his so-called perfectionism, "Donda" was the dumping ground for Kanye West's semi-finished ideas. Even with a large group of guest stars, the beat will feel boring (especially after five minutes, a few songs linger or exceed), and now often people feel funny and too obvious punch line ("I do not advertise" because they Too commercial." He smirks in "Keep my spirit alive"). When he encounters a great musical moment (such as the slightly fashionable "Trust Me" or the emotional piano at the end of "Come to Life" Climax), it doesn’t feel as deliberate as I found it by chance. For all the hype, it feels like “Donda” will become a game-changing event, but instead, it will eventually become “another” Kanye album, and it’s a smaller one Album.
It's official: Chris Martin is eager to succeed. Although Coldplay’s efforts to "Daily Life" in 2019 have a profound impact on the rhythm and texture of the world, effectively redefining what the band can do as musicians, the "Sphere Music" in 2021 aims to bring boys back to life. The cost of getting to the top of the leaderboard. Produced and co-written by Max Martin (modern and defining hot producer), "Music of the Spheres" is an album that works as hard as them, and voila, their collaboration with BTS gave Coldplay their second place Name #1 in the U.S. Unfortunately, the rest of his records feature Coldplay’s most tacky on the stadium where they are ready, because again the band can’t stop Martin from writing the sweetest lyrics imaginable ("We have Ability to be kind / so they call us humans"). There is an unforgettable Selena Gomez ballad, which uses pitch-shifted vocals to an unbearably annoying level ("Butyful") and some inexplicable changes to Muse cosplay ("Proud Man"). As if this were not enough, most of the song titles on the album were stylized as emojis. It's cool, guys.
At least his title is correct.
When you have worked in the music industry long enough, most artists will eventually cross the threshold to become a craftsman by creating songs. After you have written dozens of songs, suddenly you can write like a machine, sometimes better and sometimes worse. Maroon 5 has greatly crossed this threshold. Their album lacks artistic statements, and is more of "the collection of songs they hope to be on the chart", and this kind of obviousness is all over the bland "Jordi". From the failure of bands that normally don’t have them, "Jordi" can hardly have anything to say, it’s a problem when an overly perfect production gloss seals the plastic on anything that might be interpreted remotely as interesting. Despite the numerous cameos Stars (Juice WRLD, HER, Stevie Nicks), but the only viable appearance is Megan Thee Stallion's title single "Beautiful Mistakes." Even so, her explosive verses It makes people feel that it has been spread completely from different songs. Adam Levine and others claim that drinks bring back all memories, but the only reason we drink is to make sure we don't keep any "Jordi" in our minds.
There was a time when the king of Lyon was really interesting. Starting from Southern rock revivalists and similar hardcore members like My Morning Jacket, the band has increasingly entered the modern rock radio space, starting with the popular "Because of the Times" in 2007 and breaking through in 2008. Only By the night". When they became rock stars in the UK, their "Night" post-album became more and more chaotic, with artisan-like song bundles that became more versatile over time. With "When You See Yourself", they ushered in the beige era, which sounds like any other band. These songs are not played very much, they usually float from one ear to the other, and the effort invested is roughly the same as the effort to produce the album cover. Particularly frustrating are the moments when some unique ideas emerge, such as the "fairy tale" in Slow Core 4AD, which is closer to debt, but in general, the only thing we see is a band that goes their way.
Sia's career is not typical. He has been a professional songwriter and performer for many years, and eventually became notorious after wearing a wig. Now that she has a leaderboard champion in her own name, she can write her own ticket and do this by creating "music", a problematic musical, written, directed and composed by Sia. Although she is not autistic, her creative muse Maddie Ziegler has come under fire for portraying her creative muse Maddie Ziegler as a nonverbal autistic character. The film received a terrible Criticized notice, and quickly died at the box office. However, one of its merits is the soundtrack. Although it does often delve into formula-driven radio pop metaphors, some numbers still have Sia's remarkable creative spark, whether it is the real (if it is saccharine) bop of the main single "Together" or the dramatic "Courage to Change" ( Complete and complete classical piano failure). As far as the Sia album is concerned, it will rank in the lower half of her record, but although the project is unwise, at least some valuable songs can be produced from it.
The adoption of DMX in April 2021 is simply tragic. Although DMX's dominance of gritty street rap made him a multi-platinum star in the late 1990s/early 2000s, his various legal issues prevented him from maintaining a consistent presence on the leaderboard. By the 2010s, his works were sporadic at best. The comeback project "Exodus" was in progress at the time of DMX's death, but was postponed less than two months after his death. The production of Swizz Beatz is great, and X himself sounds full of energy and enthusiasm for his verses. problem? Too many guests. It's exciting to have Jay-Z and Nas in the track together ("Bath Salts"), and their verses—like almost every other guest appearance on the record—appear first, pushing DMX to the back of his own songs. It happens repeatedly, reducing the influence of the X bar, which means that the first time he approached the microphone (such as in the sexy album highlight "Control with Snoop Dogg"), these songs are more popular by comparison. "Exodus" is not a bad posthumous release, but it is clear that X's final musical will deserves more respect.
All in all, Paul McCartney had a very good year in 2021. He published a book about the stories behind some of his most iconic lyrics, which was seen as a bit trend-setting in Edgar Wright’s "Brothers of Spark" documentary, and then in Peter Jackson’s landmark "The Beatles" After the premiere of the "Return" documentary, he was rediscovered as a songwriter genius, where he effectively spread the song "Return" from scratch on the Internet. However, in 2020, McCartney gave up "McCartney III": a record inspired by the pandemic. He personally played all the instruments of each song and inherited the tradition of his other records of the same name. This is a very pleasant thing, if it doesn't matter, but considering McCartney's influence, the inevitable "remix and reimagine" form of the record, "McCartney III Imagination" was abandoned in early 2021. "Is a weird and sometimes confusing collection of songs. Expect some excellent works (such as Khruangbin's smooth and gorgeous interpretation of "Pretty Boy"), but strange choices, such as St. Vincent insisting on "Women and Wives" Becoming the Bond theme song and Damon Albarn adding too many robotic vocoders to "Long Tailed", Winter Bird" caused more confusion than they pleased. This is a weird one-off project with few gains, but when you are Paul McCartney, you can easily get rid of this fantasy.
At some point in the past few years, Imagine Dragons replaced Nickelback as the "bad band" of choice for a simple joke. The band can stand up to criticism well and sit on their throne made of certified platinum singles, but there is no doubt Dan Reynolds and his colleagues. Hearing these complaints, I want to prove that I am not just a supplier of stomping pop music. For "Mercury: Act 1", the band helped guide and push Imagine Dragons to their sonic limits with the help of Rick Rubin. There is no doubt: they must have achieved something with this record-we are just not sure what it is. Throw every style they can think of on the wall to see what works (such as trying to make their own "Zooropa" out of the sparse plastic fear of "Monday"), "Mercury: Act One" from a One style jumps to another without much consideration for tone or consistency. In terms of lyrics, the record went from being too aggressive (a creepy question mark in the song "Cutthroat") to annoyingly optimistic ("No Time for Toxic People"). Although Reynolds extended his voice to crazy extremes when the band was experimenting with the sound, of course he could be praised, but "Mercury: Act 1" could have benefited from some intense editing. If they are planning "Act 2", we will leave during the intermission.
Oh, how the strong fell. Later in his career, the legendary Van Morrison was happy to take the time to release endless cover albums and the occasional batch of new songs. However, when the Covid-19 quarantine began, Morrison was not happy and began to release more and more anti-blocking independent singles, but was ridiculed. Now comes the "Latest Record Project, Volume 1", which is an exhausting 28-track behemoth that lasts more than two hours. In the most archaic and imaginative arrangement, Morrison talked about how he became a "targeted individual" through universal modern blues pop music creation and asked, "Why do you care about whose trends/or are you doing? Something to defend?" It really feels like a soundtrack of an old man yelling, letting the children leave his lawn, and this is even more damaging to his legacy than he realizes.
Lorde fans have learned how to be patient, because it now appears that four years is the standard waiting time between New Zealand pop instigator albums. Following the slender high heels of her popular 2017 album "Melodrama", "Solar Power" once again marked a change in Lorde's musical direction, trading the popular drama of piano rhythm for a record that was not only cold soundtrack and contemplative. Although Lord has established the kind of fan base she can tolerate non-commercial hits, few people would have thought that her flop era would happen so suddenly. Although the warm beach record sounds like the perfect soundtrack for our entire summer, the soft texture of "solar energy" and almost too laid-back atmosphere brought a sleepy atmosphere to the whole event, no matter how clever the 90s. The drum filled Jack Antonov pulled into the mix. "All the music you liked when you were 16, you will grow up," she warned in "Stoneed at the Nail Salon", although she is no longer the teenager who made "Pure Heroine" nearly ten years ago (should be praised) Try new things), I hope she will get rid of the "solar" stage as soon as possible.
Although Logic’s Rattpack fan base continues to applaud any new career he will pursue next (whether it’s his game flow or his unwise novels), it is announced that his 2020 album "No Pressure" will be his last Feeling suspicious. Logic loves the spotlight, so it's no surprise that every day after his retirement, he announced that he would be returning for the third time with his famous "Bobby Tarantino" mixtape series. The only problem? After becoming a father and taking a year off to focus on raising children, most of "Bobby Tarantino III" focuses on this theme, with the main single "Vaccine" by saying that he "has no time to accompany these rappers". Refute his enemy / I only have time to spend time with my son. "This is a good mood, but it makes the album risk-free and there is very little material to participate in. Fans seem to agree, because "Bobby Tarantino III" has become his lowest-ranked album so far. A single is catching up. He may not have time to be with other rappers, but rap fans seem to have less and less time to get in touch with Logic.
There is no denying the popularity of Drake. When "Certified Lover Boy" made his debut and broke the streaming record, he achieved an unprecedented feat, and his nine songs entered the top 10 of the billboard charts. This is a record that may not be broken anytime soon, but the idea of many people is simple: all the hype is for this? The late "Certified Lover Boy" feels that this will be an event album, but when Drake sounds so sleepy and so indifferent to his performance and writing, it is difficult to hold an event. The beat includes a cold, claustrophobic atmosphere, which increasingly defines Drake's voice, which is a difficult process when you hear the entire content of more than 70 minutes. The short independent number of the great singer Yebba and the decent personal list of Drake's own life are closer to "regret" pointing to what the album is. Unfortunately, the "certified lover boy" eventually became a certified boring person.
Whether you love him or hate him, Justin Bieber has remained at the top of the rankings for more than a decade, an almost impossible feat. After his confusing 2020 lover album "Changes" was absolutely muted, the 2021 "Justice" brought Bieber back to the Hot 100 penthouse, despite the interspersed use of Martin Luther King Jr. in his album The soundtrack has attracted some people's attention. However, shortly after the release of "Justice", Bieber unexpectedly released an EP full of new Christian original songs called "Freedom". Although Bieber was very frank about his religious beliefs, the six songs in "Freedom" were played with ballroom-style sounds, which defined his last few full lengths and gave the record a very modern feel, if not The general feeling. However, the most serious crime committed by "freedom" is that it has nothing new to say. Many songs have information about stories about being broken or celebrating Jesus. Only "We Are Together" removes the noise by combining its lyrical biography of the saint with Bieber's own biography. If he is more personal, "freedom" may be an interesting insight into Belabe's faith, but for now, this EP feels like a sound memorabilia from a church gift shop.
If Sleigh Bells is known for anything, it is loud. Very loud. Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss of Brooklyn found a formula in which they produced a shocking album that mixed the banging beats with the Combine the guitar with a violent impact in the sound. Their 2010 debut album "Treats" put them on the indie rock map, but their subsequent album found that the band was essentially doing the same thing over and over again. Although some fans used the 2016 "Jessica Rabbit" as their album to try to introduce some new textures, their long-awaited new full-length "Dexis" unfortunately fell into the group's usual holding mode. The synthesizer is red, the drums are definitely thumping, and the guitar is loud and noisy again. For fans who cannot get the signature of Sleigh Bells, "Texis" is another help they know. For others, in addition to the playful moments like "Rosary" that are almost original, Sleigh Bells released "Another Sleigh Bells" album.
This hurts. After the tragic murder of Pop Smoke in 2020, the budding Brooklyn rapper became a star he had never seen in his life. The 2020 "Star Chasing the Moon" featured a cameo and was a surprising success because many people have heard of the studio’s debut and were introduced to the gritty practice of pop smoke for the first time In the song. The album topped the charts and continued to sell for several months until the following year, his record company took advantage of this moment by releasing another posthumous collection called "Faith". Although "Shoot for the Stars" still retains the courage and wisdom of Pop Smoke, and despite the large number of talents on loan, "Faith" feels like an infringement of his legacy. On the one hand, the label limits the investment of long-term collaborators of popular music, such as 808Melo, Swirv and YozBeats, but prefers Rico Beats, The Neptunes and countless other chefs in the kitchen. These chefs seem to follow the trend here instead of respecting Pop. Legacy. Secondly, just like "Exodus" after DMX's own death, Pop Smoke spent very little time on his own album, and was pushed aside for many guests to jump to the verse fragments left by Pop. Do we need Pop Smoke / Dua Lipa cooperation? Absolutely not. For anyone who has ever had conspiracy theories about the evil of label interference, "faith" is a classic example of how disrespectful fallen artists are. Disappointing in every respect.
The "locked meeting" shouldn't even happen. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Elton John should bid farewell to the tour by participating in the last "Farewell to Yellow Brick Road" tour, which covered more live dates than you might think. Using his locked time to increase productivity, the "locked meeting" is an interesting hodgepodge of cooperation and ideas. John achieved real success with his fashionable Dua Lipa duet "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" and managed to emotionally introduce clips of the late Glenn Campbell, making "I Won't Miss You" an effective approach . Some of his collaborations first appeared elsewhere (such as his "It's a Sin" duet with Years & Years) and still sound great here. The other side of the equation is some real headaches. Young Thug and Nicki Minaj’s tracks sound as confusing to your ears as they are on paper, and the well-meaning Rina Sawayama song "Chosen Family" is almost backed by its sincerity. "The Lockdown Sessions" unabashedly pieced together the songs, which is not only its key charm, but also its drawbacks. There are worse albums in the world (even in John's own records), but "The Lockdown Sessions" is undoubtedly a career full of curiosity.
Weezer's 2021 may be better than yours in 2021. Although the eternal debate about the band’s legacy of loving them or hating them continues, their unexpected release of the indoor pop album "OK Human" and their long-existing -works hair metal tribute "Van Weezer" have received moderation. Sales and quite a lot of praise. However, hidden under these versions is a peculiar pet project by lead singer Rivers Cuomo: the soundtrack released by him and Kelsey Grammer for the film "Between Spaces". This long forgotten comedy tells the story of the old Brian Wilson rock singer who was finally coaxed into retirement. There is a song composed by Cuomo that aims to reflect the hit songs of the past. Although this project sounds very suitable for Cuomo's alleys, Kelsey Grammar's voice is of no avail, as his throat, dramatic, hoarse voice immediately deprives the song of any nuance, romance or power. Although Grammar's Micky Adams character should be a quirky character, the songs and performances in "The Space Within" make it hard to believe that he was very popular from the beginning.
Surprisingly, ABBA's last album of original materials came out 40 years ago. Even more surprising is that for the long-awaited and threatened new album "Voyage" by the Swedish superstar, the quartet does not seem to miss a beat. If you are a big fan of ABBA, this album provides you with everything you want and more, from the publicly popped single chorus to the incredible schmaltz. However, for the casual "Mamma Mia" DVD owner, the album is heavily influenced by the obvious chorus of popular singles and the incredible Schmalz. Although it is fascinating to hear such a "time-locked" album that seems unaffected by the music of the past few decades, it is a bit disappointing even to hear the most distant new wrinkles in their voices. "Voyage" is undoubtedly an ABBA album, no matter where you sit, it may be a blessing or a curse.
Even now, we are not sure what the "human" release strategy of OneRepublic is. The lead single "Rescue Me" was released in May 2019... and released in 2019. Then in the next two years it penetrated a series of other songs and almost hit songs, but given that OneRepublic is now basically a Ryan Tedder show, it feels like all singles from the "human" era are being tested to see how they affect the market. The biggest thing is that, in addition to the moderately successful Kygo cooperation, OneRepublic has become the definition of the top 40. Although even Ted's most fanatical hater must admit that he occasionally appears as an undisputed pop genius, "humanity" is a record of breaking down in a puddle of its own general emotions. Although numbers like "Run" are full of vitality and energy that is seriously missing from most of OneRepublic's catalogs, most of the tracks on this record sound like all other contemporary crushes that want to become adults, like "Savior" and Songs like "Take Care of You" float in one ear and in the other ear. This album may be called "human", but these songs sound like they are composed of someone who knows nothing about emotions. Created by a songwriter robot.
Evan Sawdey is the interview editor for PopMatters and the host of The Chartographers, a music ranking podcast for pop music nerds. He lives in Chicago with his good husband and can be found on @SawdEye on Twitter.
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