My Favourite Tracks of 2021
20. I Don’t Live Here Anymore by The War on Drugs, Lucius
It’s been four years since we’ve had a full-sized Drugs albums to play front to back and here they are sounding better than ever.
Listen: Spotify
19. Glory by Snail Mail
2 minutes and 21 seconds. That’s all that’s asked of you here.
Listen: Spotify
18. My Father’s Daughter by Olivia Vedder
I’m trying hard not to “as a father of a daughter” this but as a father of a daughter this hits different.
Listen: Spotify
17. Hard Drive by Cassandra Jenkins
Consider what would happen if Bright Eyes’ Cassadaga actually took the road trip it fantasizes about.
Listen: Spotify
16. Days Like These by Low
The band behind my second favourite Christmas song of all time return on a gust of over-barring guitar fuzz and moody chamber synth. If you’re going to call a track Days Like These, it’s going to come with some expectations.
Listen: Spotify
15. Its Way With Me by Wye Oak
The looping, slinking 7/4 guitar line has its way with me.
Listen: Spotify
14. Screenwriters School by Craig Finn
Buried 3/4 of the way through Craig’s recent solo album is this slow burn. We don’t deserve him.
Listen: Spotify
13. STAY by The Kid LAROI, Justin Bieber
I just think it looks like they’re having a lot of fun in the music video.
Listen: Spotify
12. Good Girls by CHVRCHES
“Killing your idols is a chore, and it’s such a fucking bore, cause I don’t need them anymore” — and with that, we’re off.
Listen: Spotify
11. The Walls Are Way Too Thin by Holly Humberstone / supposed to by Blü Eyes
A two-fer of songs bred from the same DNA.
The Walls Are Way Too Thin is Grimes spending less time staring into her holocron crystal or whatever the fuck.
And supposed to is actually what taught me about TikTok (he says, linking to an Instagram post because he can’t find it on TikTok).
Both capture a generation raised on personalized high-gloss production readily — and artfully — available at their fingertips.
Listen to Holly: Spotify / Listen to Blü Eyes: Spotify
10. Hot & Heavy by Lucy Dacus
Lucy’s music is undeniable.
Listen: Spotify
9. Didn’t Make It by Charli Adams
I could have listed half of Bullseye on this list, so fully realized is Charli and what she’s trying to accomplish. And not to make this about age, but to quickly make this about age: she’s 23 (!!) and sounds like the complete and natural successor to Don Henley. I really hope she makes it.
Listen: Spotify
8. Chinatown (feat. Bruce Springsteen) by Bleachers
This one tells you everything you need to know about it half an hour before anyone hits play. It’s all so on the nose — the marching synth, the Springsteen assist, the promises to be taken “out of this city”. But if you’re going to stare down your own caricature, don’t blink.
Listen: Spotify
7. Eugene by Arlo Parks
Sent to me by a friend early in the year under the auspices of its inclusion in this list. Aidan, you were right. Listen to your friends, folks.
Listen: Spotify
6. The Collective 2021 Works of Nick Lutsko
When my kids ask me what it was like during the pandemic, I’ll have — hopefully — a lot of very eloquent things to say about the human spirit and the strength of better angels. But in my head, I’ll be thinking about Nick Lutsko and his stupidly brilliant music.
For the uninitiated, whoooo boy, I dunno. The most honest TL;DR I can give about is that Nick once made a song poking fun at the RNC and now serves as the internet’s King of Halloween who holds Beetlejuice as a political prisoner and yes there’s a straight line from A to B in there somewhere.
Nick is Too Much Internet incarnate. Better him than us, and that’s kind of the point.
Watch: 2021 Has Been So Fun
5. Last Train Home by John Mayer
At risk of succumbing to complete self parody, I present to you this John Mayer song, which is really good.
Listen: Spotify
4. Friends in the Corner by Foxes
The bridge to the chorus is so tuned to my frequency — “I took it all for granted, I lived it like a dream” — that this song has lived rent free in my head all year.
Listen: Spotify
3. My Ego Dies at the End by Jensen McRae
It’s the instrumentation here that raises it so high on my list. Cut a different way and we’re in a bad coffee house crooning about ego death between masters seminars. Thankfully, we’re left with something far more considered and lovely and surprisingly forceful.
Listen: Spotify
2. Birch (feat. Taylor Swift) by Big Red Machine
Bon Iver (Taylor’s Version)
Listen: Spotify
1. All Eyes on Me by Bo Burnham
Inside will have a long life — as a historical artifact, as an artistic statement, as a cultural curiosity, as a meme, as a streaming platform’s piece of IP, etc. But dude, the songs. You can try to write something that lands as hard as “You say the whole world’s ending, honey it already did” but you’d be writing a damn long time.
When I thought about this track’s placement, I strongly considered that slotting it in at #1 might not age well, and that if I’m still doing this in, say, 2026, I’ll look back at myself with the kind of second-hand embarrassment only reserved for self reflection at distance. If I’m going to feel that way, imagine how Bo will.
Listen: Spotify
Honourable Mentions
Nobody (feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill) by Nas (Spotify)
A Case of You by Noah Reid (Spotify)
Quiet Town by The Killers (Spotify)
Alaska by Pinegrove (Spotify)
Smokin’ Out the Window by Silk Sonic (Spotify)
Fair Trade by Drake, Travis Scott (Spotify)
Amoeba by Clairo (Spotify)
4Runner by Rostam (Spotify)
Little Things by Big Thief (Spotify)
Good Days by SZA (Spotify)
Strawberry by Doss (Spotify)
