End of Month List: May 2021
May was certainly an interesting month. We received an excellent remix of a 2019 track, I discovered some excellent gems from months prior, and one of them, released mid-April, qualifies for this countdown. Kingdom concluded, with more of a whimper than a bang, only one song really stood out amongst the six Kingdom singles, while there were a few other decent ones. Songs grew and fall, with some of the songs I gave 9s failing to make it into the top 5, while some upper 8s replaced them.
It was a month of indie gem growers. Not all songs pummelled me on first listen, but many grew over time. On the other hand, many mainstream releases fell quite quickly. Groovy hooks and full-blown choruses were the trends, with a good dose of funk, especially in A-List releases.
When it comes to honorable mentions, a special mention is due to Himang and Oneus, both nearly made it. This month had some tough and even competition. In the end, I just could not pick 5. So, I have a tie for number 5. Both songs are very, very different, but equally good. While it lacks the heavy hitters of February, May might be the most consistent month this year.
Eurovision concluded with Maneskin winning. I personally was fond of many other songs, but kudos to them. Gfriend disbanded in a massive shocker, while J-Pop underwhelmed, minus a late-April song.
Diving deeper into the year, I think 2021 overall for all nations has been weaker than 2020. Despite that, 2021 has been much more evenly distributed in quality, with Europe, Korea, China, India, and Japan's music worlds all providing stunners.
Songs of the Month
Honorable Mentions
aespa - Next Level
Agnes - 24 Hours
Afrojack and David Guetta - Hero
Blitzers - Breathe Again
BTS - Butter
Burnout Syndromes - Blizzard
Dimash Kudaibergen - Be With Me
Everglow - First
Fantastics - Perfect Magic
Galantis, David Guetta, and Little Mix - Heartbreak Anthem
Gaho - Rush Hour
GWSN - Like It Hot, E I E I O, I Can't Breathe
Highlight - Not The End
Himang - Young
Katy Perry - Electric
King & Prince - Beating Hearts
Laura Mvula - Got Me
Lim Seo Won - Shoulder Dance
Martin Garrix ft. Bono and the Edge - We are the People
Official Hige Dandism - Cry Baby
Oh My Girl - Dun Dun Dance
Oneus - Black Mirror
Olivia Rodrigo - Good For U
Rocket Punch - Ring Ring
SHAX - Malo
Taemin - Advice
The Boyz - Kingdom Come
The Rampage - Call of Justice
TXT - Anti-Romantic, I Know I Love You, No Rules, Dear Sputnik, Frost
WJSN The Black - Easy
Well, very amazing breakdown there. Well, I just think the SOUR album was really great. Props to Olivia! Meguru Meguru was fantastic! K-Pop as a whole bounced back to being such an intuitive genre. I noticed J-Pop was fairly well with a missing review from Dry Flower... Anyway, everything was great in the end of May! Now on to summer!
ReplyDeleteOoh, there was a Dry Flower song? Mind providing the link, never heard of it unfortunately.
DeleteSour was a great album. I have written too much about Olivia, but she has had a great debut year.
K-Pop and J-Pop had a solid month. Let us hope the rest of the year delivers :)
Well that song might be 7 months older. But they did release something!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38xNKy9e-0A
Ooh, heard both Dried Flower and Airship. Dry Flower is solid, and I'd give Airship a score in the upper 8s. Had I known of it, it would have made the honorable mentions. Thanks for the recommendation StillBangtan!
Delete