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.