2020 was a year for the books when it comes to music. Many people regard this year as an amazingly diverse year for music, but a horrible year in general. Quarantine has been an extremely rough time for people around the world, however, the music released this year has been a greater alleviator for our stress. So, let’s dive into some of the most important and impactful music released this year that helped us during our battle with COVID.
Taylor Swift, one of the most discussed artists this year, released two sister folk albums, one titled Folklore and the other Evermore. Both surprise releases, many people were shocked at the new direction Swift had chosen to take. Swift has played with multiple genres already in her past works including mainly country and pop, but these folk-inspired albums proved to stand out the most in her discography as a whole.
Both albums were met with critical acclaim, and Folklore along with the songs “cardigan” and “exile” were even nominated for Grammys. The album received 6 nominations altogether, the second most nominations for an artist this year along with Roddy Ricch and Dua Lipa, only second to Beyonce who totaled 9 nominations. Now how did Taylor manage to change her sound and wow critics and fans once again?
Swift is seen as one of the industry’s most prominent songwriting forces, as she is credited as the main songwriter on all of her songs and has been applauded by critics for years for her talent in this category. These last two albums have allowed for her songwriting skills to shine even more with the minimal production and style of music. The stories she tells with these songs can be dissected for hours, and that is what allowed so many people to fall in love with these albums. Swift’s ability to consistently release solid bodies of work regardless of genre has allowed her to stay in the spotlight for years, and she doesn’t show any signs of disappearing any time soon.
Another heavily discussed artist this year was The Weeknd who released his album titled After Hours. This album was considered by many to perfectly balance various different genres such as pop, R&B, soul, new wave, synth wave, etc. This album was also met with high acclaim by critics. However, it shockingly received no Grammy nominations.
If you lived through 2020, you knew about The Weeknd’s impressive success with both his singles and album. The lack of Grammy nominations upset tons of fans along with The Weeknd himself even saying on Twitter, “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans, and the industry transparency…” Critics and people all over the internet were in shambles, claiming this to be the snub of the year.
The Grammys are already notorious for snubbing popular artists who have released the arguably most worthy music of the year in the past. Many people on the internet compared this snub to Ariana Grande’s snub at the Grammys last year where she was nominated for 5 Grammys and lost every category. The thing that people are most confused about is how The Weeknd’s song “Blinding Lights” was not nominated for song of the year when clearly it was the most popular song of the year, coming in at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 2020 Year in Chart, and breaking numerous records. It has already racked up well over 1 billion streams and is still breaking records an entire year after its release.
On a more positive note, this year hosted a surprisingly strong resurgence of disco music from acts such as Dua Lipa, Jessie Ware, Lady Gaga, and even The Weeknd. This resurgence however was bolstered by Dua Lipa’s sophomore album titled “Future Nostalgia”. An unexpected turn from the pop star, this disco-infused album was released during quarantine and gave many people a chance to dance with their family to hits “Don’t start now” and “Break my heart.”
The most highly acclaimed album of the year was from singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, who quietly received perfect scores from nearly every review of her album “Fetch The Bolt Cutters.” Fetch the Bolt Cutters is an alternative album that takes a minimalistic approach to the production with nothing more than a piano, some percussion instruments, and Fiona’s raspy voice.
Fiona Apple is not a household name to most, so this album went under the radar to much of the general public, but it is absolutely adored by critics and her listeners who had to wait a whole eight years for this album. Fetch the Bolt Cutters is also now the second most acclaimed album ever released, to no surprise as Apple has shown growth throughout her career as an artist and has increasingly released better bodies of work.
The thing that makes this album so special is that it seems like it could be made at home. In fact, the majority of the album actually was produced at Apple’s house. Released during quarantine, Fetch The Bolt Cutters perfectly encapsulates what it feels like to be stuck inside and only being able to use what’s at your disposal. Apple’s ability to capture the essence of something so negative and turn it into something so authentic and joyous is why this album will be what we look back at post-COVID when we look at music in 2020.
2020 was an incredible year for music as we all know, and artists such as Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Dua Lipa, and Fiona Apple, along with countless others touched the hearts of many fans and gave them a reason to be happy during these sad times. 2020 especially highlighted the artistic growth of many artists as they were allowed to focus on doing what they love and providing for their fans when they needed it most. With music being such an important escape for many people, if any year needed some amazing music it was this year, and it surely didn’t disappoint.
