JC
We’ve heard so much amaaaaazing music in 2021 already! Here are the songs we’ve enjoyed most. Each mini-review includes a word that you can try to use in your own analytical writing!
Okay, let’s run through our top 50 songs of 2021 so far! You can listen to our playlist here.
1. Against The Current: weapon
impede – delay or prevent (someone or something) by obstructing them; hinder. For example: ‘the sap causes swelling which can impede breathing.’
‘weapon’ serves as an investigation into mental health. Chrissy Costanza clearly recognises the significance of the anxieties that swirl around her own brain. She clearly demonstrates how these anxieties IMPEDE her own progress as a human being.
Now write about a text (poem, play or novel) of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word. Here’s an example to get you started:
‘Othello’ serves as an investigation into mental health. The protagonist’s own battles with mental health problems are clearly so significant. He is absolutely consumed by a pain that feels completely UNFATHOMABLE.
2. Olivia Rodrigo: good 4 u
liminal – the word “liminal” comes from the Latin root, limen, which means “threshold.” The liminal space is the “crossing over” space – a space where you have left something behind, yet you are not yet fully in something else. It’s a transition space. In anthropology, liminality is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the rite is complete. For example: ‘in the liminal state between life and death.’
‘good 4 u’ serves as an investigation into the dark side of love. Olivia Rodrigo’s relationship is over but she is struggling to move on. She articulates the experience of being trapped in a LIMINAL space.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
3. YONAKA: Seize The Power
chauvinistic – displaying excessive or prejudiced support for their own cause, group, or sex. Considering others weak, unworthy, or inferior. For example: ‘It is a deeply chauvinistic community where the few women who have jobs are ridiculed.’
‘Seize The Power’ serves as an investigation into the power of the individual. Theresa Jarvis absolutely believes we can challenge the authority of any CHAUVINISTIC authority figures.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
4. Holding Absence: In Circles
obdurate: stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action. For example: ‘I argued this point with him, but he was obdurate.’
‘In Circles’ serves as an investigation into life’s routines. Lucas Woodland explores the effects of our OBDURATE nature.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
5. Our Hollow, Our Home: Seven Years (Shine A Light On Me)
inimical: tending to obstruct or harm. For example: “the policy was inimical to Britain’s real interests.” Also, unfriendly; hostile. For example: ‘an inimical alien power.’
‘Seven Years (Shine A Light On Me)’ serves as an investigation into a person’s relationship with the community around them. Connor Hallisey explores the INIMICAL effects of his own addictions.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
6. girl in red, Serotonin
unfathomable – incapable of being fully explored or understood. For example: ‘her grey eyes were dark with some unfathomable emotion.’
‘Serotonin’ serves as an investigation into mental health. girl in red’s own battles with mental health problems are clearly so significant. She is absolutely consumed by her efforts to articulate that UNFATHOMABLE feeling of getting lost in her own brain.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
7. To Kill Achilles, There’s No Right Way To Say This…
stigma – a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. For example: ‘the stigma of having gone to prison will always be with me.’
‘There’s No Right Way To Say This…’ serves as an investigation into the male situation. To Kill Achilles absolutely understand the STIGMA that comes with being male and too in your feelings.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
8. Mustafa: Ali
indictment – a thing that serves to illustrate that a system or situation is bad and deserves to be condemned. For example: ‘these rapidly escalating crime figures are an indictment of our society.’
‘Ali’ serves as an investigation into loss. Listening to Mustafa mourn the death of his friend is heartbreaking; it’s hard not to read the song as an INDICTMENT of a world that allows the worst to happen too easily.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
9. Taylor Swift: Mr. Perfectly Fine
contingent – occurring or existing only if (certain circumstances) are the case; dependent on. For example: ‘his fees were contingent on the success of his search.’
‘Mr. Perfectly Fine’ serves as an investigation into heartbreak. Thankfully, Taylor Swift comes to realise that, ultimately, her happiness is so not CONTINGENT on her ex’s involvement in her life.
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
10. DON BROCO: Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan
microcosm: a community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristics of something much larger. For example: ‘The village is a microcosm of the whole country.’
‘Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan’ serves as an investigation into obsession. The football world can certainly be viewed as a microcosm for a broader human situation. Beware anything that blinds you to the big picture!
Now write about a text of your choice. Do your best to echo the structure of the mini-review directly above and make sure to use the focus word.
Please do let us see the work you’ve done today. We would love to see how you have linked our ideas to the texts you’re studying. Maybe you want to write your own mini-reviews of some of the songs that make up the rest of our top 50 below. We will publish the best work! Send your notes here.
The rest of our top 50:
11. Creeper: Midnight
12. ElyOtto w/ Kim Petras & Curtis Waters: SugarCrash!
13. Delilah Bon: I Don’t Listen To You
14. Hot Milk: I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I’M DEAD
15. Stephany Joanna: boyshit
16. Maneskin: ZITTI E BUONI
17. Maggie Lindemann: Different
18. While She Sleeps w/ Simon Neil: NERVOUS
19. Lil Lotus w/ Chrissy Costanza: Romantic Disaster
20. Stand Atlantic w/ nothing, nowhere: deathwish
21. Ava Max: EveryTime I Cry
22. VUKOVI: KILL IT
23. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes w/ Joe Talbot: My Town
24. Studio Killers w/ Kim Petras: Jenny
25. WARGASM: Your Patron Saints
26. Justin Bieber: Anyone
27. Beea: Oh, Wait
28. Zoe Wees: Girls Like Us
29. CHVRCHES w/ Robert Smith: How Not To Drown
30. Aim High w/ The Home Team: Here Lies Kakarot’s Hopes & Dreams
31. cleopatrick: VICTORIA PARK
32. Solidarity Not Silence: This Is Sisterhood
33. Dead Eyes: Break In The Current
34. Coldplay: Higher Power
35. Doll Skin: Control Freak
36. Powfu w/ Sarcastic Sounds & Sara Kays: the long way home
37. Poppy: EAT
38. Slackrr: Waves
39. Being As An Ocean: Catch The Wind
40. Conquer Divide: Messy
41. FELICITY: Hit & Run
42. Carlie Hanson: I Hate Your Room
43. underscores: Spoiled little brat
44. Fightmilk: I’m Starting To Think You Don’t Even Want To Go To Space
45. Kat Cunning: Could Be Good
46. As Everything Unfolds: On The Inside
47. Lande Hekt: In The Darkness
48. Rebecca Black: Girlfriend
49. Pretty Sick: Bet My Blood
50. Sophie & The Giants: Right Now