Elsewhere, we saw hip-hop and drill music continue to dominate our charts, as female country artists continued being important creative forces and dance-pop ongoing to prosper. And where by viral times once created for unforeseen hits, in 2021 we noticed them revitalize older music from the likes of Kali Uchis and Italian rock revivalists (not forgetting reigning Eurovision champs) Måneskin.
To witness the beginning of a star is really a unusual detail—but in 2021, we witnessed two. it had been just every week into January that Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” here arrived, a debut single so immediate and so relatable that it swiftly became a pop cultural landmark, a music with the yr-level assertion that felt just like a confirmation: Here was a singer-songwriter poised if not destined to outline the next decade just as By natural means as she would the remainder of the calendar year. Add to the ascent of Doja Cat, whose kaleidoscopic vision of pop was thoroughly recognized on this year’s correctly titled Earth Her—an album that felt like the radiant existing and in close proximity to potential abruptly, liquefying elements of rap, reggaetón, Afropop, R&B, dance music, and so far more.