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Stefan's Naturally Aspirated Blog

Best of 2021 Entertainment - Favourite Albums, Songs, Movies and TV Shows

26 December 202115:50

Stefan Karlsson

2021 EntertainmentBest Films 2021Best in EntertainmentBest Music 2021Best TV 2021+-

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Best in Entertainment for 2021

Favourite Albums, Songs, Movies and TV Shows for 2021

2021 Favourites for your Listening and Viewing Pleasure

So 2021 was another pretty disruptive year - with lots of delays and postponements - ’No Time to Die’ was put back 4 times I think! I made it back to the cinema for a ’Quiet Place II’ on June 5th - when Covid numbers were steadily improving - while I got punished almost immediately by being commanded to go into Quarantine by the NHS App. The same happened when I went to see my second film of the year ’Nobody’ - meaning thereafter I took a slight hiatus on cinema attendance.

All-in-all I only attended the cinema around 10 times this year - where in regular years that figure is typically closer to 35 - 40 attendances. I enjoyed being back at the big screen - in particular for Imax and 4DX performances. Towards the end of the year Omicron started running amok - and I deemed it imprudent to attend cinema while the numbers were quite that bad.

I’ve been furiously trying to catch up with everything I wasn’t able to see in the cinema - and somewhat annoyingly the UK seems to run at least a month or two behind the USA release schedule for VOD - as a number of those titles that are in many of the end-of-year top lists - haven’t made it to the UK - Annette, Red Rocket and Titane amongst them. I’m still largely up-to-date as far as I can be and was able to catch most of the big awards films.

For Music - Covid again reared its ugly head as I don’t do anywhere near the same degree of commuting / travel as I used to - which is what tend to be my main listening occasions - that and walking trips into town - which are also a lot less frequent nowadays. So again the last month of the year involves a good deal of catch-up - as I’m so busy working during the year - that I just don’t have the leisure time I used to - Guitar Pedal X really takes up a lot of time.

I feel broadly satisfied with the selection this year - I’m not sure it’s a vintage year - but there were several highlight moments for me. Marina’s latest album was my most listened-to this year, and Royal Blood’s Boilermaker Single - I also enormously enjoyed Dune and Arcane among other leading visual spectacles. A good year for Sci-Fi and Fantasy in general - while in many ways an imperfect year too!

20 Favourite Albums

I am delighted that there are artists still keeping the art of the album alive. And while most albums released these days are just a jumble of 'singles' (so really rather 'compilations'), there are though still a few that tie things together more carefully sequentially, thematically and narratively - even a certain mood! Albums are typically far more slow-burn than singles and they have a number of different associative arcs - both in terms of how the music evolves over it's time-span, and how your own appreciation of that music evolves and grows concurrently.

Singles are typically instant and like ice cream flavours - you distinctly and immediately like a single - but you can go off it quite quickly if you're exposed to it too often. Albums are rather more like a vintage wine - with lots of subtle nuances and delicate details which only really fully reveal themselves after a prolonged exposure. Albums don't tend to be as instantly gratifying as singles, but they gradually worm themselves into your conscience.

This year - Marina's 'Ancient Dreams in a Modern World' was my most listened-to album - and for me it's really Marina back to her best - sort of like an evolution of her Family Jewels debut classic. There's just something really special for me about Marina's soaring vocals, inflections and overall phrasing - and she has a real knack for a catchy hook. The album is a little bit front-loaded in some ways but has enough quality throughout to endure.

For Those I Love is a brilliant sort of House version of Mike Skinner's The Streets - by Dubliner David Balfe - who muses lyrically over emotional beats. Self Esteem is the new Queen of Electrop, and Floating Points takes you on the ultimate chillout journey with Jazz Saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders and instrumentation by the London Symphony Orchestra - I see that as as the further chilled companion to long-term favourite Ki-Oku - by DJ Krush and now sadly passed Jazz Trumpeter Toshinori Kondo.

Dub Master 'The Bug' (aka Kevin Richard Martin) is back to his best too with his latest 'Fire' release - heavy dubby industrial beats and rhymes. The Datsuns Eye to Eye is timeless Fuzz-Rock, and Lisa Ekdahl is timeless twilight lounge in the best tradition of that genre.

The top 10 is rounded off by Bicep's latest Breakbeat masterclass, with Wolf Alice evolving their sound further - and Little Simz redressing the gender balance of UK HipHop with the best album in that genre this year as far as I was concerned.

This is not at all as deliberately eclectic as it looks - as this shortlist was gradually distilled down from about 200 albums overall. I really like several other albums - like Royal Blood's Typhoons for instance - while I listened to that rather more as a collection of key singles rather than an entire thematic album arc. So it also matters to a degree as to how you consume an album - if you rarely listen to an album from start to finish - then that genre is probably not for you.

I say give this music more respect by at least attempting to listen to the album in a single setting - sequencing is of course incredibly important in establishing the ongoing tone and appeal of said opus!

There really should be something for most here as I have somehow managed to traverse most genres - albeit many in somewhat hybrid fashion - in any case these are the ones that really stood our for me!

1 : Marina - Ancient Dreams in a Modern World [Indie Pop]
2 : For Those I Love - For Those I Love [Progressive House]
3 : Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure [Electropop]
4 : Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises [Modern Classical]
5 : The Bug - Fire [Dub/Grime]
6 : The Datsuns - Eye to Eye [Fuzz-Rock]
7 : Lisa Ekdahl - Grand Songs [Lounge/Bossa]
8 : Bicep - Isles [Breakbeat]
9 : Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend [Alternative Rock]
10 : Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert [UK HipHop]
11 : Griff - One Foot In Front Of The Other [Electropop]
12 : Dawn Richard - Second Line [Alternative R&B]
13 : St Vincent – Daddy’s Home [Psychedelic Soul]
14 : The War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore [Heartland Rock]
15 : Chvrches - Screen Violence : Director's Cut [Synthpop]
16 : Biffy Clyro - The Myth of the Happily Ever After [Alternative Rock]
17 : Turnstile - Glow On [Post-Hardcore / Rock]
18 : Tyler, the Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost [West Coast Hip Hop]
19 : Saint Etienne - I've Been Trying To Tell You [Art Pop]
20 : Iron Maiden - Senjutsu [Heavy Metal]

30 Favourite Songs

As mentioned - I consumed Royal Blood's output more on a singles basis this year - and there was an extended period where I was watching the 'Boilermaker' video on at least a daily basis - probably for well over a month. I've always liked a lot of what Charli XCX does - but not always over an entire album - Good Ones is one of her finest - and almost as catchy as 'Gone'.

The Weeknd is a triple-threat in this listing - appearing solo, with Rosalía, and with Swedish House Mafia - all great songs. I also have a real soft spot for Elton John + Dua Lipa + PNAU - Cold Heart - which I still seem to enjoy despite extensive and possibly excessive repeated exposure.

Silk Sonic only had 2 killer tracks on their album as far as I am concerned - both released as singles and featured here. Burial appeared with 2 new tracks on a limited release EP this year - where Dark Gethsemane was the standout track. Smerz delivered the brilliant 'Believer' which really wasn't sustained over that album - said track was in quite a different league to the rest. And Caroline Polacheck is just a genius songwriter - and most of what she touches is gold - Bunny is a Rider is the top featured track on many an end-of-year lists.

Abba's double-headed revival was pretty great - and Doja Cat was all over 2021 - cameoing on every other artists' tracks while doing a tonne of her own. Such eclecticism doesn't always work well over an entire album - unless of course you are The Avalanches!

A real mix of influences with quite a lot coming out of the various Latin and Afrobeat / Afropop communities. Dance and Electronic Music is still strong in all its forms - and with no lack of solid grooves coming through the ranks.

I quite like that I end the listing with the almost Jazzy Freeform Techno of Jlin's 'Embryo'. This list is every bit as eclectic as the above album selection - where it could have done with at least one or two heavy metal tracks too probably - while I appraise everything on its own merits - and there is no genre quota - as I just list out the songs that appeal to me most - in the order of their appeal - including how many times I've played them back time and time again!

Should be something for most everyone here too!

1 : Royal Blood - Boilermaker / Typhoon / Limbo (SebastiAn Remix) [Riff-Rock]
2 : Charli XCX - Good Ones / New Shapes / Out Out [Electropop]
3 : The Weeknd - Take My Breath [R&B Electropop]
4 : Rosalía, The Weeknd, Tokischa - La Fama / Linda (Bachata / Electropop]
5 : Swedish House Mafia, The Weeknd - Moth To a Flame [Electropop]
6 : Elton John + Dua Lipa + PNAU - Cold Heart PNAU Remix [Electropop]
7 : Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open [R&B Soul]
8 : Burial - Dark Gethsemane [Elecronic / Dubstep]
9 : Smerz - Believer [Electropop]
10 : Caroline Polachek - Bunny is a Rider [Art Pop]
11 : Abba - Don't Shut Me Down / I Still Have Faith In You [Pop]
12 : Doja Cat, SZA - Kiss Me More / Need to Know / Woman [R&B HipPop]
13 : Indigo De Souza - Hold U [Electropop]
14 : Neiked, Mae Muller, Polo G - Better Days [Electropop]
15 : Amaarae, Kali Ulchis, Moliy - Sad Girlz Luv Money (Remix) [Afropop]
16 : Jessie Ware - Hot N Heavy / Please [Post-Disco]
17 : Peggy Gou - I Go / Nabi [Italo-infused House]
18 : Jayda G - All I Need [House]
19 : Joy Orbison, Léa Sen - Better [Deep House]
20 : Bizarrap, L-Gante - L-Gante : Bzrp Music Sessions Vol. 38 [Latin Trap]
21 : Kali Uchis - Telepatía [Latin Pop]
22 : Imagine Dragons, JID - Enemy [Electropop]
23 : Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits / Shivers [Dance-Pop]
24 : Anne-Marie, Little Mix - Kiss My (Uh Oh) [Electropop]
25 : The Kid Laroi, Justin Bieber - Stay [HipPop]
26 : The War on Drugs, Lucius - I Don't Live Here Anymore [Heartland Rock]
27 : CKay - Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah) [Afropbeat / Afropop]
28 : City Girls - Twerkulator [Hip Hop / Electro]
29 : Saweetie, Doja Cat - Best Friend [HipHop / HipPop]
30 : Jlin - Embryo [Freeform Techno]

20 Favourite Films

I'm still some way off peak cinema this year - where my viewing calendar was simply the following :

June 5th - Quiet Place [Cineworld 4DX] (Sent into enforced Quarantine a few days later]
June 19th - Nobody [Odeon] (Sent into enforced Quarantine again a few days later]
[Cinema Hiatus]
August 25th - Free Guy [Cineworld 4DX 3D]
September 3rd - Shang-Chi [Cineworld 4DX 3D]
October 2nd - No Time To Die [Cineworld IMAX]
October 23rd - Dune [Cineworld IMAX]
October 30th - French Despatch [Vue]
November 6th - The Eternals [Cineworld 4DX 3D]
November 13th - Last Night In Soho [Vue]
November 20th - Ghost Busters Afterlife [Cineworld 4DX]

Of those 10 visits, 4 merited inclusion in the final selection - where Covid really got in the way quite a bit - and I had to watch quite a lot on VOD - mostly courtesy of Amazon and Netflix, but also on Now TV and Disney+ - and Apple TV to a lesser degree - I watched all 4 Disney Blockbuster premiers on Disney+ on early release - Black Widow, Cruella, Jungle Cruise, and Raya and the Last Dragon.

I also made a point of watching all of this year's major awards nominees - where I found quite a lot of them somewhat pointless and overly drawn-out with ponderous timings - including big prize winner Nomadland. In fact I was a little nonplussed with The Green Knight, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Minari, Nomadland, and Sound of Metal - each for a variety of reasons. I loved the Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank last year - and Promising Young Woman, The Father and Judas and the Black Messiah from this year - those were my own winners! While none was a patch really on last year's Parasite by Bong Joon Ho! Which reminds me that I have quite a number of cool Asian movies to catch up on too - again many of which have yet to make it into UK distribution!

UK's release schedule seems a lot slower than everywhere else - so I really wanted to - but was unable to see Annette, Red Rocket, Shiva Baby, Spider-Man No Way Home, Titane and West-Side story. I also stopped attending cinema in December when Omicron started spiking.

Nevertheless some great watches this year - with Dune just about justifying the top place. I really loved Last Night in Soho - how it glitzed up and glamorised 60's Soho - before exposing its dirty and seedy underbelly - great cinema really. I also found the last Daniel Craig Bond to be Magnificent, and while The French Despatch wasn't quite up there with the best of Wes Anderson - it was still some of the most creative film-making of all time - the setups, visuals, acting and score were amazing as always - while there wasn't always enough narrative heft - and some of the segments were over-wordy and somewhat out-stayed their welcome.

There's a few themed sets here - the two Danish Mads Mikkelsen films, the two Truffle films, and the hat trick of Female Revenge Action Thrillers - all sort of riffing on the same kind sorta female John Wick style scenarios - all 3 were entertaining - and about in the order listed.

I didn't get around to enough Art-House movies really this year - and some of them - like 'In the Earth' weren't quite as fully rounded as I expected. Note that I fell asleep during The Eternals, while my most pleasant surprise was 'Riders of Justice'! I also really wanted to see quirky Icelandic horror 'Lamb' (Dýrið) - but that hasn't reach UK distribution yet as far as I'm aware.

In a normal year I see about 30 to 40 movies in the cinema - while I doubt that's going to occur again for a while. Certain films are for sure worth seeing in IMAX or in 4DX - while a lot of households now have decent AV equipment including big screens and 3D sound-systems of their own - so I have no qualms about watching most films on a Big Screen OLED set. Films like The Father and similar - close and personal films work fine at close quarters - action blockbusters and comedies are probably more fun in the cinema with a big crowd reacting to every move and wise-crack.

I've been very grateful to the big Networks for premiering movies online too for VOD premiers - as it has often been difficult to get to the cinema this year for a variety of reasons - and it looks like Omicron is going to offset / upset the new year somewhat too. I will probably stay out of cinemas until the numbers start coming down significantly again ...

1 : Dune - Cinema [Sci-Fi / Space Opera]
2 : Last Night In Soho - Cinema [Thriller / Horror]
3 : No Time To Die - Cinema [Action Adventure / Thriller]
4 : The French Despatch - Cinema [Art-House Fantasy]
5 : Riders of Justice - Amazon (Danish) [Thriller / Caper / Dramedy]
6 : Another Round - Amazon (Danish) [Dramedy]
7 : Pig - Amazon [Drama]
8 : The Truffle Hunters - Amazon (Italian) [Documentary]
9 : Coda - Apple TV [Coming-of-Age Dramedy]
10 : Promising Young Woman - Sky / Now TV [Psychological Thriller / Black Comedy]
11 : The Father - Amazon [Drama]
12 : Judas and the Black Messiah - Amazon [Biographical Crime Drama]
13 : I Care a Lot - Amazon [Black Comedy / Thriller]
14 : The Mitchells vs the Machines - Netflix [Family Animation]
15 : Gunpowder Milkshake - Sky / Now TV [Revenge Action Thriller]
16 : Kate - Netflix / Jolt - Amazon [Revenge Action Thriller]
17 : Zola - Amazon [Black Comedy Crime Thriller]
18 : No Sudden Move - Amazon [Period Crime Thriller / Caper]
19 : Power of the Dog - Netflix [Western Drama]
20 : Raya and the Last Dragon - Disney+ [Family Animation]

30 Favourite TV Shows

Of course a lot of great shows continued this year while we also had a slew of imaginative new ones. Sci-Fi and High Fantasy were particularly catered well for this year - with that all perfectly coming together in killer newcomer Arcane - a French-made League of Legends Computer Game off-shoot - which ended up being the most perfect show this year - character development, visuals and effects - and a great theme tune made it well well worth absorbing.

Succession really is the best scripted show on television these days - and with the sharpest dialogue - it never disappoints and continues to throw odd curve-balls in your direction. Like many I totally loved the Beatles Get Back Documentary, and WandaVision totally broke the mold for what super-hero serials could be like - Loki tried to do interesting things too - but could not compete with WandaVision.

I've loved following the ever expanding 'Expanse' - which takes us into new territories yet again - the sort of spiritual successor to BattleStar Galactica (Revival), I also found Sweet Tooth delightful - and while slightly flawed - season 2 of The Witcher and Season 1 of The Wheel of Time were still fantastic viewing - more for Lord of the Rings fans really rather than Game of Thrones - the scripting in some of the early seasons for GOT was just next-level - and with characters like Tyrion - that series could do no wrong for a long time - I was both satisfied and disappointed with the final season - in some ways those things had to come to pass really - while not nearly enough loose ends were tied up!

Also in the not perfect but entertaining category was Cowboy Bebop which has sadly been cancelled after just one season. It all got a bit heavy and overwrought in the end - and lost the irreverent insouciance of the original animated series - I still mostly liked it and wanted to give it another chance.

Sex Education was enormously entertaining in its third season - and particularly for us Peaches fans - in the choice of musical numbers.

I've enjoyed a myriad of great shows on Now TV, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV and BBC. I seem to operate mostly on the big streaming networks - while I really must watch more CrunchyRoll too again some day - as I've kind of fallen behind with my anime. There really is no shortage of great shows of all genres - although there are some patchy quality issues. Some of the production values on those smaller shows are quite superb though and often put the big studios to shame.

I look forward to seeing lots more great shows return in 2022 - as well as witnessing the next chapter of Star Wars, Marvel, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones Prequels and the like ... Do let me know what you've been mostly watching this year too!