The Best Music Of The Year

Plus, BTS returns to the stage after two years [View this email online]( [NPR Music]( by Jacob Ganz Kara Frame, Renee Klahr/NPR Every December here at NPR Music we give ourselves a very difficult assignment. Maybe one that’s technically impossible — to come up with lists of the best music of the year that represent the past year in all its disparate, diverse glories. Well, not technically impossible! This week we did publish our lists of the [50 Best Albums]( and [100 Best Songs]( of 2021. Still, here’s a truth learned from years of making lists like these: There’s no such thing as “the best music of the year” and maybe even no way to agree on what “the best music of the year” means in the first place. NPR Music is made by music fans of many different stripes: some devoted genre specialists, some devoted generalists, some reporters, some critics, some who would prefer not to surround the music itself with many words at all. How could we reasonably expect to satisfy ourselves, let alone all of you reading and listening out in the world? It helps to toss aside the idea of “the best music of the year” as an exercise in reason in the first place. It’s a doomed effort to contain joy within a square frame — some of it’s going to spill over the edges. So we vote, casting as wide a net as possible, but we also meet to talk in small groups and large ones, and listen to the songs and albums other team members bring to the table. I love this part — hearing the music of the year through the ears of my friends and colleagues; being won over by the passion individuals or small groups share; giving up on some of my personal favorites and feeling perfectly fine about it as the lists fill up with great music. Along the way, maybe we discover that a certain album — [one that’s intimate yet expansive]( technically stunning yet approachably raw — stands apart from the pack. And that a particular song feels like a [full-fledged arrival for a promising artist]( finding his creative voice while casually busting through boundaries that should have fallen long ago. No, we don’t all agree on the results. Like I said before: impossible. But the best kind of impossible, where you end up with more great music than you know what to do with. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- There’s more going on in the world of music than just best-of lists, of course. This week the world-dominating pop group BTS returned to the stage for the first time since before the pandemic, for four nights in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium. Photographer Hannah Yoon was there to meet some of the few hundred thousand fans that attended these shows, and she brought home [a photo essay of the ARMY in their finest](. Also, the year’s breakout indie pop band, Wet Leg, whose first single, “Chaise Longue,” happened to be NPR Music’s No. 2 song of the year, released its third and fourth songs ever — and played a [Tiny Desk (home) concert]( from a record store near the musicians’ homes on the Isle of Wight. Finally, please check out [this profile of the Bay Area duo The Dodos]( by Grayson Haver Currin. Guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber have been putting out percussive acoustic rock for more than a dozen years, but recently Long discovered that his style of playing had contributed to a debilitating injury that could end his musical career. It’s a fascinating look at one cost of playing music for a living, which Grayson puts in context by talking to musicians like Max Weinberg, Yasmin Williams and Leo Kottke, who have all learned to live — and play — with pain and disability incurred through years of practicing their art. One more bit of list business. Since we don’t expect you’ll agree with our picks, we’ve got a place where you can tell us your favorite albums of 2021: All Songs Considered's [annual listener poll]( is collecting votes now. And just to prove that the year was overflowing with great music, next week we’ll begin sharing lists and features on the best pop, hip-hop, classical and electronic music of 2021. We’ll be back here next week with more of the year’s best. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Find a Station]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [nprmusic@npr.org](mailto:nprmusic@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? 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