2021: The Year Women Dominated Pop Music

Women have always had a prominent role in pop music, but since the beginning of the 21st century, female music production has gained dominance beyond the few vocalists who managed to stand out among rock bands and rap MCs.

The last decade has consolidated female creation as crucial to the current scene and, even with vocalists still dominating the scene – and with much more presence than male artists -, an increasing number of producers and instrumentalists manage to establish themselves without needing to seal or male guardianship.

At the top of this string, names like Adele, Billie Eilish, Lorde, King’s wool, Taylor Swift e Olive Rodrigo emerge as the great artists of 2021, but this new moment goes far beyond the champions of public and critics, who still remain good thermometers.

Taylor Swift didn’t let it go. In addition to continuing to sell well the two albums he released in 2020 (the introspective “Folklore” and “Evermore”), Taylor began a daring operation after he failed to retake the master tapes, hence the ownership of his first six released albums. by the American record label Big Machine.

She decided to face up to the owners of her original albums and began a process of re-recording her first six albums, releasing, in 2021, the new versions for “Fearless” (originally released in 2008) and “Red”, the album that turned her, in 2012, into a pop star beyond country music, her musical birthplace. This latest album alone sold over a million copies in one week – an impressive feat for a work that had already been released.

Englishwoman Adele, who released her long-awaited “30”, followed shortly thereafter, making her stunning fourth album selling nearly a million records worldwide in just the first week of release – including physical and digital versions.

On the critical side, two of the main North American vehicles, the dean magazine “Rolling Stone” and the respected website “Pitchfork” chose women as authors of their albums of the year. The magazine chose teen singer Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album “Sour” (which surpassed two million records sold throughout the year), while the website chose Jazmine Sullivan’s fourth album, the impressive “Heaux Tales”.

Billie Eilish, just 19, was another who made best of the year lists around the world with her impressive second album “Happier than Ever”. Composed and produced alongside her brother Finneas, the album freed the singer from stereotypes that treated her as a passing novelty, saying that she barely knew how to sing.

Billie not only expanded her scope beyond rap, releasing her voice in songs composed on piano or guitar, but also signed a contract with two of the biggest streaming services in the world, releasing two major audiovisual recordings: the documentary “The World’s a Little Blurry”, which appeared on Apple+, directed by RJ Cutler, and the show “Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles”, recorded at the legendary Hollywood Bowl with no audience present, directed by Robert Rodriguez. In addition to having pulled off one of the most successful tours of a year that started without live performances.

Controversial Lana Del Rey, who is increasingly establishing herself as one of the top songwriters of her generation, released not just one but two albums in the year her career turned ten: “Chemtrails over the Country Club,” with emphasis in country music, where he invited other artists such as Nikki Lane, Weyes Blood and Zella Day, as well as re-recording a song by Joni Mitchell, “For Free”; and the introspective “Blue Banisters”, in which he flirts with folk and jazz.

Both albums maintained their commercial and artistic reputation, also present in the best of the year lists. She even prepares the soundtrack for a modern adaptation of the classic “Alice in Wonderland”.

To New Zealander Lorde it was not so much celebrated by the critics with its third album, “Solar Power”, but it continued to enchant fans all over the world.

And in the realm of American indie rock, a whole new crop of artists that emerged in the past decade has established themselves releasing critically celebrated records: Clairo released the great “Sling”; Lindsey Jordan, who signs as Snail Mail, also caused a sensation with her second album, “Valentine”; Lucy Dacus was celebrated as the great “Home Video”, her third album, as well as “I Know I’m Funny Haha” by Faye Webster, her fourth album, and the second album by Cassandra Jenkins, the beautiful “An Overview on Phenomenal Nature”. Running in parallel, Australian Courtney Barnett reached musical maturity with her excellent third album, “Things Take Time, Take Time.”

Other artists who released albums that threw 2021 out of balance are the rapper’s great third album Doja Cat, which she showed in “Planet Her”, which can go far beyond the hit sensation “Say So”, with guest appearances by other current pop divas such as SZA and Ariana Grande.

Michelle Zauner, of Korean descent, released another 2021 record under her pseudonym “Japanese Breakfast”, the irresistible “Jubilee”.

As captivating as this was “Collapsed in Sunbeams”, the debut album by the 21-year-old English singer Arlo Parks. “Let Me Do One More”, third album by producer Sarah Tudzin, who signs as Illuminati Hotties and who has worked with names as different as Slowdive, Weyes Blood and Tim Heidecker, is one of the best rock records of the year, albeit as well. different from what is expected of the genre. And the English Little Simz released one of the best rap albums of the year with her fourth album, “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert”.

These are just a few names that show that the charts and music critics increasingly embrace women as the main force in pop music this century. In addition, 2021 also had new records by St. Vincent, Halsey, Jenny Hval and veterans Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of the Pretenders, who released a tribute to Bob Dylan (“Standing in the Doorway”) and Marianne Faithfull, who recorded “She Walks In Beauty” alongside Warren Ellis, well-known partner of Nick Cave. No need to give space: the current pop is already theirs.