2020: Blog Staff's Year in Review
It goes without saying that 2020 has been a year filled with peaks and valleys of all heights and depths, seemingly for everyone. Now, twelve irrevocable months later, the year 2020 is rolling to a close, and much time has passed between now and the heydays of very early quarantine. It’s almost at the point where we can look back at the world and its novel position and begin to think of the times we had and the music that kept us company through it all. Thus, WVUM’s Blog Staff compiled their favorite releases from the year into individualized playlists, and we’re sharing them with you now! Read on for our thoughts on the year in music, and the playlist links for our favorite 2020 tunes!!
Katie Lesh
2020, at least in my opinion, was truly a year ruled by electronic music. The year gave way to showing the world the diversity of sound and range within the genre and electronic musicians came out on top. With stunning albums from Arca, Actress, Eartheater etc. 2020 has been a year for great new music. And even outside of the electronic genre, music flourished from the confines of musicians’ homes. So, here’s some of my favorites! enjoy! xx :)
Avery Formato
2020 was a weird year, but music was one of the things that kept me sane. I finally got to explore some music outside of my indie rock genre, and so my eclectic list of top songs is here. A shameless phoebe bridgers and strokes stan, it was good year for their new music and both reign at the top of my list. One unexpected thing for me was the amount of music I found on TikTok (don’t come for me, I know) like Penelope Scott and glitchcore/hyperpop. Though I’ve got low expectations for 2021 as a whole, I mean who doesn’t at this point, I’m most excited to see what comes out in this new year.
Caroline Whyte
I’m going to be very honest!! I struggled to remember what music was even released in 2020. Not only was the year so long and winding (yet brisk), but I also regarded 2020 as a bad year for music, without even reviewing what was released when! Pretty pessimistic, but can you blame me?And, at the risk of sounding as pretentious as an indie boy with chipped black nail polish and a Pulp Fiction poster, I’d like to say this: most of the music I listened to this year was released decades before 2020 or released in the late months of 2019 (see: Cornballs and Charli). However (biiig however!), I remembered that Tkay Maidza, Flo Milli, and Rico Nasty exist… and my list was pretty much made for me. When it comes to modern/PC Pop, experimental Hip Hop (Spotify’s “escape room” ?), women in Rock music, women in Rap, women in Pop, Women…… 2020 sounded pretty smexy!!
Since my favorites of this year were more picky and narrowed, you’ll find my playlist filled a fusion between Indie Rock, Hip Hop, Indie R&B, and Techno-Pop (PC Style). Parts are kinda really basic,,, hehe. Have fun listening!!1 Some of the artists featured: Tkay Maidza, Rico Nasty, Tom Misch, Lomelda, Faye Webster, Noname, Freddie Gibbs, Phoebe Bridgers, Charli XCX, Sipper, A.G. Cook, JPEGMAFIA, Silver Sphere, Slowthai, Gorillaz, Rina Sawayama.
Elliott Cleven
Featured Artists: Megan Thee Stallion. Miley Cyrus, Tierra Whack, Rico Nasty