Happy 2021 & so long 2020; press photo courtesy of Kerri O’Malley via Week in Pop HQ.

2020. Where to begin? Where to end? These previous 12 months have been in a word overwhelming (to say the very least). When it seemed as if entropy was moving faster than the speed of sound, we were still blessed with an eclectic array of bright luminous arts. And even though our own news department aggregators succumbed to a temporary gridlock [a situation that we are both remedying and renovating for the new year —Ed.]; Week in Pop boldly steps forward into the new strange of 2021 and presents the following succinct highlights — but in no sense of the imagination a complete or ultimately comprehensive — Year in Pop 2020.

As previously showcased on Beg, Borrow & Steal on WDVR hosted by the esteemed Kerrianne; we covered the elusive Sault who rocked us to the core with the releases Untitled (Rise), Untitled (Black Is) to the progressive new schools of lavish pop portraits a la Moses Sumney’s Græ, as A. G. Cook of the PC Music melee stepped out of the wings to give us Apple, 7G as fellow disciple Charli XCX gave the world her best pop album yet from the confines of quarantine with how i’m feeling now. Megan Thee Stallion shined a beacon of empowerment and hope with Good News, as Bad Bunny embraced a well deserved ubiquity with YHLQMDLG, Dehd brought floral DIY pop of pure fascination with Flower of Devotion and Duval Timothy turned some heads and enlightened our ears minds and souls with Help. U.S. Girls’ Meg Remy proved to be the unbreakable returning champion with Heavy Light, Lil Uzi Vert elevated the hip hop throne to new cosmic echelons of luxury brand sparkle with Eternal Atake, Phoebe Bridgers dominated the media outlets with Punisher and more as Soccer Mommy unleashed the equally devastating opus Color Theory. Reigning with keen vision and acute acuity passed all parallels was Fiona Apple’s triumphant return with the unflinchingly towering testament Fetch the Bolt Cutters, the meteoric rise of Dua Lipa with the billboard chart chopping Future Nostalgia to the shining aura of prolific pop provocateur / shape shifter / wizard of wonder Shamir with the advent of more aesthetic reinventions/reimaginings with the dawning of their new self-titled.

2020 provided an opportunity for artists to create and focus on some of their best works to date. The Bay Area group Same Girls, lead by Taifa Nia, released the lauded album Embarrassment of Riches, Nova One let us feel love for others/ourselves/our communities with lovable, polymath Fat Tony released his most massive masterwork to date with Exotica, Bryson Cone went big and magnificent on Magnetism, the ingenious Old Smile dropped the psych masterpiece Glued and Fielded elevated r&b into new dimensions of desire and care with the sensational Demisexual Lovelace. Rising pop star Caitlin Pasko unleashed the devastating and inspirational powerhouse of Greenhouse, as Katherine de Rosset, aka Kate Davis, emerged with the ethereal artistic ziggurat of The Tower, as Pale Spring turned us toward the realms of perpetual twilight in Dusk, with Permanent Collection blazing mountains of fiery guitar cathartic fury on Nothing Good is Normal. Baltimore’s Josh Stokes took funk to new heightened dimensions and depths with the future frenzy fire of Toons, with Shuggie Shooter stepping out with the DIY slacker-styled song set of Dollar Dream, seeing LA’s cult act Trends releasing the long awaited kaleidoscope of pop with Palettes, Boy Romeo’s power pop prayer hymnal Pure Soul, Open Mike Eagle got even more candid and personal with tales of love, loss, lessons and influences with Anime, Trauma & Divorce and Oceanator conquered all with the powerful pop rock might and magnificent majesty of Things I Never Said. While these select releases are by no means a definitive or an exhaustive survey — these are but some of the aesthetes and artists that are guiding the way to the potentially beautiful new world of tomorrow.