The song builds toward an awesome, larger-than-life climax, the textbook definition of earning a drop. “It’s only that bad if you tell yourself you’ll never get out of bed,” Tenenbaum assures, her trademark soprano cracking with emotion.
Nowhere on Mercurial World is that more apparent than “Chaeri,” a slow-burning anthem on which singer Mica Tenenbaum reaches out to a struggling former friend. The former prog-rockers come to pop with a true love and fascination for the genre (their 2020 song “How to Get Physical” alluded to Olivia Newton-John, while their upcoming debut album, Mercurial World, references Madonna), and their poignant lyricism places them alongside soul-baring left-field pop performers like Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, and Christine and the Queens. Below, the best songs of 2021, as we’re somehow halfway through.ĭon’t let their delightfully bizarre music videos and TikToks fool you: Magdalena Bay is one of the most genuine artists in pop right now.
We’re starting to hear some of these songs with others, either live in concert or out and about, as the world (gradually) reopens in certain countries and we’re able to get the full experience, but their just-as-great job of soundtracking neighborhood walks and Friday-night Twitter doomscrolls won’t go unthanked. The same has been true of the standout music of 2021 so far: They’ve each offered moments of escape, reflection, and just plain old joy.
Good songs thrive in any setting, with anyone or no one, and many born of the pandemic - or at least released during it - proved their ability to shake and shock us out of the day-to-day monotony of isolation, not unlike the way a well-executed beat drop on a night out once did. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photos by YouTube