Boybands are still one of my favorite things and I spent A LOT of time in 2021 listening to and following my top bands. As you can see from my Spotify wrapped, I definitely have a genre – but I try and keep the classics in the mix (is One Direction considered a classic at this point??). But here’s my take on 2021 boybands – at least according to my bias!
SEVENTEEN: As you know, SVT was my FAVORITE boy band of 2021. They took the top spot in my 2021 Spotify wrapped and I spent so much time listening, I was ranked in the top .05% of their fans this past year. I absolutely loved their two major releases in 2021: Your Choice in June and Attacca, featuring Rock with You in October. And in addition to these two amazing albums, 2021 had a ton of SVT promotions – including their very own season of In the SOOP. Now – fingers crossed – COVID will cool it a bit so SVT can go on tour in 2022 and show us all the new content in person!
BTS: 2021 was another HUGE year for BTS. And just because they have moved to second place on my Spotify list doesn’t mean I didn’t spend a lot of time listening to all the AMAZING BTS music this past year. First the release of Butter and PTD (admittedly not my fave BTS song – but it’s a jam all the same). The there were the collabs with the Megan Thee Stallion version of Butter and the HUGELY popular My Universe with Coldplay. And of course we can’t forget that this fall Butter was nominated for a Grammy AND somewhere between all their activities BTS made time to speak at the United Nations General Assembly for the third time, accompanying South Korean President Moon Jae-in as special envoys. Already, that’s a pretty packed year! But the icing on the cake for BTS has to be the return of their live concerts after two long years! At the beginning of December, BTS held a four sold out concerts at the open-air SoFi Stadium, in Los Angeles – and while I didn’t attend, clips and reviews all showed the same thing – this band is an absolute PHENOMENOM.
BTS is currently on an extended break for the first time in years with new music set to drop in earky 2022. And I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in 2022!
Harry Styles – back on tour! I know we all saw those videos of BTS at the Harry Styles concert in fall 2021 and I don’t know how the two superstars could be in the same location at the same time without causing damage to the space-time continuum. But here we are! And Harry Styles has had another INSANE year. Picking up his “Love on Tour” concerts where he left off pre-pandemic, Harry closed out the tour with 3 months of shows in the fall. And his songs only seemed to get better with time! Not to mention Harry made other headlines with the confirmation of his relationship with Olivia Wilde (amazingly good-looking couple alert) and more headlines with his amazing fashion sense – even highlighted as one of 2021’s style icons by Vouge.
SHINEE: I think everyone knows the soft spot I have for SHINee – and 2021 marked the year of SHINee’s BIG comeback after three of the members came back from their mandatory military service. They started the year with a huge amount of TV promotion gearing up for their next release – and after almost two years of no SHINee, all of us Shawols LOVED seeing the chaotic, bickering team back on the airwaves. Then came Don’t Call Me and Atlantis AND THEN solo releases from Taemin, Key and Minho all before the end of the year! What a year from this group! And let’s not forget some of the most entertaining content to come from SHINee members this year – Key is a regular on Amazing Saturday, one of the most entertaining K-variety shows these days! Sadly now we have to wait until post-November 2022 for another SHINee reunion as Taemin serves his mandatory military service. But at least we got more SHINee in 2021 to see us through!
And in other music TXT, ENHYPEN: These groups had phenomenal releases this year. TXT with The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE and releases like Loser: Lover and the all English single Magic and Enhypen continued to build on their debut with with DIMENSION album. Both of these fourth generation K-pop power groups are poised for super success and ready to take on 2022.
The Chatty Enthusiast 