If you would have tried to predict the ways of 2020 you could have never in a million years guessed the way that it actually turned out. The sudden attack of Covid threw everything overboard changing the way we currently live now and quite possibly forever. Even in our circle of friends and associates, we’ve known people that have been stricken bringing all of this too close to home for anyone’s liking.
Truly our only saving grace through all of this has been the music. Many major label artists teamed up with others to create new offerings of sound and lyric that we have never witnessed before. For many of independent music artists and bands they had plenty of time locked away in their home studios to do nothing but create and record.
We can truthfully report on this because here at New Music Weekly we have been flooded by new releases from both the major and independent record labels. The subject matter is not just about the times we now live in but more about how all of the current events have affected music artists.
Major label and already established music artists fared quite well in 2020. Justin Bieber started the year with his infectious and simple “Yummy” then went on to chart numerous pop songs bringing a number of artists along for the ride. If you were on one of the major labels, all you needed was to take Justin along for the ride to the top of the charts. Harry Styles had his biggest year to date with several #1 chart toppers to his credit and took full advantage of a rather dull and confusing 2020. Ariana Grande scored time and time again and sometimes releasing two singles at one time that appeared to be confusing to some radio programmers. In Country the already established had the run of the charts from Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen to name just a few.
Independent music artists had a better than expected run from New Yorker Joe Taylor, Colorado’s Garrett Young to LA’s own Eileen Carey, as well as an assortment of hot releases from Canada. All you have to do is look closely in this issue to see all of the indie artists and bands listed or mentioned to see just how many indie artists fared well in 2020.
New Music Weekly hung in there providing weekly charts and media without missing a beat. It is so hard to know at this point where the future will take us. What we do know is, regardless of all of the crazy and unexpected turns, this is our annual Best Of 2020 issue. So many artists and bands to consider for our up and coming New Music Awards that it’s all a bit overwhelming. In this issue you will find a good many to consider. There will be an open nomination ballot over the next few days and you and music fans from around the world can nominate your very favorite.
We can only hope that by focusing on a bit of the positive out there in the music industry that this will give us a bit of a break in all of the bad news and bring us something that will provide a little comfort in our lives. It’s hard to picture where and when all of this will pass, but as it continues the music is the one medicine that is pretty much a sure thing at least from an emotional standpoint. This is something we know how to create and deal with. Hopefully the new vaccine will be affective and we can all get back to where we once were. Regardless, our world has pretty much been changed forever. We continue to pray for yours and our safety and hope for much better days ahead. We applaud all of the artists and bands out there that continued to record and release new music. You all have helped to save the day and as we soon will look back on 2020, that has been quite an accomplishment.