Oh Sufjan Stevens, never change. The idiosyncratic singer took to his personal Tumblr (in 2021!) to post the weirdest Best of 2021 list. 

Arriving fashionably late to the end of year list lark, Sufjan shared his favourite and least favourite albums of 2021 yesterday and it makes for, um, interesting reading.

Taking the top spot in the least favourite list was that classic album Squid Game. “I didn’t actually see it but it looks really stupid,” Sufjan explained while giving the Netflix series an F- rating. That was followed by several other movies, including A Quiet Place 2 (“It should have been shown after the credits for the first movie”) and Dune (“A very long Zara ad”).

When he included actual music, he didn’t hold back. “Black face,” was his curt assessment of J Balvin; “We know you’re 33. It’s on your Wikipedia page,” he scolded Adele’s 30, at least giving her album a B+. You can view Sufjan’s full list of least favourite albums of 2021 below and wonder at the mind that created it.

His favourite albums of 2021 list was kinder, focusing solely on music. Alain Goraguer’s soundtrack to the sci-fi movie La Planéte Sauvage (Fantastic Planet) took the top spot, even though it was released in 1973. He also enjoyed Hannah, the 2020 album from fellow acclaimed indie folk singer songwriter Lomelda and Time to Melt by Sam Evian, which at least came out this year.

Maybe Sufjan’s actually onto something here. Maybe more end of year lists should be this personal. Ignore the music politics, I want to know the pet peeves of a journalist rather than how he rated Olivia Rodrigo’s album.

Sufjan actually released his own record this year, a collaborative album with Angelo De Augustine. It came in a busy time for the musician, having released four albums in just two years.

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Sufjan Stevens’ Favourite Albums of 2021

1. Alain Goraguer—La Planète Sauvage (Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2. Todd Rundgren—A Wizard, A True Star
3. Beverly-Glenn Copeland—Keyboard Fantasies
4. Various—Ladakh: Songs & Dances from the Highlands of Western Tibet
5. Peter Gabriel—Up
6. Can—Future Days
7. Alice Coltrane—Journey in Satchidananda
8. Sam Evian—Time To Melt
8. Ringo Starr—Beaucoups of Blues
10. Lomelda—Hannah

Sufjan Stevens’ Least Favourite Albums of 2021

1. Squid Game—I didn’t actually see it but it looks really stupid. F-
2. A Quiet Place 2—It should have been shown after the credits for the first movie. F-
3. The Interminable Marvel Brand—If it’s on Disney + it’s for children. F-
4. Dune—A very long Zara ad. F-
5. J Balvin—Black face. F-
6. Matrix 4—Ugh. Computers. Hackers. Cyberpunks. Simulated Reality. The 90s. The color green. F-
7. Any band that is still together after 10 years—Please. Break up. Do your solo albums. Move on. F-
8. Instagram—Get over yourself. F-
9. Musicals—Please stop singing and dancing. F-
10. Baby Boomer WASPs—Get out of the way. F-
11. Sex & the City—And Just Like That? No. Not at all. Go away. F-
12. Conversations about supply chain issues—Stop making excuses. Make your own furniture. Forage for mushrooms or whatever. F-
13. Covid—Ugh. So over it. Please stop killing us! F-
14. Crypto, NFTs, The Metaverse, etc. — see #6. F-
15. The 90s revival—Please. It was bad enough the first time around. F-
16. Adele, 30—Girl, please. We know you’re 33. It’s on your Wikipedia page. B+

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