Musical Scrapbook: 2021

Sometimes when I share writing from old newsletters or other publications, I make the date in the WordPress CMS match the original publication date, so as to appropriately place it chronologically if someone goes on a deep-dive into my stuff.

I could have done that for this…made the date January 1, 2021 or something. But it didn’t seem in the spirit of this project. I scrapbook songs to help me remember and process my year, not paint a false and rosy picture of it. So this is the real date, no typos: I’m publishing my 2021 scrapbook here on January 4, 2023.

2021 was such a long and exhausting year, and I was in such a crumb-bum low place in January 2022, that I couldn’t even give myself the simple pleasure of tidying up and publishing a playlist. And you know, 2022 was an even worse year for me, at least on paper. But I’m tired of being a crumb-bum! And I’m trying to do more nice things that make me happy, like tidying and publishing playlists. So here we are. This proved an interesting time capsule, and I’m glad I made it.

Background: I keep a “musical scrapbook” for each calendar year. Songs scavenged from the ambience, if you will; stuff I hear on the radio, interesting new tracks in my algorithmic playlists, old favorites that land in a new or particularly resonant way, songs from TV shows or movies I’m into at the time, songs that stood out from concerts I attended, that sort of thing. I don’t do any intentional seeking out of music for these scrapbooks. At the end of the year I often re-discover songs I don’t even remember having heard, which gives me further opportunities to reflect.

I do a bit of light sequencing before sharing — moving a few songs around for better flow as a playlist — but I try to keep that minimal so the list remains roughly chronological.

You can stream it as a YouTube video playlist up above, or add it on Apple Music or Spotify. Perhaps you’ll find something in here to add to your own 2023 scrapbook. If you’re looking more more inspiration, check out my 2020, 2019, and 2018 musical scrapbooks.