Frolicme240817ashaheartlostintimexxx1 2021 -
Audio was weird in 2021. While commuter listening was down (no one was driving to work), at-home listening skyrocketed. Spotify went all-in on exclusivity, spending hundreds of millions on Joe Rogan (who remained the most controversial and listened-to figure in media) and the Call Her Daddy crew.
True crime remained king, but celebrity interview podcasts exploded. Armchair Expert (Dax Shepard), SmartLess (Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett), and Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend became essential listening for the Hollywood set, offering a raw, unedited hang that disappeared from traditional TV.
Summer 2021 saw the tentative return of festivals. Lollapalooza (Chicago) operated at full capacity with vaccine requirements. While international touring remained difficult, the desire for live music exploded. Adele’s 30 (released November 2021) shattered sales records, driven by the heart-wrenching single Easy On Me—a song designed for radio, video, and mass weeping. frolicme240817ashaheartlostintimexxx1 2021
2021 was massive for TV, with Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and Apple TV+ competing hard.
Warner Bros. famously (or infamously) dropped its entire 2021 slate on HBO Max simultaneously with theatrical releases. Audio was weird in 2021
By 2021, streaming was no longer a novelty — it was a battlefield.
Key takeaway: Audiences no longer chose between theaters or home. They demanded both, instantly. Summer 2021 saw the tentative return of festivals
Late 2021 saw the quiet launch of BeReal, an anti-Instagram app. Tired of curated influencer perfection, users wanted unfiltered, two-minute-window chaos. It was a minor trend in 2021 that would explode in 2022, but the seeds of "authenticity fatigue" were planted.
The success of Squid Game was mirrored in music. The Bad Bunny phenomenon continued into 2021, proving that language barriers were obsolete in streaming. Yonaguni and the continued dominance of "Un Verano Sin Ti" (released later, but the singles hit in 2021) changed how American radio programmed content.