The Best Singaporean Music of 2021

Whatever we thought was terrible about 2020, 2021… didn’t do much to change. With a pandemic that doesn’t seem to end, and ever-changing signals from the powers above and nations around us, the light at the end of the tunnel still seems distant for the music and live spaces so precious to us.

But it wasn’t all darkness here at Big Duck. For one, we marked our long-awaited return to the live space with our collaborative show at Baybeats, which featured Ihasamic x Wovensound, deformed and Don Aaron. And the reason why that happened, of course, was because of the quality of our music that’s remained, with Singapore’s musical landscape continuing to evolve with exciting voices: with the pandemic continuing to hamper down live shows, we’ve seen a greater share of electronic music this year, with irresistible slices of Italo disco (KAYE) and compilations by familiar faces (Syndicate). In the pop world, there were returning sophomores (Shye), electropop showcases (Jasmine Sokko), to groovy sensuality (Slodown). There were also our fair share of bands, serving up flavors from ethereal dreampop haze (FERS) to throwback indie rock (Beach Things). And of course, stopping just short of longer releases, we were also blessed with memorable singles - some of which were odes to literal singles (deformed).

Heading into the new year, we’re back here to share our favorite releases that have wowed us across the Singaporean musical spectrum in 2021, from pop-friendly grooves to left-field noise abstractions. There’s heart, soul, and a lot of creativity in here - music is still fighting the good fight.

Read the full list here.

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Big Duck’s best music from Singapore are as follows:

1. Subsonic Eye – Nature Of Things

2. Mary Sue – To Those Foreign Nights, I Love You

3. Don Aaron - FREEDOM?

4. Jorud – Jorud Music

5. BGourd / Beansprouts – Veggie Wraps, vol. 3

6. Carpet Golf – Not As Good A Fisherman As Brock Lesnar Is A Man

7. Cayenne – Cayenne

8. Lewloh – michigan/missinghim

9. LMBO - LMBO

10. Planeswalker – Entity

11. Steve McQueens - The Observer

12. Tentang Langit - Tinjau Belukar

13. MZA - Balmoral

14. Terrible People - Home, In A Way

15. Halal Sol – Dijamin EP

16. Ferng - The Non-Essential Funpack

17. Electrico – Left of the Century

18. Riko and Su - Ember Girl

19. Chriskris - Wishful Thinking

20. Kotoji – Scribbles of the First

    Honorable Mentions:

    Saints Amongst Sinners – Y/OURS
    Blush – Blush
    Ila - naik angin
    The Oddfellows – What’s Yours and Mine
    Viticz – Rebuild