Selective Hearing’s 2021 Year-End Recap

Greg

Another year in the pandemic era has ended, and life could be moving at a snail’s pace towards normalcy, depending on where you live. Or not. Generally, in these year-end recaps, I have a lot of exciting things to reminisce over. But, I didn’t do anything of note over the past year. It’s another year where I did work from home.

Rather than jet off to the US or elsewhere for R&R or to cover an event for my vacation, I stayed home and played video games or worked on other projects.

So to start, I’ll go over some of the stuff I accomplished over the past year. Some of this may sound not very interesting, but it’s better than nothing.

Paying down debt

One of the benefits of the current world situation is that there isn’t a lot I can spend on. So I did the responsible thing and paid down any outstanding credit card debt. I’m happy to say I had managed to wipe out all but two balances on any cards I have, putting me in a much better financial situation than before the world started to fall apart.

Saving money

A positive side effect of paying down all that debt is that I have more to put away for savings for the eventual return to unhindered international travel. So I should have a nice baller trip whenever that time comes.

Music Production

I took some of the savings I had planned for Japan and invested in additional tools for making music. I purchased Komplete 13 Standard, multiple Kontakt libraries from Native Instruments, and re-upped my subscriptions to Reason+ and Loopcloud, a few examples of investment.

I have tried to have more output for the remixes I post this year. However, since I am a bit of a perfectionist, it can sometimes stifle the creative process. So I have been trying to get away from being stuck in creative limbo and release something even if it’s not exactly how I envisioned it in my head. Perhaps others who have a fresher point of view will like it, or not.

Comparing myself to last year, I believe I have improved in some ways and regressed in others. But it’s all leading to gaining XP to where I can try to make an original song that isn’t a remix one day.

These are the remixes I have completed for 2021:

Video Games

In 2021 I found the unicorn known as the PS5 for retail price. There was no way I would pay some asshole scalper 3x or more the retail cost for one. Even though I was desperate for one, I wasn’t willing to give any of the jerks a dime for sniping them from honest consumers. Is this a first-world problem? Absolutely. But cut me some slack; I don’t have anything else to get excited about from this year.

What was the first thing I did after I configured the PS5? I played a bunch of old ass games on it that were not next-gen. Mainly the Yakuza collection, which I have enjoyed immensely except for Yakuza 3. Fuck that game. I did end up buying the PS5 version of Ghost of Tsushima on Black Friday, so I’ll be able to at least experience some of that next-gen type of feel until some of the true next-gen games I’m waiting for are released next year.

I also managed to install an SSD into my PS5 by myself without breaking anything. So yay for self-service.

Favourite Music

2021 was the year I fully transitioned back into the world of K-Pop. As a result, most of what I have listened to this year falls within that genre. There is also an assorted blend of J-Pop, R&B and Dance Music that I have used to cleanse my listening pallette.

These are but a few of my favourite bits of music from the past year. If I were to list everything I believe this would go on forever so I’ll try to keep the list short.

Singles

Bruno Mars, Anderson.Paak & Silk Sonic – Leave The Door Open

Paul Woolford & Amber Mark – HEAT

BAEKHYUN – Bambi

YUKIKA – Insomnia

LOVEBITES – Glory To The World

NiziU – Take A Picture

R3HAB & Jolin Tsai – Stars Align

Baek Dayeon – Drive Me

IZ*ONE – 3!4!

Doja Cat feat. SZA – Kiss Me More

STAYC – ASAP

Fujii Kaze – Kirari

Boyz II Men & Yun Min Soo – Love Me Once Again

ONE OK ROCK – Broken Heart Of Gold

Rocket Punch – Ring Ring (Acoustic)

WINee – Sandcastle

LOONA – Hula Hoop

Perfume – Polygon Wave

Albums

2021-Favourite-Albums

In order from the top

  • GWSN – The Other Side Of The Moon
  • (G)I-DLE – I BURN
  • Doja Cat – Planet Her
  • YUKIKA – timeabout,
  • =LOVE – Zenbu, Naisho
  • Bruno Mars, Anderson.Paak & Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic
  • Baek A Yeon – Observe
  • Epik High – Epik High Is Here Pt. 1
  • IU – LILAC
  • EVERLGOW – Last Melody
  • STAYC – STAYDOM
  • Red Velvet – Queendom
  • TWICE – Taste of Love
  • Lee Hi – 4 Only

Conclusion

2021 has been another year of change for the site. We lost two long-time contributors which affected our overall ability to provide consistent content. Add the pandemic to the equation and it compounds what has been something we have been trying to fix for the past couple of years. But hey, we did what we could given the circumstances of the current global climate. Is that something I plan to address in 2022? Yeah, but it’ll take some time to figure out.

To the remaining staff, thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to add your voice to Selective Hearing. Your contributions help keep this place alive and I am grateful for whatever you can do to keep the site from flat-lining.

What I would like to say to those of you who are human and taking the time to read this is thank you for coming here. Whether you are a long-time reader or a first-timer. Any type of support is appreciated regardless of what you came here for. May you have a peaceful and sickness-free last day of 2021.

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