No, this is not another spotify one. On that note, yes every man and his dog been sharing theirs (me included) but it really has been fun getting a window into people’s diverse tastes. Kanye might not have had election success this year, but he did win my 2020 prize. Well done Ye.
But anyway I digress. Back to this comeback article. The phrase “unprecedented times” have been produced ad nauseum, so I’ll just say what have we learned in this…unusual…year?
The Perils of Perception
2020 was another year of cancellations, be it travel plans, the Olympics, and people.
In 2015 I had a semester off, and unconventionally decided to spend it lazing around in Armidale. How did I fill the time when my flatmates were at uni? I grabbed my doona, sprawled across the couch, coca-cola can in tow, and watched Ellen. Not the most joyous time of my life to say the least- but Ellen DeGeneres provided a spark of joy (oh hi Marie Kondo!) at 11am each weekday. It would be hard not to have your mood lifted by such Ellen’s bubbly presence on your screen. She had a knack for drawing good natured comedy out of any guest, and an ability to self-depreciate at will with her wacky dancing in particular.
Fast track to now and her name seems to prompt a visceral reaction in many. A twitter thread encouraging people to share their inside stories of Ellen exploded, accounts ranging from dirty looks to putting employees on blast.
Ellen’s plight is possibly deserved. But the swift flip in the public’s sentiment towards her is emblematic of what I feel ails society. Social media has made ‘piling on’ so easy and prevalent, jackals to a dead carcass…
People do come together…eventually
I must admit that I was tempted to use the scenes of people fighting over toilet paper in the frenzy of March to opine that 2020 showed the inherent selfishness of society. But do I really have a leg to stand on? It wasn’t toilet paper but I did my own form of hoarding the night before lockdowns were introduced…
Whatever side of the political fence you may be on, you would have to admit that the rise of social media (stay tuned for a more in depth article on this coming soon) has made it absurdly easy for people to band together for a cause. Whether it was BLM and the wave of people posting black squares on Instagram, or even the 75 million who turned up to vote for Trump, people were committed more than ever to stand up for what they believe in. Now we just need everyone to come together to support this vaccine rollout. Someone start creating the hashtags please!
Sport still shined, music AWOL?
Maybe I was jaded after my explosion of delving into the back catalogues of REM, Radiohead and the Smiths in late 2019. But other than a pleasurable but hardly groundbreaking Tame Impala album I don’t really have much to write home about regarding music in 2020. It was apparent how heavily the industry relies on live performances, and whilst a admirable idea, online performances didn’t capture the public’s attention. Their somewhat tackiness no more apparent than when David Guetta tried to end racism with a bizarre shoutout to George Floyd’s family before launching into his familiar bland mixes. Watch the video and please tell me if I’m wrong here.
I love sport so much I’ll stop to watch a junior cricket match going on in a park, but I feel that sport still found a way to inspire and unite in 2020. Against the odds the NBA season pressed on in a Disneyworld enclosed covid-proof bubble, surrounded by a country in chaos. And still managed to produce memorable storylines and moments, with fans surrounding the court through Zoom in a nice touch.
F1 soldiered on too with an almost military like precision, with testing and mask wearing, and somehow completed a season across continents. A feat miraculous, but not nearly as much as Romain Grosjean managing to escape from his burning car in Bahrain.
And of course cricket provided me with plenty of late nights. Empty English stadiums were surreal but ultimately peaceful viewing with a crowd hum incorporated into the broadcast. Having international series go ahead at least provided countries deep in the coronavirus mire like England with some semblance of normalcy.
I look forward to being part of a raucous full crowd again, whatever sport it is. An experience I took for granted, and never will do so again.
MF The Supervillain
We lost many celebrities in 2020, from Sean Connery to Chadwick Boseman to the shocking out of the blue news of Kobe Bryant.
MF Doom’s passing in the may have passed under the radar in the early knockings of 2021, but believe me when I say he was truly one of the most prolific musicians in the hip hop sphere. RIP Doom, the man with the mask, but so much more.
Here’s to a better 2021!
Yes not much in the last couple of months…exams? Cricket season? but thanks to everyone for reading my eclectic mix in 2020 as I tried to find what I enjoyed writing. Thanks as well to all my friends for making a roller-coaster year much more bearable. Sometimes you just need the ‘warm and fuzzy’ support and I’m grateful to have many people- school friends, uni friends and of course fam! to provide that. Bring on 2021!