Hannah’s 2021 Favorites

Music, Photos, Shows and a Bonus Brooklyn List

Hannah

Published in

FridaySwell

4 min readDec 22, 2021

Music

My Top 3 Musical Artists of the Year

Mini Trees

Lexi Vega, a friend of mine with shared history at both SPU and Forest Home, released her debut album ‘Always in Motion’ in September. First listen was magic and as the seasons shifted from Summer into Fall, it still hasn’t lost its living-room-pop-spark. This album danced in my headphones up and down Washington Ave on my walk to school each morning for months on end. Hugely enjoyed seeing Mini Trees perform live in both September and December. They are truly something special.

Looking for somewhere to start? Spring was my Spotify Wrapped Top Song of the Year.

2. Lorde

Lorde and I’s birthdays are 6 days apart, we’re both November 1996 babies. Grew up worlds apart yet right along side each other — or at least that’s how her music makes me feel. Each of her three album releases bring back strong memories and mark a chapter in my (and her) adolescence. From ‘Pure Heroine’ (age 17) to ‘Melodrama’ (age 21) to ‘Solar Power’ (age 25) — each album has yet again rocked my world at a different time in a different place — from Goleta to Seattle to Brooklyn. Solar Power is ~summer, driving with the windows down, jumping in a cool body of water, passing a joint with some friends if that’s your speed. Curious what age 29 will bring? Me too.

Looking for somewhere to start? Try this feel good California, another Top 5 song in my Spotify Wrapped this year.

3. Mimi Gilbert

I’ve followed Mimi Gilbert’s work since 2016 when I first saw her perform at a house show in Seattle. We ended up meeting up in Portland soon after, sharing parallel stories of growing up queer in Evangelical communities in Southern California. Her late 2020 release ‘Grow Inside the Water’ both soothes my spiraling thoughts, and awakens me toward deeper thinking about reconciling my past with my present. I see myself in the story her lyrics illustrate, and revere her perspective on the world in its ever growing turmoil.

Looking for somewhere to start? Try Dancing in the Sun

Photos

My Top 4 Personal Photos of the Year

Half of this year felt nomadic. After leaving Seattle in January, Mariel and I lived out of a suitcase from February to May. We spent time with my family in Goleta, then cross country road-tripped to Brooklyn where we spent time with her family. Finally in May we moved into our own apartment and began to find a new rhythm. I’m still reckoning with these transitions in the midst of the waves of a global pandemic and the impending doom of the world.

So I selected 4 photos, each signify a moment of calm, stability and warmth, little islands of respite in a sea of change.