Introducing Halftime Highlights
Highlighting some of our favourite albums of the year so far.
Hey everyone! Hopefully, all of you guys are enjoying your start to summer, keeping safe, and getting ready for some warm weather to finally arrive (or if you live in Ontario like me, you’re dreading the extension of our provincewide lockdown.). As we’re now halfway through 2021, I usually find it to be the perfect time to reflect on the best media I’ve consumed such as films, games, and music. With this in mind, I’d like to introduce a series where we can talk about some of our favourite music projects that we’ve listened to since the start of the year with a new series called Halftime Highlights.
What is it?
Essentially, it’s a series where writers can list off projects that they really liked since the start of the year. Here’s how formatting for Halftime Highlights would look like:
- List 4–5 projects that you’ve listened to since the start of 2021 that you think are outstanding. They can be albums, EP’s, mixtapes, soundtracks, etc. Ideally, stick to albums that came out in 2021 so far, but with the lack of new releases, stuff that came out last year or from years past that you have checked out in recent months are welcome as well.
- If there are any albums that didn’t make your list of 4–5, feel free to include an honourable mentions list if you like.
- Talk about them! the ball’s in your court, talk about anything that made you enjoy the project. Lyricism, production, vibe, the list goes on. What made it stand out to you? Maybe there’s a theme the album has that moved you, or it just simply distracted you from the boredom of being stuck at home. Feel free to be as open and as explicit as you want.
- Name an essential track(s) that you’d like readers to check out for themselves.
- Tell a friend! This part’s totally optional but if you know anybody else whose got some favourite albums of theirs, tag them in your post and have them come up with a list of their own to submit here at MMA
How to submit
Like most submissions for MMA, the same rules apply. However when submitting your drafts, please title them with your first name and the series title. For example, Mark’s Halftime Highlights. You’re welcome to provide links to streaming services or other platforms where the projects you discuss can be available for readers.
Submissions for Halftime Highlights will start this month and will continue throughout the course of June. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to come up with anything by the month’s end, submissions can keep coming in throughout the course of the summer.
Why?
As somebody who usually hears about new music from word of mouth, I think this series is a great idea to introduce people to different artists and to expand one’s music taste. I feel like it’d also be a great way to interact with writers with different takes on albums, maybe the chance to spark some discussion and get other people’s opinions on how an album from your list made them feel if they listened to it, & vice versa.
I’d love to bring this series back again in the future, where we can come up with an AOTY year-end list around December, and perhaps see if anything from your highlights list made the cut. But for now, consider this the introduction to Halftime Highlights!
Looking forward to seeing everybody's lists! I feel like everyone here at MMA, and Medium, in general, has a pretty eclectic music taste, it’ll be great to see what people picked. Thanks again everyone for the continued support and contributions to Modern Music Analysis, and if you haven’t already, check out the brand new site and sign up to become a member to keep up with us.
