The most exciting part of the year for Spotify users all around the world is in December, when Spotify Wrapped is released. Since 2016, the streaming platform has shown listeners what their year looked like in terms of their listening habits.

Especially after another year of COVID-19 restrictions, it was interesting to see what and who we had on repeat throughout the year. At CanCulture, of course, there were many Canadian artists who made it into our team members’ Spotify Wrapped. Check out the unique Canadian artists that we spent a lot of time listening to this year!

Jon Bryant

A Canadian artist who hit number two on my 2021 Spotify Wrapped is alternative singer-songwriter Jon Bryant. I first discovered him in 2015 and he has appeared on my Spotify Wrapped every year since. Based in Vancouver, Bryant has covered every genre from folk to pop to rock to alternative and everywhere in between. His newer acoustic songs are equally balanced by his later, more heavily produced music, meaning that he has a song for every taste. However, what draws me to his music the most is his authentic and meaningful lyrics. I hope to see him on my Spotify Wrapped next year and the year after that!

– Olivia Wiens, Arts & Books Editor

“Come Back” by Mustafa

At the beginning of this year, I vowed to do everything I could to get out of the funk of 2020, so I listened to a lot of upbeat music to try and ring in the good times. That was reflected in my Wrapped 2021 playlist with a lot of Afrobeat and Afro House appearing on my top songs of the year. But one song stood out to me: “Come Back” by Mustafa.

The song just didn’t fit into the rest of the playlist and I had to think long and hard as to why I listened to it so often. It actually makes a lot of sense. I recently went through a lot of profound changes, and was aware that a chapter in my life was coming to a close and I would never experience it again. It’s around that time that I would listen to the song incessantly because it expressed my own feelings better than I ever could.

The song is poetic, simple, beautiful, tragic and I’d go as far as to say, magical. It only has one verse, with eight lines, and the production is also very economical. The production by James Blake and Toronto’s very own Frank Dukes leaves a lot of room for Mustafa’s enchanting voice to lure us into a sort of magical realm. His delivery is soulful, measured and combines perfectly with his lyrics, which read more like a poem rather than a conventional song. There are two parts that always get to me: when he sings “I miss not knowin’ I was poor,” which speaks of a loss of innocence, and a longing for the days where maybe ignorance was bliss. But the line that really does it for me is when he implores “Please come back/ At least in my dreams.” He first delivers these lines during a quiet moment in the song, just before we hit the emotional climax of the journey he takes us on. Right when he delivers those lines, the looping production comes back and delivers a real moment of catharsis.

The song has the quality of most great songs, that it feels incredibly personal to the artist singing it, but it can also speak to so many people going through a variety of things. The song was written as an ode to his friend, fellow Torontonian and musician, Smoke Dawg, who was tragically killed in 2018 in Toronto. This only adds to the beauty of the song, but also serves as a testament to Mustafa’s artistry, in that as a listener, I’m able to use these very poignant and personal lyrics to reflect on what I may be going through.

The song and the rest of his debut album, When Smoke Rises, explore grief and the acceptance of it. “I created a project that’s exploring a sorrow that you don’t have to interrupt, a sorrow that can be made to feel beautiful, elegant and hopefully honour whoever was lost,” Mustafa told The Guardian. That’s something we can all learn from. I’m happy it was part of my year. It’s a reminder that loss is a part of life, and there’s actually beauty in that.

– Nganji Kimonyo, Contributing Writer

Drake & The Weeknd

In my top five artist list from my Spotify Wrapped this year, I had two Canadians. Neither of them is a surprise, considering they’re two of my favourite artists. They were Drake, who was at number one, and The Weeknd, who was at number five. Drake dropped his long-awaited sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy, a couple of days before my birthday, so I definitely had that album streaming nonstop. When it comes to his music overall, I’m always playing his songs, no matter my mood or where I am. He just makes music that everyone can listen to at all times of the day and that’s why I listened to him so much. The same goes for The Weeknd’s music as well.

– Bana Yirgalem, Contributing Writer