Despite the past two years of pandemic living wreaking havoc on day-to-day living, one truth shines through the shadows: the music has been fantastic. Multiple genres have had ground-breaking releases, though pop has been thriving– and the talented women living at the top of the charts are carrying this phenomenon on their backs.

In this year alone, we’ve had multiple album drops from several female pop artists, as well as a few still approaching. As a die-hard Taylor Swift fan, I am most excited for her release of her “Red” re-recording, but the world is unfortunately larger than Taylor Swift. In order to broaden my horizons in pop, I decided to interview some Royals on which girl pop album of 2021 they find most exciting. “How can someone decide on just one? ” you may ask. Well, I’m here to find out.

Their choices were endless: Clairo, Lorde, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, and several more artists all released albums in 2021. This was no easy choice!

Joy Harfouche ’23 and Sophia Harvey ’23 both found Taylor Swift’s release of “Red: Taylor’s Version” to be the hottest approaching commodity of 2021. “I really like Taylor, and I really want the 10 minute version of “All Too Well,” said Joy. Sophia agreed with her saying, “Yeah, and I can’t wait to finally hear Phoebe Bridger’s feature. Its going to be amazing! Clairo’s album was kind of a let down, though: every song sounded the same.” I couldn’t help but agree, but I had more Royals to interview.

Charlotte Jordan ’23 personally found Lorde’s recent release of her third studio album “Solar Power” to satisfy her high expectations. “I bought tickets to her tour before the album came out, and I really hoped it would be good,” she explained. “Thank goodness it blew me away, I would have wasted a lot of money.”

Like most of Rosary– and the greater part of the teenage population– Dianella Sy ’23 was blown away by teen icon Olivia Rodrigo’s debut SOUR, gushing, “It’s so good! It was so much better than I ever could have expected, and though I love most of the songs, ‘jealousy, jealousy’ has to be my favorite.” I definitely agree: “jealousy, jealousy” doesn’t get enough love!

Girl pop isn’t just of interest to our Royal student body: math teacher Mr. Gangler was all too impressed at the sound of Taylor Swift’s “Fearless: Taylor’s Version,” saying, “I went to the tour in D.C. back in 2008. They’re all classics. And she even sang ‘Stay’ by Lisa Loeb. Now THAT’S a classic!”

No matter how you feel about these albums, supporting women in the music industry is almost never in poor taste: if you’ve never heard of any of the female artists mentioned by our Royals, make sure to check them out! It’s like I always say: popular music is popular for a reason.