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Pop goes 2017: All the highlights from a huge year in music

Lorde above: One of 2017's standout musical stars, Lorde: Angela Lubrano/Livepix
Lorde above: One of 2017's standout musical stars, Lorde: Angela Lubrano/Livepix

Long-denied the extravagant budgets of the Evening Standard’s Film and Theatre Awards, here in the pop section we carry on making up categories and dishing out imaginary trophies regardless.

The year gone by looked dull and predictable on the surface, dominated yet again by pop juggernauts Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, but there were higher highs and lower lows too. Here’s what went down...

Biggest song

Ed Sheeran and Stormzy’s Shape of You

Not content with his solo songs selling a bazillion copies, Sheeran is always ready to give them even greater appeal with a canny revamp. He’s about to nab the Christmas No 1 spot by doing two new versions of his single Perfect, one with Beyoncé and one with Andrea Bocelli, and back in February he gave the year’s biggest seller a light smearing of grime by adding a Stormzy rap to Shape of You. It was a neat distillation of some of the biggest sounds of 2017.

Comeback of the year

Lorde

Just 16 when she first released her hit single Royals, Ella Yelich-O’Connor took almost four years between her first and second albums — bearing in mind that pop-star years are similar to dog years, that’s an eternity. But Melodrama was a mature, confident digital masterpiece, so much so that a sneaky fan recently hung it in The Louvre.

Toughest task

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

After coming up with that band name Melbourne’s Stu Mackenzie had earned a long lie down. Instead he and his psych-rock bandmates proposed the most foolish undertaking since Sufjan Stevens decided he would write an album for each of America’s states: five albums released in one year. They included a 21-track concept album featuring three chapters entitled The Tale of the Altered Beast, The Lord of Lightning vs Balrog, and Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe, and another album that allowed anyone to use the master tapes for any purpose. At the time of writing they’re cutting it fine to release the fifth.

Campaign Queen: Kesha released a powerful new album in 2017
Campaign Queen: Kesha released a powerful new album in 2017

Campaign of the year

#MeToo in music

The theme that dominated the entire entertainment industry was sexual harassment. While music, unlike film, didn’t have that one huge moment where the whole thing seemed to come crashing down, it was an issue that was boiling up well before Harvey Weinstein was hit with slug repellent and a supportive hashtag came into existence.

In April, Canadian singer Jessie Reyez released her song and short film Gatekeeper, about the harassment she faced while trying to launch her career. In the summer, Kesha finally emerged from a long legal battle against the producer she said abused her to release a new album, and Taylor Swift won a court case against a radio DJ who had groped her.

More recently, hundreds of women in the Australian and Swedish music industries have signed open letters addressing the issue, and almost everyone has an awful experience to share.

Most unwelcome genre

Celebrity covers albums

Bradley Walsh, of daytime quiz show The Chase and Coronation Street, set the pace by becoming the biggest-selling debut British singer of 2016 with his collection of crooner standards. He came back with another one this year, and was joined by the likes of Shane Richie, Alexander Armstrong and Nick Knowles off DIY flippin’ SOS. If Anton Du Beke from Strictly Come Dancing can sing Arctic Monkeys and not face life imprisonment, something is seriously amiss.

Person of the year

Madison

This year a fictional girl named Madison took over from the late Patrick Swayze to become the great saviour of rappers looking for rhymes. She’s the “peng ting” who Not3s invited to jump in his Addison Lee. In his hit single Bestie, Yungen took her to a branch of the Radisson hotel chain, and she even popped up in Game Over by Dave. This is like George Harrison and Eric Clapton writing songs about the same woman all over again.

This charmless man: Morrissey didn't do himself any favours in 2017
This charmless man: Morrissey didn't do himself any favours in 2017

Biggest mouth

Morrissey

Mozza was so full of unappealing opinions this year, pontificating on everything from Ukip’s leadership election to the supposedly unfair treatment of Kevin Spacey, that it wouldn’t have been surprising if he’d revealed that he’s not a vegetarian after all and asked if anyone fancied a bit of seal-clubbing. Insisting that he’d been misquoted by German magazine Der Spiegel, despite having been recorded, was particularly unwise. Oh for the days when the main controversy was how awful the sex scenes were in his novel.

Most dominant musician

Greg Kurstin

Sure, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran are out in front as the faces of the year, but they only released one album each. What about Jack Antonoff, who co-wrote half of Swift’s album and all of Lorde’s, as well as songs by St Vincent and Pink? But the real 2017 straddler was Greg Kurstin, the songwriter and producer probably best known for Adele’s Hello. This year he found time to have a hand in new albums by Foo Fighters, Beck, Niall Horan, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Sia and even Liam Gallagher. Phew!

O Brother, where art though? The Gallagher's feud was worse than ever in 2017
O Brother, where art though? The Gallagher's feud was worse than ever in 2017

Feud of the year

Liam vs Noel Gallagher

Never mind Blur vs Oasis. Oasis vs Oasis has been much nastier, with the Gallagher brothers rarely missing an opportunity for a dig at each other. Now that Liam’s into Twitter he’s a 24/7 insult machine, calling Noel’s new album “psychedelic music by a beige drip”. Noel, meanwhile, thinks his little brother’s fans are “parka monkeys” and says he needs to see a psychiatrist. Noel gets Charlotte Marionneau to “play” the scissors on stage, Liam hires a potato-peeler. At least their music was a bit better this year.

Gig of the year

One Love Manchester

Less than a fortnight after the terror attack at the Manchester Arena that killed 23 people the concert’s star, Ariana Grande, was back in the city leading a tribute for an audience of 50,000. Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Take That, Robbie Williams and Liam Gallagher combined to provide a spectacular line-up on a bittersweet day that achieved the opposite of the suicide bomber’s intention and brought even more people together.

Murphy's law: LCD Soundsystem star James Murphy
Murphy's law: LCD Soundsystem star James Murphy

Album of the year

LCD Soundsystem — American Dream

Maybe it was the poignancy added by the fact that James Murphy had supposedly split from his dance-rock band with a final arena concert in 2012. Maybe it was just the fact that his fourth album was better than ever at welding sharp lyrics to euphoric, emotional synths, but it was fantastic to have him back.

Awards for service

Lost stars of 2017

The Grim Reaper eased off a little this year after the top-tier scything of 2016, but there are still plenty of musicians who will be badly missed. From 90-year-old Chuck Berry and 89-year-old Fats Domino, to 21-year-old rap up-and-comer Lil Peep and rockers Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell, a wide range of stars were lost. When all of them, plus Malcolm Young of AC/DC and Tom Petty, passed away, at least it sent people back to some great music.

Breakthrough star: Cardi B had an incredible year in 2017
Breakthrough star: Cardi B had an incredible year in 2017

Most surprising statistic

Cardi B

Can Cardi B really be the first solo female rapper to land a US No 1 since 1998? Yes, the former stripper turned reality TV star overtook Nicki Minaj to match Lauryn Hill’s long-ago achievement this autumn, when her track Bodak Yellow knocked Taylor Swift off the Billboard Hot 100 top spot.

Saddest goodbye

Adele

“I’m sorry. I love you I’m so sorry. Please forgive me x” — the pain was audible in Adele’s statement cancelling her last two concerts at Wembley in June due to vocal-cord damage. She has made no secret of how tough she finds it to go on stage night after night. If 2017 saw her last ever tour, it really will go down as a terrible year.