Your 2022 Music Roundup: From festivals and collabs to releases and comebacks
With a phenomenal festival season, endless hot collabs, some nostalgic comebacks, and new releases from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and beyond, the past 12 months have been massive for the music industry.
And we’re here with a 2022 music review to sum it all up for you — buckle up!
Big Festivals
Now that the cozy Christmas vibes are in full swing, it’s hard to believe that mere months ago, we were in the middle of a hot and wild music festival season.
SXSW was unforgettable, with performances from exciting newcomers like Wet Leg, Fake Fruit, and Sloppy Jane. Coachella boasted too many icons to count, including Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Karol G, The Weeknd, and Anitta. Lollapalooza was a blast with Dua Lipa, Lil Baby, Charli XCX, Måneskin, and so many more! This only leads us to wonder which artists we can look forward to seeing next year…
If you missed Måneskin this festival season, check out their live performance of “SUPERMODEL” for SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series:
Big Collabs
The year 2022 brought us some wish-fulfilling music collaborations. In pop, Ed Sheeran featured on “Bam Bam” by Camila Cabello and got Taylor Swift on his new track “The Joker and the Queen,” which is the fourth song they’ve released together. And we’re still not over BTS’ Jung Kook and Charlie Puth’s hit song “Left and Right,” which set the internet ablaze on its release.
Meanwhile, over in the world of country, we were graced by Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert’s sweet harmonies in their song “Outrunnin’ Your Memory,” and pop queen Katy Perry swapped genres to lend her heavenly vocals to Thomas Rhett’s new title track “Where We Stand.”
Hip-hop saw Drake and 21 Savage take the world by storm with their album Her Loss, while Megan Thee Stallion and Future melded their lyrical talents to create the trap anthem “Pressurelicious.”
Listen to Megan Thee Stallion discuss why she wanted to collab with Future on her album Traumazine:
Big Releases
This year saw global sensation BTS release their epic anthology album Proof, which also marked the beginning of the group’s hiatus to focus on their solo endeavours and mandatory military service. So, we’ll have to wait a good few years before we can see the boys all together on stage again.
It’s been an incredible year for soloists, with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Rosalía, Mitski, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, and Björk all releasing critically acclaimed albums. And with even more new music from Harry Styles (Harry’s House), Taylor Swift (Midnights), and Queen Bey herself (Renaissance), 2022 has just been one insane album drop after another. From hip-hop to synth-pop to avant-garde, fans of every genre had something to turn the volume up on and dance away all their worries to this year.
Here’s Harry on the success of his album and single “As It Was”:
Big Comebacks
2022 had us all wondering, “What’s My Age Again?” because Blink-182 is back! The band announced a new tour and single, with Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker back together for the first time in almost a decade.
Rihanna returned to music after five long years with two new songs, “Lift Me Up” and “Born Again,” for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. Maybe we’ll finally get a new album from Riri in 2023…
Back in band land, Red Hot Chili Peppers released Unlimited Love in April, their first album with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006, and only months later dropped their 13th album, Return of the Dream Canteen.
Watch the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform their 2006 GRAMMY-winning hit “Dani California” for SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series:
2022 isn’t quite over yet, so there’s still time to create even more music memories for us. Download the SXM App to keep up to date with all the latest releases from your favourite artists and more!
