let’s retrace together those that for us were the most important moments of this rich 2021 of trance music
The year of returning to the dancefloors – at least in part and unfortunately not yet completely in all countries – saw, for the trance genre, an explosion of new music, both qualitatively and quantitatively: emerging artists and old pillars of trance music have produced the best the genre can offer today.
Part of this flourishing of so much music was above all thanks to the concomitance with the celebrations for A State Of Trance 1000, a highly anticipated event in the trance scene and which will still be celebrated during the next 2022 due to postponements of some dates of the world tour, which has seen many artists collaborating with the king of the radio show Armin van Buuren.
Another feature of this year was the natural mix of progressive music, break and techno music which found itself interacting multiple times within the trance sound.
Trance History has selected some “highlights”, or those that, in our opinion, were the artists, or single productions or albums that most represented this 2021 in trance, and so …
Cosmic Gate, the partnership with Diana Miro and “MOSAIIK” album:
“MOSAIIK Chapter One” is the album that Cosmic Gate have given us for this 2021: Diana Miro, one of the new rising stars of trance, and not only, has collaborated in two fundamental tracks, the progressive “Blame” and the outstanding trance vocal track “Nothing To Hide”; the singles “Feel It”, “Vertigo” and “Summer Wonder” (feat. Mike Schmid) have enriched this umpteenth unmissable work of the German duo:
Tom Staar’s leap into a trance:
The eclectic Thomas Ingamells, aka Tom Staar, had already touched on the trance scene in his productions previously: during this 2021, however, he has completely embraced the genre, putting his signature on three excellent productions, collaborating with giant names: the explosive “Let It Go” with Armin van Buuren and Josha Daniel, “Gravity” with AVIRA and above all, the much appreciated techno-trance “Glow” with Ferry Corsten & Darla Jade:
The return of Gouryella and yet another perfect year for Ferry Corsten:
It was yet another celestial trance year for the Rotterdam DJ and producer: all impeccable productions and collaborations, the aforementioned “Glow” with Tom Staar, “Trust You” with Leon Bolier & NBLM, “Bloodstream” with Ruben De Ronde and “Lemme Take You”, just to name the most important: but Ferry Corsten in 2021 resurrected the legendary Gouryella project and the marvelous “Orenda”, a worthy follow-up to 2015’s “Anahera”, is undoubtedly another one of the most beautiful trance tunes of this year:
Justine Suissa meets again Above & Beyond for “Almost Home”:
This 2021 for the English trio was a sort of year of “purification” from the period of states that the world has experienced: after more than ten months from their last official release, Above & Beyond are back in August with the single “Almost Home” in which we found the legendary voice of Justine Suissa: even if at the beginning we hypothesized the return of the famous OceanLab project, the guys obviously did not disappoint expectations: trance, progressive and a pinch of 80’s beat are the ingredients of this magical song:
A State Of Trance “FOREVER” by Armin van Buuren:
“FOREVER” is the opera that Armin van Buuren dedicated to all trance family to celebrate the twenty years of A State Of Trance: the dutch king of trance music has made-up twelve incredible collaborations, which see the participation of Giuseppe Ottaviani, Maor Levi, Tom Staar feat. Josha Daniel, AVIRA, Rank 1, Jorn van Deynhoven, Push, Sander van Doorn, Aly & Fila feat. Kazy Jay, Paul Oakenfold and Susana; each piece has irremediably already made the history of this year and we bet that right there in the middle, there could be the famous “Tune Of The Year” …
The three massive collaborations of Richard Durand:
This 2021 was definitely one of his best musical years: Richard Durand has placed three perfect collaborations with three of the best and most important trance vocalists of recent years: “I Matter With You” with Susana, “Give Your Heart At Home” with HALIENE and “My Guiding Light” with Christina Novelli: three different uplifting songs but each with a strong sound, all three are undoubtedly among the best tracks of this 2021, congratulations Richard, Sanne, Kelly and Christina !
“Magic Island vol. 10” and the new Sunlounger album, by Roger Shah:
Roger Shah celebrated this year the release of the 10th edition of his “Magic Island – Music For Balearic People” and, concomitantly, the release of his new album under the Sunlounger alias “Sunsets & Bonfires”: needless to say, in both cases, a riot of melodic trance that we like so much ! From “Magic Island vol 10” his beautiful uplifting version of “Hello Sunrise”:
The “breaks” wave of gardenstate:
Marcus Schössow and Matthew Felner have conquered, with their gardenstate project, a large slice of the public during these last months, thanks to less sustained rhythms characterized by the return of a progressive / breaks sound that is very reminiscent of what they heard during the 90s: their album “Inspirations”, published on Anjunabeats, is among the best works of this 2021:
The incredible success of the Age Of Love’s remix by Charlotte de Witte and Enrico Sangiuliano:
Couple in love, as in music, Charlotte de Witte and Enrico Sangiuliano literally burned dancefloors across Europe in 2021 with their version of the historic 1992 track “Age Of Love – Age Of Love” which that year it drove crazy the world for the legendary Jam & Spoon version. The remix of the Italian-Belgian couple, in a techno key, actually reminded a lot of the hard trance sound very popular between the end of the 90s and the early 2000s and this version of Age Of Love was in fact one of the most played tracks also into trance dj sets since last summer:
“Turn The World Into A Dancefloor” !
This 2021 had long been expected as the year of A State Of Trance 1000: part of the celebrations have been postponed again to next year, but the energy and perseverance of Armin van Buuren and his team have nevertheless brought to fruition some big events around the world and others are expected during 2022: in the meantime, Armin has given us the soundtrack in these twelve months, the perfect anthem for this long-awaited event: “Turn The World Into A Dancefloor” !