2021 Libera Awards Explained

The 2021 Libera Awards took place on June 17, 2021, to recognize the best in independent music presented by the American Association of Independent Music.^[1] The nominations were announced on March 23, 2021. The years marks the tenth anniversary of the ceremony.^[2] The event was streamed live on YouTube.

A number of category changes took place for the awards. The A2IM Humanitarian Award and Best Spiritual Record were added to the ceremony and . A2IM also made the "Album" categories more inclusive by renaming them "Records." A2IM also renamed a number of categories: Best Live Act to Best Live/Livestream Act; Best Mainstream Rock Album and Best Indie Rock Album to Best Rock Record; and, Best Punk/Emo Album to Best Punk Record.

Winners and nominees

Record of the Year	Best Live/Livestream Act
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher Run the Jewels – RTJ4 Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately Yves Tumor – Heaven To A Tortured Mind Thundercat – It Is What It Is Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud	Phoebe Bridgers Run the Jewels Fontaines D.C. Perfume Genius Arca
A2IM Humanitarian Award	Best Alternative Rock Record
Killer Mike & EL-P of Run the Jewels Rev. Moose Megan Thee Stallion Paul Redding Kevin Liles	Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher Soccer Mommy – Color Theory Car Seat Headrest – Making A Door Less Open Lido Pimienta – Miss Colombia Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways to New Italy
Best Americana Record	Best Blues Record
Bonny Light Horseman – Bonny Light Horseman Kevin Morby – Sundowner Calexico – Seasonal Shift Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels	Fantastic Negrito – Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? Bobby Rush – Rawer Than Raw Don Bryant – You Make Me Feel Robert Cray Band – That’s What I Heard Sonny Landreth – Blacktop Run
Best Classical Record	Best Country Record
Erik Hall – Music for 18 Musicians (Steve Reich) Paul Moravec – Sanctuary Road Echo Collective – The See Within Niklas Paschburg – Svalbard Vitamin String Quartet – Vitamin String Quartet Performs Lana Del Rey	Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud Margo Price – That’s How Rumors Get Started Colter Wall – Western Swing & Waltzes And Other Punchy Songs Various Artists – Willie Nelson American Outlaw (Live At Bridgestone Arena/2019) Jaime Wyatt – Neon Cross
Best Dance/Electronic Record	Best Folk/Bluegrass Record
Caribou – Suddenly Arca – KiCk i Ela Minus – acts of rebellion Yaeji – What We Drew Actress – Karma & Desire	Angel Olsen – Whole New Mess Ben Harper – Winter Is For Lovers Gillian Welch – Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs Jason Molina – Eight Gates Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter
Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record	Best Jazz Record
Run the Jewels – RTJ4 clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned Little Simz – Drop 6 The Koreatown Oddity – Little Dominiques Nosebleed Naeem – Startisha	Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven – We’re New Again – A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge – Azymuth JID004 Christian McBride – The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait of Four Icons John Carroll Kirby – My Garden Raul Midón – The Mirror Jyoti – Mama, You Can Bet!
Best Latin Record	Best Metal Record
Gabriel Garzón-Montano – Agüita Bad Bunny – El Último Tour Del Mundo The Mavericks – En Español Buscabulla – Regresa Jungle Fire – Jungle Fire	Architects – “Animals” (from For Those That Wish to Exist) HUM – Inlet Ghostemane – Anti-Icon Ingested – Where Only Gods May Tread Pyrrhon – Abscess Time
Best Outlier Record	Best Punk Record
Khruangbin – Mordechai Oneohtrix Point Never – Magic Oneohtrix Point Never Yves Tumor – Heaven To A Tortured Mind Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Transmissions Mary Lattimore – Silver Ladders Moses Sumney – Græ	IDLES – Ultra Mono Protomartyr – Ultimate Success Today METZ – Atlas Vending Viagra Boys – Common Sense Porridge Radio – Every Bad
Best R&B Record	Best Re-Issue
Thundercat – It Is What It Is Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Texas Sun Robert Glasper – “Better Than I Imagined (feat. H.E.R. & Meshell Ndegeocello)” Son Little – aloha Orion Sun – Hold Space For Me Steve Arrington – Down To The Lowest Terms	J Dilla – Donuts (Jelly Edition) Pylon – Pylon Box Hiroshi Yoshimura – GREEN Pixies – Bossanova 30th Anniversary Reissue Motorhead – Ace of Spades 40th Anniversary Elliott Smith – Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump 20th Anniversary Collection
Best Rock Record	Best Spiritual Record
Fontaines D.C. – A Hero's Death King Krule – Man Alive! Bartees Strange – "Mustang" (from Live Forever) Bob Mould – Blue Hearts Caroline Rose – Superstar	Sun Ra Arkestra – Swirling Lecrae – Restoration Jon Hopkins – “Singing Bowl (Ascension)” Thad Cockrell – If In Case You Feel The Same Wande – EXIT
Best Sync Usage	Best World Record
Run the Jewels (Jewel Runners, Inc.) – “Ooh LA LA” – Season three of Netflix's Ozark Black Pumas (ATO Records) “Colors” – Samsung Galaxy S20 Brittany Howard (ATO Records) “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – Johnnie Walker’s #KeepWalking Campaign Blood Orange (Domino Recording Co.) “Tuesday Feeling (Choose to Stay)” – Season four of HBO's Insecure IDLES (Partisan Records) “Grounds” –	Altin Gün – “Ordunun Dereleri”Songhoy Blues – Optimisme Antibalas – Fu Chronicles Bebel Gilberto – Agora Emel – The Tunis Diaries
Breakthrough Artist/Release	Creative Packaging
Arlo Parks Bonny Light Horseman Overcoats Arlo McKinley Orion Sun	Soccer Mommy – Color Theory limited edition back to school binder Black Pumas – Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition) Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately vinyl Pylon – Pylon Box [CD Box Set] IDLES – Ultra Mono
Independent Champion	Label of the Year (Large)
Bandcamp SoundExchange Secretly Distribution TuneCore The Orchard	Sub Pop Partisan Records Warp Stones Throw Records Ninja Tune
Label of the Year (Medium)	Label of the Year (Small)
Light In The Attic Sacred Bones Records Matador Records Ghostly International Rough Trade Records	Daptone Records Innovative Leisure Fire Talk Records International Anthem Hardly Art Oh Boy Records
Marketing Genius	Video of the Year
Beggars Group – Supporting Indie Retail #loverecordstores Campaign Jewel Runners, LLC – Run the Jewels x Cyberpunk2077 “No Save Point” Phoebe Bridgers (Dead Oceans) – Punisher Light In The Attic – Social Media & Digital Marketing Perfume Genius (Matador Records) – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately Campaign	FKA twigs – “Sad Day" Perfume Genius – “Describe” Phoebe Bridgers – “Savior Complex” Run the Jewels – “Ooh La La” Christine and the Queens – “La vita nuova” ford. – “Fruit&Sun”
Icon Award
Mavis Staples[3]

Multiple wins and nominations

Nominees with more than two nominations^[4]

Artists

Multiple Wins
Artist	Wins
Phoebe Bridgers	5
Run the Jewels

Multiple Nominations
Artist	Nominations
Run the Jewels	7
Phoebe Bridgers	5
Perfume Genius
IDLES	3

Record Labels

Multiple Wins
Artist	Wins
Dead Oceans	4
Jewel Runners	3
Jagjaguwar	2
Merge Records
Stones Throw Records

Multiple Nominations
Artist	Nominations
Dead Oceans	8
Partisan Records
Jewel Runners	7
Matador Records
Stones Throw Records	6
Anti-	5
Loma Vista
Thirty Tigers
Domino	4
Merge Records
New West Records
Sub Pop
Warp
XL Recordings
37d03d	3
Fat Possum
Jagjaguwar
Light in the Attic
[PIAS]

Performances

• Arlo Parks – "Hope"
• Black Pumas
• Fantastic Negrito – "Chocolate Samurai"
• Lecrae – "Drown"
• Lido Pimienta – "Te quiera"
• Mavis Staples – "Who Told You That"
  • Phoebe Bridgers Yuna – "Don't Blame It on Love"/"Crush"
• Stax Academy Rhythm Section^[5]

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2021-03-23. A2IM names 2021 Libera indie music awards nominees [the full list]]. 2021-06-14. Hypebot. en-US.
2. Web site: Phoebe Bridgers, Run the Jewels & Perfume Genius Among Top Nominees For 2021 Libera Awards. 2021-06-14. Billboard. en.
3. Web site: Aswad. Jem. 2021-05-13. Mavis Staples to Be Honored, Arlo Parks and Black Pumas to Perform at A2IM Libera Awards. 2021-06-14. Variety. en-US.
4. Web site: 2021 Nominees. 2021-06-14. Libera Awards. en-US. 2021-06-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614153150/https://www.liberaawards.com/2021-nominees/. dead.
5. Web site: Shaffer. Claire. 2021-05-13. Mavis Staples, Black Pumas, Arlo Parks to Appear at 2021 Libera Awards. live. 2021-06-14. Rolling Stone. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20210513152216/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mavis-staples-black-pumas-arlo-parks-libera-awards-1169077/ . 2021-05-13 .