“In my head I was like, ‘Okay, I'm just going to make music that I want to dance to, that I want to have fun to,” Dua Lipa told Apple Music about the thought process behind Future Nostalgia, months before its release in March. That’s a noble pursuit no matter the circumstances, but in a year defined by quarantine, the London star’s disco-indebted second album became a salve: We couldn’t dance together quite like she’d originally envisioned, but we danced nonetheless. (Usually like no one was watching.) Indeed, that a global pandemic couldn’t stand in its way is a testament to the power of pop in 2020. Even without grand stages and even grander spectacles, the music alone offered a sense of escape (see also: Harry Styles’ warm, windswept soft rock) while also reflecting its diversity with the continued emergence of voices as varied as Doja Cat, BTS and 24kGoldn. It’s enough to give you something to look forward to again: 2021.