So, How Was Your 2020? is a series in which our favorite entertainers answer our questionnaire about the music, culture and memorable moments that shaped their year. We’ll be rolling these pieces out throughout December.
Rufus Wainwright, like many artists this year, was forced to reconfigure his plans after the coronavirus pandemic delayed the release date of his new album, Unfollow the Rules, his first proper pop effort since 2012. But the singer-songwriter didn’t let that hiccup slow him down at all: Even before the album’s belated arrival, he launched a daily livestream series, where he performed one song from his catalog every day on piano. He also appeared on Rolling Stone’s In My Room series, led an ambitious quarantine project that featured 1,500 people singing the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” and completed a livestream tour where he performed all nine of his studio albums.
Amidst all that, Wainwright still found plenty of time to read, revisit Randy Newman records, binge British TV shows and go camping. Plus, all that time at home also allowed Wainwright to tap back into a bit of childhood reverie, telling Rolling Stone that one of the most positive things that happened to him this year was getting the “opportunity to think like a 9-year- old [while] spending so much time with our daughter.”
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The album I listened to the most in 2020 was:
Unfollow the Rules, my new album. It was a work thing.
My favorite TV show to stream during quarantine was:
Victoria. Good old family Royal fun without the drugs and divorces.
The song that will define “2020” for me is:
“Who Knows Where the Time Goes.” I had a chance to record it with Brandi Carlile for eTown.
I’d define my current state of mind as:
More grateful than ever.
The viral video I kept coming back to in quarantine was:
The woman who couldn’t stop laughing about Giuliani’s Four Seasons press conference.
Finally someone grasps the full ineptitude of “Four seasons landscape gardening”😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/KQVG0BBW9U
— Simon Ashworth (@DrSimonAshworth) November 8, 2020
