diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e9a3729a8800acea3949031c55170c02d0570485..b541a2747df5a0aacbb4c9dbd1fdb9d6964a077c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,19 @@
+Changes for 1.2.1 'Arctic Peregrine Falcon':
+-------------------------------------------
+
+1.2.1 is a small release of dav1d, adding more SIMD and fixes
+
+- Fix a threading race on task_thread.init_done
+- NEON z2 8bpc and high bit-depth optimizations
+- SSSE3 z2 high bit-depth optimziations
+- Fix a desynced luma/chroma planes issue with Film Grain
+- Reduce memory consumption
+- Improve dav1d_parse_sequence_header() speed
+- OBU: Improve header parsing and fix potential overflows
+- OBU: Improve ITU-T T.35 parsing speed
+- Misc buildsystems, CI and headers fixes
+
+
 Changes for 1.2.0 'Arctic Peregrine Falcon':
 -------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 2e2974d67b1d414a42814c49ed2e9ccab4639f88..bd29c985722fb4e8a1bf9d99ae0bf082423a2429 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 project('dav1d', ['c'],
-    version: '1.2.0',
+    version: '1.2.1',
     default_options: ['c_std=c99',
                       'warning_level=2',
                       'buildtype=release',