2010 by Atiya Haque
Welcome back to the 2010s folks! Let’s begin with year one, when we saw the return and prominent rise of the pop genre. From Lady Gaga to John Legend, these pop artists’ had their careers defined by this decade. Within the first month, with the release of “Bad Romance,” Lady Gaga became the first artist to have their first five singles hit number one on Billboard’s pop songs chart. As January continues, Beyoncé breaks the record for most Grammys won in a single night with 6 trophies. I’m most proud to say this was the decade where many female artists’ had their breakthroughs. The year also faced a major tragedy with the Haitian earthquake killing over 200,000, which they are still recovering from all these years later. In terms of music, Lady Gaga’s performances and merchandise helped her raise $500,000 for Haiti relief, which became possible with her increasing fame. Not only that, but a Hope for Haiti Now telethon that featured performances from several artists, including Madonna and Justin Timberlake, raised millions and became the most widely distributed telethon in history. 2010 definitely experienced a wave of musical movements and developments.
An infamous Canadian pop star debuted in 2010 with his single “Baby,” which hit number five on Billboard Hot 100 and made him an international sensation. His hit single featuring Ludacris surpassed “Bad Romance” as the most viewed video, but also most disliked video on YouTube ever, which featured my favorite rap back in the day. This marked the beginning of, you guessed it, Justin Bieber. This 13-year-old teen had taken over the Internet and media, as I recall, with people either teasing or being in love with that “bang swooping” haircut of the past. What I didn’t know was how this would be a pivotal event in my life until a few years later, when I'd be jamming to my then favorite song “Somebody to love,” another top hit by Bieber that was released in 2010.
I can’t remember much from being a ten year old kid in 2010 except for repeatedly watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Despicable Me over and over again, which I still remember way too many lines from ten years later. However, one artist that can never be forgotten in the early 2010s is our pop country queen, Taylor Swift, who’s newly released album Speak Now sold over 1 million copies within the first week of sales; the album that made "Sparks Fly". Katy Perry’s album Teenage Dream dominated the charts in 2010 and continues to do so years following. A year with pop had to have A Year Without Rain by Selena Gomez, which now that I think about it, may be my most vivid memory of the entire year from the red convertible to her singing in the middle of the desert in her chiffon, brown dress with string sleeves around her arms. That song made me feel like I had lost a nonexistent someone I was madly in love with. The most memorable moment of 2010 shared by everyone old enough to remember must go to Lady Gaga at the MTV video music awards and her infamous raw meat dress! The moment everyone agreed this decade was only seeing the beginnings of crazy, and there was much more in store for the remainder.
2011 by Brigid Cryan
2011 was a truly radioactive year. Fukushima faced the largest nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, and LMFAO released “Party Rock Anthem,” each devastating in their own way.
2012 by Jack Stewart
2012 was the first year I ever got detention. I was in the seventh grade, learning English from an eccentric Mainer who ended most sentences with a smooth, New England sounding “mmkay?” and would often begin his answers to questions with a thick Maine “yuh”, the real-local’s version of the word “yes.” We were reading about the Vietnam War, a sad story about a man hiding in a rice patty hoping the sun wouldn’t rise so the enemy wouldn’t see him. I had several seventh grade shitheads in this English class with me, and thus I was apt to constantly interrupt with classic shithead side comments, and I made one as the story was read aloud to the class. I can’t remember what I said, but it was presumably in poor taste. I do remember what my teacher, Mr. Casey, said to me after:
“Stewart, I’ve had enough, you’re outta here.”
I had never been kicked out of class before. I left, shocked and beet-red, not really knowing what being kicked out of a class entailed. I wandered the halls for about 10 minutes, embarrassed and also wondering what the long term ramifications of this would be; can you still get into college with a detention on your record? I nervously sat in the rest of my classes for the day, unable to wrest the fact that I had a detention from the forefront of my young mind. I was lucky, though, that Mr. Casey was an older man, in one of his last years of teaching, and thus had an unreliable memory at best. I waited after the final bell and walked over to his classroom, only to find it locked and dark. Mr. Casey forgot that he had given me detention and had already left for the day. I left a note under his door, explaining what had happened (seventh grade me really respected authority) and ran out to catch the bus and make it home on time, meaning my parents would be none the wiser that their golden child’s shithead behavior almost caught up with him.
2013 by David Lefkowitz
2013. What a time to be alive.
Music came crashing into my life early that January, about 2 weeks after my 13th birthday. When I was a young child I only listened to audiobooks, and as a slightly older child I had switched to NPR’s Car Talk, but I had never been all that drawn to music. That was the crap my parents listened to. All that changed, however, when I was scrolling through my mother’s iTunes library (trying to download more of the Tappet brothers’ antics to my iPod Nano) and found myself sidetracked by album art. It was an ornate, vaguely old-timey looking cover for an album by a guy who I had only heard in ringtones. One of the song titles, however, caught my eye. “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January, 1967.” I found the long, convoluted title kind of funny, so I clicked it. Nothing was ever the same.
John Mayer’s Born & Raised changed my life, plain and simple. Songs like “Walt Grace” spoke to me in a way nothing had before, and frankly, very little has since. Suddenly, the world of music was life’s best worst-kept secret, an unexplored ocean I could dive into in a submarine of my own. I was voracious, utterly consumed, and determined to make up for lost time. Before the year was up, I had discovered many of the artists that still form the foundation for my love of music. Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Simon & Garfunkel…the list goes on. Meanwhile, as I was digging up my parents’ old CDs, the rest of the world was having quite a year of their own. Obama was beginning his second term. Up north, Toronto mayor Rob Ford was experiencing his own political… erm… “rebirth.” Still reeling from the cultural wrecking ball that was “Gangnam Style,” music forged itself a crooked path ahead. Songs like “Thrift Shop,” “Wagon Wheel,” and “Blurred Lines” topped the charts. Everybody I knew seemed to be humming either “Get Lucky” or “Royals.” Miley Cyrus killed Hannah Montana in once and for all, Robin Thicke became hated by moms everywhere, and twerking became a household topic – all in one song! With “Started From the Bottom,” Drake was well on his way to becoming the cultural juggernaut he is today, just as the Strokes seemed to be on their way out with Comedown Machine. Macklemore won a Grammy? It was all very important. It was all very strange. It was all very 2013.
What a time to be alive!
2014 by Cara Davis
2014 was a different time. Tumblr was popular, Kim and Kanye were newlyweds, and Justin Bieber was in the heart of his bad boy phase. Unrecognizable by 2020 standards. Since then, Tumblr has fallen off the map after implementing its ban on “female presenting nipples,” Kanye has turned Republican, and Justin has occupied himself with begging his fans to stream “Yummy.”
2014 music also seems worlds apart from the music scene today. Hits of 2014 were mainly upbeat and poppy, with songs like “Shake it Off,” “Fancy,” and “All About That Bass” dominating the charts. It was nearly impossible to turn on the radio without hearing Pharell Williams’ cheerful bop “Happy.” At the same time, 2014 feels so close and familiar, like it was only yesterday that we were in middle school jamming to the unbelievably catchy “Uptown Funk” (hot damn!). 2014 also gave us a lot to celebrate. Lana Del Rey blessed our ears with her album Ultraviolence, The Black Keys released Turn Blue, and Kidz Bop delivered not only Kidz Bop 25, but also Kidz Bop 26.
It’s easy to look back and long for 2014, a time when everything seemed simpler and One Direction still existed. However, there’s also been a lot of growth since then to be grateful for. As a solo artist, Harry Styles has taken leaps in experimenting with his musical style. Genres have been pushed to new boundaries (see Lil Nas X and country music). Roddy Ricch has given us the bop of the century. And of course, we have Kidz Bop 41 to look forward to…
2015 by Sam Clark
Ah 2015, a perfectly unextraordinary year to mark the midpoint of the decade. Nothing too life-changing, but also nothing that wasn’t overtly important in its own right. I was closing out my freshman year of high school and I found myself going through a shift in taste. Not just for music, but for everything. I stopped liking superhero flics, gave up a lot of my “childish” gaming habits, started reading Upton Sinclair and Dalton Trumbo and called myself a socialist, you know, all the usual growing up stuff. So, let’s look at everything I was listening to during this time of personal growth and what I thought was maturity.
Working in a restaurant at the time, I suffered the same pop fatigue that befalls every service industry employee with a lot of very notable songs. The ones that I can’t forget but would like to are as follows: “Sugar” by Maroon 5, “Cheerleader” by OMI (Felix Jaehn Remix), “Where Are Ü Now” by Skrillex and Diplo ft. Justin Bieber, “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten, “Cool for the Summer” by Demi Lovato, and topping my list of songs I despise but know every word to, “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. The chart-toppers that I actually remember enjoying include Fall Out Boy’s “Uma Thurman” (sorry I’m a FOB shill), Shawn Mendes’ “Stitches,” and one that’s regarded as one of the most popular songs of the year, one that we all vividly remember, “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars.
There’s also a myriad of specific artist’s releases I want to highlight, starting with Justin Bieber. For the longest time he was the teen heartthrob whom I was naturally jealous of in middle school, but then I remember being at a sweet sixteen and hearing both “Sorry” and “What Do You Mean” in consecutive order. And I think I speak for many in saying that this was the first time I really understood that he had his own talent outside of his hair. These are great songs, and I’ll stand by that. In other, less-sexy-but-still-cute news, Ed Sheeran dropped “Photograph” and “Thinking Out Loud,” both of which charted well and advanced his career and popularity. The Weeknd then became relevant with “The Hills” and “I Can’t Feel My Face,” and of course we can’t forget Fetty Wap doing the same with “Trap Queen,” forever changing the number 1738 for society.
2015 also had some minor events that are worth noting, Zayn left One Direction and Madonna kissed Drake at Coachella. And both are pretty funny if you think about it. In terms of full Albums, a few ones I’d like to remember are If You’re Reading This it’s Too Late by Drake, Currents by Tame Impala, I Love You Honeybear by Father John Misty, and Another One by Mac Demarco.
There are two more albums, however, that hold a special place in my memory, the first being Kendrick Lamar’s universally acclaimed To Pimp a Butterfly. The critical reception alone speaks to how important this album in the grand scheme of music, but for me this is the album that showed me how genuinely brilliant rap could be. My only view of rap at this stage of my life was through the groups of affluent, white, predisposed frat boys at my high school whom I sophomorically thought only listened to it to be cool. Little did I know that this was a magnum opus of creativity, sensitivity, and power. I still go back and find new favorites, doing so even as recently as last year. The second is obvious for those who know me: Hamilton. This year was lucky enough to have the release of the now most successful musical theatre album of all time. Not only is the show among the most influential of all time, the album alone changed the game for what Broadway cast recordings could be. On the Billboard Top 50 Albums of 2015 list it snagged the #2 spot, and it got #8 on The Rolling Stone’s list. I mean, what more is there to say, that it handily won the Grammy for best Musical Theatre album as well as Billboard’s Best Soundtrack award? What’s funny is that the show originally started being developed as a concept album, so who would’ve guessed that it would find more success as a cast-recording album.
2017 by Atiya Haque
Does anyone really remember what happened in 2017? Unless you were a freshman, a senior, or getting married, it seemed like an average, oddly placed year. As a junior in high school, 2017 was not very momentous for me. However, in terms of music, this year did not shy from being eventful, not even the tragedies. Everyone remembers the horrific terrorist attack that had taken place in the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people with 100s more injured. This event left the entire world in shock and grief. A few weeks later, Ariana Grande organized a One Love Manchester benefit concert featuring many other artists and raised millions. This brought people together in unity to conquer fear with joy and optimism.
Personally, my most joyous moment was getting to watch one of my favorite artists, BTS, a Korean boy band, have their breakthrough in America as the first Korean artist to be nominated for a BBMA. They went on to win the Top Social Artist award and break Justin Bieber’s record of 6 previous consecutive wins. It doesn’t seem like they will be giving up that award anytime soon. They nailed their first televised U.S. performance on the AMAs stage with their hit single “DNA”, which topped several charts. Their biggest and most popular hit “Mic Drop” as a collaboration with Steve Aoki really defined their careers and set their stage in the US. Their accomplishments were overwhelming and incredible, and they continue to be till this day. In 2016, they were just another K-pop band in Seoul. In 2017, they were international sensations breaking records and barriers.
Damn! Apparently, this was also the year for all rap and hip hop artists to release well-received, chart topping albums. I definitely remember Kendrick Lamar dropping his infamous song “Humble” as a part of his Damn album, which led to the making of several choreographies and being played at every single party since then. Who doesn’t love a song with a balloon rubbing noise intro, which then tells you to sit down? Jay-Z released his album 4:44, which was widely acclaimed because of the personal and emotional connection the artist had with each track. MIGOS, the rap trio, released their second album Culture, which included their 2016 single “Bad & Boujee” with the infamous verse “Raindrop, drop top.” 2017 was also the year Drake wanted everyone to know he “got fake people showing fake love” with his More Life album.
This year was also the return of One Direction!...but in five different directions with each members’ solo careers. What? Still too soon? Harry Styles released his self-titled album with his hit single “Sign of the Times”, which hit number four on Billboard hot 100 charts. Even Liam Payne, a lesser known member TBH, released his single “Strip that Down.” Niall Horan released his second single “Slow Hands”, which played all over the radios, personally my favorite. For Directioners, this year was the light at the end of their yearlong tunnel.
I would like to also mark this year as the year of bangers. 2017 gave us the party hits, the summer beach songs, the road trip jams. From hype pop and hip hop to slow hands and mi gente, we were able to experience the variety of genres and languages in music.
2018 by Emma Shahin
Tell me something, boy. What do you remember about 2018? When I recall 2018, one of my first memories is hearing the emotion-wrecking ballad, “Shallow,” from the cinematic masterpiece, A Star is Born on the radio for the first time. I must’ve had at least ten conversations with different people about how… “Wow! Lady Gaga can sing any genre! Did you know that she studied classical vocal performance in college?” Lady Gaga only became more of a legend in 2018, if that’s even possible. I’ll never forget when, in 2009, my friends and I danced to a Lady Gaga medley that my mom spliced for us in the 4th grade talent show. I was the lead dancer, and star, for the “Poker Face” segment. “Shallow” wasn’t the only song that was a huge hit this year, though. Donald Glover, under the musical moniker Childish Gambino, released the remarkable song and music video for “This is America.” This music video focused on many important issues and events including the 2015 Charleston Church Massacre, police brutality, and the fetishizing of black artists’ music and demeanor.
The yodeling kid made his debut in, as you probably know, a Walmart aisle. 2018 was also a year of minor irritations. No one could ever reach a consensus as to whether the man was saying “Yanny'' or “Laurel '' in that infuriating audio recording. This mirrored the infamous “dress” catastrophe of 2015 all over again. After waiting a grand total of 14 years, we finally witnessed the release of Incredibles 2. The only apparent differences in the sequel are that Jack-Jack has wayyy too many powers and Mrs. Incredible is thiccer than ever. My friend, Cameron, was so excited for the movie to come out that he memorized the entire script of the trailer and would recite it whenever we saw a movie together. Another movie, Black Panther, absolutely stunned audiences with its spectacular costumes, plot, and cast. All of my friends agree that the cast was also overwhelmingly attractive.
An honest dialogue was begun on how yummy many of us believe Tide Pods look, and our parents and grandparents thought we genuinely wanted to eat them. This was thrilling at first, but it became rather irritating for some. iHop decided to disturb the peace by jokingly changing their name to iHob. This, subsequently, caused major public outrage. It seems that they thought this would be a good way to get people to come to their restaurant more frequently. All that deception just for the sake of capitalism, geez. One rainy spring night in 2019, I saw the word “iHob '' reflected in a puddle right under iHop, and I couldn’t help but feel a pure, hot rage build in my heart...the absolute malarkey. Finally, we all bid farewell to Toys R Us, which I guess was an indicator that we needed to grow up and fasten our seat belts for the bigger and better 2019 to come.
2019 by Eamon Raferty-Sweeney
2019 was only 6 months ago, but already it feels closer to 40. We didn’t know how good we had it. We didn’t know that it was all about to go to hell. On a lighter note, doesn’t “Old Town Road” slap? Even after all the memes and TikToks killed this song dead, I still find myself humming its catchy, simple tune from time to time. It’s the biggest song ever, and it’s a novelty rap-country fusion song by some 20 year old shitposter. I don’t think there was a more fitting way to kiss the 2010s goodbye. “Old Town Road” wasn’t an exception, however. 2019 was the year that everyone decided that memes should be used to promote music. I mean, just look at another one of the biggest hits of the year, “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish. No wonder everyone hated this song, they heard it a million times all across the internet. Everyone was wrong though. This song is actually really good. And I liked her album too. Sue me.
Last year, a bunch of 2010s heavyweights dropped great albums, like JPEGMAFIA with All My Heroes Are Cornballs, BROCKHAMPTON with Ginger, Lana Del Rey with Norman Fucking Rockwell!, and, of course, Tyler, the Creator with IGOR. In a way, all of these artists really came into their own in 2019, all of these being their best projects to date, and representing a kind of shift from their previous efforts. 2019 also saw the rise of 100 Gecs with their indescribable album 1000 gecs. I listened to it on a whim and came out a different person. I don’t understand why I like it. I don’t understand why anybody likes it. Where did it come from? What genre even is it? It feels like I’m listening to the future, a hellish, nightmare future. If this is where music is going in the 2020s, we’re in for a long decade.
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