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bluth's decade so far | songs #10-1 wooo lord
Member Since: 4/7/2009
Posts: 34,961
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Real, Help Me Lose My Mind, All of Frank, Primetime, GODtition, Acapella. - Nice!
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 13,761
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20 Bad Girls
M.I.A. |
| featuring quite possibly one of the best videos of the decade, it's one of my favourite m.i.a. moments because she's great when being (almost) mindlessly fun. the hook is completely hypnotic and the whole theme of cars/[sexual] liberation is perfectly embodied in the imagery of the otherwise illegality of women driving in saudi arabia |
19 Bronte
Gotye |
| if gotye's transient moment in the spotlight brought us anything, it would be a deserving hit and a decent album at the tail-end of which is bronte. nothing describes it better than haunting. it's a really endearing and small ode to a deceased family pet, which kinda makes you tear up hearing lines like 'now your bowl is empty' and 'your voice still echoes in the hallways of this house'.
actually it kinda reminds me of tumblr post where someone documented a dog's final day before he was put down. maybe we should read that, listen to bronte and be emotional wrecks together |
18 New Slaves
Kanye West and Frank Ocean |
| kanye's and frank's collaborations NEVER disappointment, which probably explains why new slaves is such a godsend. it's kanye-certified diatribe about the economic slavery of black people and the typecast rich black person. it's set against a sparse instrumental which makes me think of it as sounding like some underground beat poetry once kanye starts reeling his agenda. frank's small contribution at the end is wonderful too. |
17 Mine
Beyoncé ft. Drake |
| subjectively, this is definitely my favourite track from self-titled. it has a mellow atmosphere evoking a couple being frank and discussing their problems. drake's contribution is fantastic and he's much better as this type of vocalist than he is trying to adopt rap braggadocio. |
16 Haunted
Beyoncé |
| COMPLETELY unintentional that i placed this here as well. on the night of december the 13th 2013, if pretty hurts had deceived you into thinking that self-titled would be another standard beyonce fare, the following track, haunted, was the true moment where the world stopped that evening. it's a captivating track which steps away from commercial trappings both lyrically and structurally. beyonce reels off her disenchantment with the industry as if her inner demon is being exorcised from her body, bey truly announcing to the world that: 'this IS the new high-profile release by me, and i WILL release it how i like'. |
15 1991
Azealia Banks |
| the stunning title track off azealia's stunning hip-house ep delves into parisian territory evoking azealia's regular thematic broke bitch/high society dichotomy. her verses are sassy, and when the track casually slips into a house breakdown at the end it shows her bipolar talent for singing over these tracks just as good. |
14 Heavy Metal Lover
Lady Gaga |
| i only recently realised that this was in the top 3 of gaga's discography, but good GOD it's great. it's a subversive track all round as a pop song, but the lyrics bite as hard and as authentically for a fan of heavy metal music - 'i want your whiskey mouth all over my blonde south' being possibly the best song opener this decade, the chorus is goddamn catchy amongst all this and then of course when you think nirvana's hit the song then blasts into the completely transcendent 'i could be your girl girl girl' bridge. it's an incredible song and had it been officially released as a single i'm more than positive it would have received standout critical reception |
13 Blame Game
Kanye West ft. John Legend and Chris Rock |
| interpolating aphex twin turns this track into the rainy-day, regretful self-evaluation moment on mbdtf which is essentially the one thing which yeezus lacked to make it really GREAT. the song is one of the moments where we see the multi-faceted nature of kanye's psyche, seeing him as a woman-hating, self-loathing and twisted individual who can't resolve his problems (hence all the recurring paradoxes and contradictions which appear in his work). chris rock's monologue is a hilariously self-indulgent moment but it works because it's on such a maximalist record, and then you have the utter genius of the quadruple entendre 'you getting black-mailed, for that white girl' |
12 Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Tame Impala |
| i first really picked up on this track when foster the people did a cover, and oh my god it's incredible. it almost feels like new age psychedelic rock, with the stuttering intro and the repeated chorus exactly encapsulating the on-demand, digital age where we play what we want to hear and we constantly skip songs, push them back to the start to hear our favourite parts etc. it creates this wonderful tension and chaos in the track as the vocals - as lofty as an updraught - keep pushing forward and getting pulled back, searching for progress |
11 Double Bubble Trouble
M.I.A. |
| mindless mia fun at its utter BEST. this song is literally fun in aural form, and what's so incredible about it is that it has these wonderful build-ups, breakdowns and hooks which would otherwise form the centrepiece of a dance bop but instead are used as complete throwaway moments where one is reeled out after the other and so forth. i play it whenever me and friends are getting ready to go out and it never fails to instil an electric atmosphere. if you could only drunk-dance to one song for the rest of your life, this is possibly all you'd ever need |
i would have tried to finish this yesterday but the server pulled an artpop-sized meltdown so it was kinda impossible.
i'll be back later today to comment on y'alls countdowns and finish this one off but i have lotsa work to do. thanks for the comments btw.
i promise the top 10 will be much more exciting. it has ten different lead artists, 4 of which haven't appeared thus far in the countdown (as a lead artist) so stay tuned
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Member Since: 12/11/2008
Posts: 9,543
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There are some good bops here, nice selection. 
Lady GaGa and Beyonce songs are my favorites from the set. 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 13,761
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10 Pumped Up Kicks
Foster the People |
| pumped up kicks is truly an anomaly in foster the people's discography. nothing else they've made sounds quite like it, and it's a real stunner of a track. there's something deceptively joyful about this track, and the way the bassline and the chorus glide over each other like some ethereal background soundtrack to woodstock with the lyrics hiding a deeper psychotic narrative. foster the people may never be able to replicate the nerve they struck with this, but then again maybe no one else could either |
9 Hold On, We're Going Home
Drake ft. Majid Jordan |
| it's a completely deceptively simple song once you break it down, but it works in how succinct and impulsive it makes it sound. it grants the whole thing an off-the-cuff, burst of sincere emotion and drake's vocals work SO much better when he's sentimental, singing-drake rather than rap braggadocio-drake. it's infectious, it's simple, but it's also authentic - begging for your hot love and emotion endlessly |
8 Swimming Pools (Drank)
Kendrick Lamar |
| what will probably go onto become one of hip hop's most iconic party bops of this decade, it's a track where the dysfunctional youth culture meets kendrick's self-aware social commentary where he subverts the excessive drinking-motif from a party song and turns it into something subtextually paranoid, focusing on alcohol abuse instead. as well as fitting perfectly into the good kid narrative, it achieves what any song of this ilk should: which is that it became an instant crowd pleaser and a faultless bop |
7 Monster
Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Bon Iver and Nicki Minaj |
| there are SO many moments to cherry pick from dark fantasy, but YAS this is my favourite moment. it's a bombastic song on all accounts: from the buoyant instrumental, to all the huge names included. it epitomises the excess and calibre of dark fantasy. this is probably one of kanye's strongest verses on the whole album, jay-z kinda tags along like a paralysed limb here but even so he's better than usual, and of course there's minaj's seminal verse which caused bad bitch sri-lankan sized tidal waves in the hip hop community. it explores the loathsome, monster metaphor, but it's FUN |
6 Countdown
Beyoncé |
| moving onto something as equally bombastic, countdown is such a unique and odd moment from beyonce but it's fantastic to hear something genuinely sincere and charismatic from her. it's a janelle-sized schizophrenic track bouncing between hooks, breakdowns and basically anything but the kitchen sink. it creates this bouncy rhythm that's catapulted between all these different feelings of giddiness. the best moments on 4 are the ones where we hear beyonce truly, and crazy in love. |
5 Losing You
Solange |
| sorry bey! edging her out here is her sister. set against a breezy, relaxed r&b groove, losing you is almost the perfect embodiment of deflation and melancholy following the meltdown of a relationship. there's a really uncanny quality about the track in that it feels hollow and yet warm at the same time, expressed perfectly in the video when we see solange dancing frantically (as if she's in an elevator with jay-z) against the backdrop of a tranquil town at dusk; no matter how much she tries, there's no saving her relationship |
4 212
Azealia Banks ft. Lazy Jay |
| the moment the beat bounds in like an overexcited kangaroo, and azealia starts spitting, everyone turned their heads when they knew we had found a great new artist. it's a sassy, explicit welding of house and hip hop, and most importantly it's playful and fun. even though the bridge was an ominous forecast of azealia's trajectory, 212 will forever stand out as the moment in the 2010's when everyone forgot what they had assumed about female rap artists, and azealia rapped, sung and provoked her way into the social consciousness |
3 Thinkin Bout You
Frank Ocean |
| it's a beautiful and concise way of opening frank's debut LP. it's easy to see the charm when you watch frank sing this track surrounded by arcade machines blinking and lighting up restlessly. it's an ode to his schizophrenic narrative voice, gravitating unwaveringly between different surreal images, but they express a disconnect with reality and the relationship which never truly materialised for frank. it culminates in the frank (sorry, there's no other way to put it) chorus which sees frank foray into a stunning falsetto almost as a cry for help in amongst a blinking, transient world of video games, songs and relationships |
2 Midnight City
M83 |
| i've said it already, but m83 are at their greatest when they not only emulate the artistic stylings of 80's songs, but they outright manage to capture the classic quality of these songs. midnight city is the crowning jewel in all this, a haunting electronic track which has all the energy and emotional depth of the climax in a romantic, coming of age epic. it of course culminates beautifully in the saxophone solo which injects a deeply humanistic quality in amongst the autotune and electronics, shining out like a beacon - or a hand - amongst all the lonely lights and sounds of a midnight skyline |
1 Get Lucky
Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rogers |
| for me, this is the closest we have come this decade to a universal classic. the song's runaway success across the entire globe is a sheer testament to how well-constructed and universal it is. it's the pinnacle of showing daft punk at their most astute when it comes to understanding dance music, creating something which people would dance to at weddings, parties, but achieving that atmosphere so effortlessly.
the throwback feel and the theme of the thrill of possibility embody the entire motif of the random access memories album: to create something which celebrates how far we've come in dance music, how far we can keep on going, and how trends may come and go but the image of people dancing against an orange sunset to their favourite song will never fade away. |
YAS. so there's the best of decade all wrapped up.
thanks so much for all the lavely comments, and see y'all next year
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Member Since: 12/11/2008
Posts: 9,543
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10/10 What a great way to end the countdown!!!
Get Lucky is catchy as hell, Monster and Pumped Up Kicks and definitely is my favorite from the list. 
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 61,634
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Haven't heard MIA's album but Bad Girls is great 
Haunted and HOWGH are perfect 
Mine and Countdown
212 and Pumped Up Kicks 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 27,248
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Bad Girls is just... I can't get enough of it
New Slaves, Mine, Haunted, Heavy Metal Lover
Pumped Up Kicks is amazing 
Monster, there is nothing else to say about it other than it being simply perfect
Oh Get Lucky 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 29,531
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Wow. Surprising number one
212
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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I love like 19/20 of the songs here. 
Your write-ups are amazing also. You're right Midnight City is a jewel, and Hold On We're Going Home sincerity is its key to excellence, that Countdown's joyousness is brilliant, that... you know it's just all perfect.
Great assessment of the decade so far
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Member Since: 4/7/2009
Posts: 34,961
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The entire top 20 is great!
Good to see Bronte, that was unexpected it was certainly underrated.
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards too!
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Member Since: 10/2/2011
Posts: 43,174
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18/20
Great great great choices 
Get Lucky deserves all the praise!
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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Hold On, We're Going Home Pumped Up Kicks is one of my favorite songs of the 00's!
212 is good! and that top 2 is just flawless 
Both are masterpieces 
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