Let Me Live That Fantasy

December 3, 2013 1:51 PM

It's December which means it's that time of the year; DJ Earworm Mashup - United State of Pop 2013 (Living the Fantasy) is up.

Featuring:
Avicii feat. Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up
Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man
Capital Cities - Safe & Sound
Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams - Get Lucky
Eminem feat. Rihanna - The Monster
Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly - Cruise
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
Imagine Dragons - Demons
Jay-Z feat. Justin Timberlake - Holy Grail
Justin Timberlake - Mirrors
Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z - Suit & Tie
Katy Perry - Roar
Lady Gaga - Applause
Lorde - Royals
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - Can't Hold Us
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop
Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball
Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop
OneRepublic - Counting Stars
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - Just Give Me A Reason
Rihanna - Stay
Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell & T.I. - Blurred Lines
Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin - Don't You Worry Child
Taylor Swift - I Knew You Were Trouble
Will.I.Am feat. Britney Spears - Scream And Shout

posted by Talez (40 comments total)

aka My annual, non-karaoke way to learn the song titles of which pop hits I liked this year.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:09 PM on December 3, 2013 [5 favorites]

weak year for pop.
posted by likeatoaster at 2:11 PM on December 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yeah, have past versions of this featured so few artists/so many artists represented by more than one song?
posted by troika at 2:13 PM on December 3, 2013

would this be the appropriate place to mention how much I enjoy that awesome horrible faux-dubstep Taylor Swift song

other than that, man, talk about having to work with thin material. Imagine Dragons is, like, boss-level uninspired and I don't even know where there is to go from there.
posted by threeants at 2:17 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

(Previously: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007)
posted by troika at 2:18 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Daniel Kim's annual Pop Danthology (same idea, different take) also came out today.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:23 PM on December 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

weak year for pop.

It's weird because I don't necessarily think that it has been a weak year for pop music as a genre, but I agree the most popular pop music as represented by this list is just kinda ugh. Well done to DJ Earworm for making this as listenable as it is.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:23 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

weak year for pop

Meh, I feel like it's the same as it ever was. Mostly not very good with a few gems.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:25 PM on December 3, 2013

needs more what does the fox say
posted by likeatoaster at 2:25 PM on December 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

It's kind of weird how quickly rappers just disappeared right out of the top-40 landscape. It was only, what, a few years ago that Lil' Wayne alone was on like 95% of charting hits?
posted by threeants at 2:32 PM on December 3, 2013

threeants: would this be the appropriate place to mention how much I enjoy that awesome horrible faux-dubstep Taylor Swift song

This is a pretty great version, in case you haven't heard it already: Walk off the Earth: Trouble (Youtube)
posted by kprincehouse at 2:33 PM on December 3, 2013 [8 favorites]

Man, this shows how sad my listening habits have gotten in my old age: I think I could identify all of three of these. My view of what's going on in popular music is influenced nearly totally by going to NBA games. I mean, why listen to commercial radio when there's piles of unprogrammed music these days?
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:34 PM on December 3, 2013

Well, still a lot of rappers in the top-40, but it's a lot more pop-rap and pop/rap duets than lil wayne was/is/did.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:35 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've actually heard more than one of those, maybe as many as four. That's more than most years.
posted by octothorpe at 2:36 PM on December 3, 2013

save us beyoncé
posted by threeants at 2:37 PM on December 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Danthology wins the battle in my mind this year. USPOP was still pretty decent.
posted by deezil at 2:44 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

kprincehouse: I think that's my new favorite version of that song, even supplanting Gollum. Thanks for posting it!
posted by djeo at 3:05 PM on December 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

other than that, man, talk about having to work with thin material. Imagine Dragons is, like, boss-level uninspired and I don't even know where there is to go from there.

That fucking Radioactive song is the worst thing ever for me, because it checks all of the boxes for awful: a song that (a) I despise and yet (b) I can't not listen to once I'm reminded of its existence and, as a bonus, (c) is inexplicably popular, despite sounding like Nickelback doing a Fall Out Boy cover. Not since the height of One Republic's "Apologize" have grocery stores been so dangerous to my sanity.
posted by kagredon at 3:24 PM on December 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Hmmm, I thought last year's was much stronger - don't know if that's a comment on the music, or the mix itself, though I'm leaning towards the latter.
posted by smoke at 3:38 PM on December 3, 2013

Gollum

I can't even

so happy right now

thank you
posted by threeants at 3:42 PM on December 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

Yo, the muppet cockfighting at 3:50 -- what video is that from? That looks awesome.
posted by edheil at 4:04 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

IT'S GODDAMN RADIOACTIVE MY SO-CALLED "FRIENDS" MADE ME WATCH IT AFTER I VENTED MY RAGE ABOUT THE SONG

The video has Lou Diamond Phillips in it as leader of the muppet cockfighting ring, it actually is pretty cool.
posted by kagredon at 4:09 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

Interesting, I thought it was a particularly GOOD year for pop.
posted by empath at 4:11 PM on December 3, 2013

weak year for pop.

No. LORDE.
posted by gwint at 4:29 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

This mashup sounds like a montage of me commuting.

I think it was actually a pretty good year for pop, considering a lot of the big names didn't release much. Jay-Z doesn't count, his album is terrible. Obviously, there have been better years -- the last year that I really liked for pop was 2010, though then Glee covered all those songs and I can't really listen to them anymore.

The breakout stars seem to me to be Lorde, Macklemore, and actually, Miley Cyrus (this is the first year I feel like Miley Cyrus isn't considered too teenybopper to take seriously, but maybe I'm just too old to know). They do all seem to have the talent and skill to have staying power, and that is saying something.

Man, this shows how sad my listening habits have gotten yt in my old age

Drake whines a lot and his lyrics are boring, but I love his odd style of "ending. every. word. with. a. period."
posted by rue72 at 4:57 PM on December 3, 2013

I don't think this is terrible, but I still keep waiting for something to hit 2009's level of actually feeling like it could stand alone without the gimmick.
posted by Sequence at 5:01 PM on December 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed his technique. He made some of the more annoying songs (to me of course...like Suit and Tie and Radioactive) more subtle.
posted by Benway at 5:48 PM on December 3, 2013

Interesting, I thought it was a particularly GOOD year for pop.

Thinking more on it, I actually kind of did too, but I'm not sure this mash-up represents all the great pop that well. I really liked 20/20 experience and pure heroine, but most of the others in the mix weren't up there with what i loved this year (I actually liked the new Gaga album, except for applause). Lots of great pop that was out - like chvrches, haim, active child - didn't make the hit list. So ever it was I guess.

And yes, Radioactive is one of the worst songs maybe of all time.
posted by Lutoslawski at 7:38 PM on December 3, 2013

Oh, man. This reminds me of that moment a few months ago when we were driving in the car and the tribbles (115K views!? nice) song came on. Then we realized the words were all wrong.
posted by xorry at 8:49 PM on December 3, 2013

And the earworm mashup didn't have one of my favorite pop songs from last year, Clarity.
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:50 PM on December 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Wow, I would have recognized Lorde as something I'd heard--I love that whole album--and the names of several other songs but not really their bits in the mix (and obviously a lot of the artists). I know I've heard Wrecking Ball once but I couldn't pick it out. I am officially OLD.
posted by immlass at 9:14 PM on December 3, 2013

Oh wait, that's not true, I failed to pick out Get Lucky and I liked that too. STILL OLD.
posted by immlass at 9:15 PM on December 3, 2013

So, you know that scene in Easy A, when Emma Stone gets that musical card playing 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' and is all ugh, and then three days later is belting it in the shower?

That's me and Wrecking Ball, over the past weekend. I seriously cannot get it out of my head, now.

_{Which is kind of okay, because it finally got Get Lucky out of my head, where it had been since like, September. And before that, it was I Love It, and before that it was Young & Beautiful. Though to be fair, I never thought those were terrible songs.}
posted by ApathyGirl at 12:16 AM on December 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

the guy on the voice actually sang wrecking ball better imo.
posted by empath at 12:39 AM on December 4, 2013

Nobody covers Wrecking Ball like Bob Ducca* covers Wrecking Ball.


*a recurring improv character on the Comedy Bang Bang podcast, the host's ex-father-in-law who suffers from a long and lengthening list of ailments and maladies
posted by Shepherd at 5:27 AM on December 4, 2013

Also: I'd be happy to pay money for this MP3, but this whole sales method, where it's pitched as "$3.00 for the track*

*but you also have to buy every single track used in the mashup for $1.29 each from iTunes"

is either me grievously misunderstanding that site, or utter bullshit.
posted by Shepherd at 5:31 AM on December 4, 2013

Leaving out T-Pain's return with Up Down is a criminal oversight.
posted by synthetik at 6:16 AM on December 4, 2013

I listened to the Danthology this morning, and I liked it a lot better. I also recognized more of the music in it. My angst about being old, such as it is, is somewhat reduced.
posted by immlass at 8:02 AM on December 4, 2013

So, I watched it again because I thought it might be pertinent to this thread, and this time I watched it all the way through to see whether I'd missed anything, but as a distillation of U.S. pop in 2013, it's so dreary. I mean, does your pop really boil down to the musical equivalent of a wet Sunday in February?

(To be honest I think pop music should sound like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Perhaps some of this did before DJ Earworm stuck it through his wretched mincer.)
posted by Grangousier at 2:33 AM on December 22, 2013

The breakout stars seem to me to be Lorde, Macklemore, and actually, Miley Cyrus (this is the first year I feel like Miley Cyrus isn't considered too teenybopper to take seriously, but maybe I'm just too old to know).

You know, I think Miley is pretty savvy altogether: have a high-profile "debacle" at the VMAs just like Kanye (and honestly, wearing an ugly costume and dancing badly is still not as wince-inducing as embarrassing Taylor Swift and Beyonce in one gesture), then follow it up with some pretty great music and just ride the buzz. I have no idea if the rest of Bangerz is as impressive as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and... really, it don't matter.

But overall, you're right: the rookies really won the year. "Can't Hold Us" is one of my straight-up favorite singles, "Safe & Sound" is up there too... On the other hand, who would have thought that Justin The Unstoppable Hitmaker Timberlake would return with two of the most boring radio tracks of the year?
posted by psoas at 10:20 AM on January 2, 2014