The past ten years for music has brought many changes in sound, production, and tone for music. We started off with club-happy EDM hits. We bought in 200% to vocal chops for a few years, and after “Animals” by Martin Garrix everyone started using wood block samples in their songs. Bruno Mars repopularized funk, The Weeknd brought back 80s synthwave, Caravan Palace brought back swing, and Dua Lipa brought back disco. Most recently we have been seeing country, latin pop, hip hop, trap, K-pop, and TikTok artists rise with a wide mixture of genres and influences.
I don’t claim to be an expert in music, so I won’t try to filter my choices from an everyday-person perspective; the following entries are my opinion, and I hope by sharing them you might find the perfect track for your new playlist, or learn something interesting about one of your favorite hits. Let’s go!
10. Beautiful Things – Benson Boone
As much as I love a well-produced pop jam, and there’s nothing wrong with them, releases in the industry have felt imbalanced as of late. With TikTok and other social medias thriving on what feels like manufactured hits, many have theorized that in the coming years a sense of authenticity will become a valuable quality in music. I think we can see a reflection of this sense of authenticity in Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things”. Since hearing it, it gave me an undeniable impression of standing out against current charting tracks. We begin with a slow acoustic section, mostly focused on storytelling lyrics. Moving forward like this would get a bit dry after a while. However, after the verse, we’re treated to an artful metre change to 3/4 with some hyping guitar stabs, leading into a powerful chorus. We all know what the highlight of the song is; those two massive sliding notes, “Please, stay,”, with the band backing track accentuating those lyrics with everything they have. For me, this song has a lot of power and emotion behind it, and while being a modern pop hit, has a glimmer of something more. Maybe it is its classic sound, heartfelt lyrics, or strong vocals? I think that Benson Boone is a name to watch out for in the coming years, and I hope “Beautiful Things” may inspire some artists in a similar sincere direction.
9. Idol – YOASOBI
8. Touch-Tone Telephone – Lemon Demon
It seems you can always expect something interesting from Neil Cicierega, be it good, or the kind of self-aware bad that curls back to good again. His music project Lemon Demon, of which he is the sole official member, has been around for 21 years. His hit album Spirit Phone yielded Eighth Wonder, Cabinet Man, and a personal favorite bonus track Redesign your Logo. But here I’m featuring his most popular song, Touch-Tone Telephone.
7. MIROH – Stray Kids
K-pop has been renowned for years for its cutting-edge production techniques, and in few places does this shine better than “MIROH” by Stray Kids. I will relinquish that I’m not an avid rap fan due to being more inclined toward composition than lyricism and flow, but the rhythms in “MIROH” simply kill. We start off introducing a beat and vocals, leading into the first verse. All the while, we feel a creeping tension toward something big. Will the release disappoint? As the first verse concludes, the rap reaches max velocity, falling into side-chained synth horns and a swelling beat. Just when the chorus ends, we reintroduce vocals over the synth horn lead, doubling the impact of the chorus. This has to be one of the most hard-hitting drops I’ve come in contact with, and while I’m an appreciator of subtlety, there is nothing wrong with throwing everything you have at a sick drop too.
6. Caution – The Killers
The Killers may be best known for their earlier hits in the 2000s-2010s like “Mr. Brightside”, “Somebody Told Me”, and my personal favorite “When You Were Young”. But in 2020, they dropped their second-to-latest album, Imploding the Mirage, featuring lead single “Caution”. When I first heard “Caution”, I didn’t recognize it compared to The Killers sound I was more familiar with. But I knew I immediately liked it. The track has Brandon’s signature desert-bred lyrics, along with well-executed synth leads and backing guitar chords. Although cut from the radio edit, my favorite part of the song is the extended intro; if you get a chance, try listening to it with headphones. It works with panning and production to create a perfect tone-setting atmosphere that mixes music and ambience.
5. Cheerleader – Porter Robinson
4. Master of Tides – Lindsey Stirling
It’s difficult to choose just one track by violinist, songwriter, and dancer Lindsey Stirling to feature; Her 2014 Shatter Me sophomore release has been followed by four subsequent albums, not including her upcoming album Duality. But the one I ended up choosing is the third single preceding the album, “Master of Tides”. Her unique mix of classical violin and EDM is present in all of her songs, but “Master of Tides” is one of the most successful examples of just how well it can work. The performance is excellent, and the production only elevates it further. Like the swelling of the tides, we are treated to a rollercoaster ride of turns and drops, all leading toward a coursing, climactic finale. This song never ceases to get me seizing with the waves all the way to the end.
3. Overcompensate – Twenty Øne Piløts
One of the newest tracks listed here, “Overcompensate” by Twenty Øne Piløts marks the return of the rock duo since their sixth studio album three years prior. I heard this song the day it released, and from the first minute I was hooked. We start with a piano part sampled from their previous track “Bandito”, which drops into a building synth line. As soon as you’ve registered the change, we’re welcomed back to Trench (a fictional continent and the name of a previous album) with an amazing drum groove. Just as we’re about finished with the groove, it changes and the tempo drops 25 BPM, leaving us saying “wait, what?”. From there we get rap verses, soaring chorus vocals, and an oddly disconcerting bridge. All in all, this song is a journey in itself. I think this is the perfect start to the release cycle for Clancy, and one of the more pleasantly unique tracks to grace the airwaves of the past few years.
2. The End of the Dream – Evanescence
Evanescence started out as the paramount 2000s rock band; gothic and emotional with a taste for orchestra, known for their blowup hits “My Immortal”, “Going Under”, and of course “Bring Me To Life”. But after a 2011 hiatus and a break from their label, Evanescence came back with a new album and a new sound, fixed in a beautiful mix of electronica and classical. My favorite track from 2016’s Synthesis is “The End of The Dream”, a track rewritten from their previous eponymous album. The original track was already a favorite, but the reworking in Synthesis is a cinematic masterpiece. Don’t be fooled by the slow intro. It all works in favor of a song-wide build to one of the most explosive choruses I’ve experienced. It’s clear the band has been following their hearts until they bleed, because what began as a risky experiment has proven to be a criminally under-appreciated success.
1. Froot – MARINA
Finally, at number one we have MARINA’s “Froot”. Most of the featured tracks could take the sweet cake of first place, but “Froot” repeatedly speaks to me as one of the most original pop songs released in recent years. The title track of her third studio album, MARINA took a turn from her first two albums’ more electronic sound in favor of atmosphere and ambience. We’re immediately hit with a funky bass lick that leaps into sparkling synth pads, paired with MARINA’s unique vocals. At 5 minutes long on the album version (my personal favorite arrangement), the song comfortably fits a surprising number of segments, six by my count. GeniusLyrics recognizes and intro, two verses, an interlude, a prechorus, the chorus itself, two more verses, a chorus, and a bridge before finishing on another chorus and outro. This surprising amount of variety makes the song compelling on each listen, and each part flows brilliantly from one to the next. Froot is also an excellent example in delayed gratification. The intro features a mysterious drawn-out lyric ‘Froot’ and ‘Juice’, and we don’t hear the title again until the end of the chorus. This makes us wait, patiently intrigued, through each movement, each time wondering if we get the release of the chorus yet. And as soon as the chorus drops, we wait yet longer to hear the hauntingly drawn out “like Froot, like Froot”. The composition is using word painting, as the lyrics describe being patiently ready for love like a ripe fruit/Froot waits to be picked.