Also, we've reached the point where every song from this point forward is an utter banger, to the point where I'm wanting to listen to each track repeatedly when writing their respective sections.
40. Rammstein - Deutschland
Track length: 5:22
UK release date: 28th March 2019
UK chart position: 98
Last decade's chart: 10
Listens as at 8th October: 14
Gigs this decade: 3
I like songs and videos that tell a story - Taylor Swift is a master at this. I also like history, knowing where we've come from. Rammstein launching their new album with a ten minute short film about the history of Germany, incorporating their new song (Deutschland is German for Germany - years of Duolingo finally paying off!) is right up my street - and then making absolutely sure no right-wing idiots misconstrue it for wild fevered patriotism by making the character of Germania a woman of colour? Wonderful! The video itself is explained by an Oxford University professor rather well here.
(Also try Radio, another NSFW video which nevertheless has a subtle feminist message shown, and Ausländer - a comment on immigration (which is also NSFW))
(Also try Radio, another NSFW video which nevertheless has a subtle feminist message shown, and Ausländer - a comment on immigration (which is also NSFW))
39. K.I.D. - Boy (reprise)
Track length: 3:22
UK release date: 8th November 2017
UK chart position: N/A
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 15
Gigs this decade: 0
This came up as a suggestion on a Spotify playlist (it may even have been the same one as Poppy, thinking about it) and immediately stuck with me. This acoustic version is better than the original, due to the emotion and feeling put into every word by Kara Lane, the singer. It's a song that sums up those confusing teenage feelings of love, lust and loss, and what more could you want from pop music?
38. The Chainsmokers - #SELFIE
Track length: 3:03
UK release date: 29th January 2014
UK chart position: 11
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 18
Gigs this decade: 0
About a week after this came out, Dana and I attended an acoustic set and signing in south west London by pop-punk band We Are The In Crowd. The average age of the audience was about 19, and this song came on as part of the pre-show playlist. It was one of my favourite gig experiences of the decade listening to the conversations gradually die down as people started paying attention to what on earth was playing over the PA. I've no idea if this song is meant ironically or played completely straight, but in a time capsule to define the 2010s, this deserves to be included as it sums up the decade wonderfully.
37. Kesha - Praying
Track length: 3:50
UK release date: 6th July 2017
UK chart position: 26
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 2
Gigs this decade: 1
Another of my gig highlights came with a track played over the PA at Kesha's gig in London in 2017, but I've detailed that in my gig survey for that year already. After the legal struggles against her producer and his legal team dragging her name through the mud, most people would've expected Kesha to fold, and her career would be mostly known for Tik Tok. Instead she returned stronger and harder, with this absolute belter of a song that, really, nothing I write can really do it justice. Go and listen to it. Repeatedly. (If you can - it's a powerful song and I struggle to handle it.)
36. Nick Jonas ft Tove Lo - Close
Track length: 3:54
UK release date: 25th March 2016
UK chart position: 25
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 23
Gigs this decade: 0
I think this might be the only "loophole" song in which both artists feature on tracks later in the chart? Anyway, my favourite Swedish musician brings her trademark sexual chemistry to this track, and Kevin's younger brother matches her in every respect. It's tricky writing this section, knowing that we'll be returning to both of them later in the chart.
35. Pale Waves - Red
Track length: 3:56
UK release date: 14th September 2018
UK chart position: N/A
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 19
Gigs this decade: 0
I heard a lot of buzz about Pale Waves’ album from friends on Twitter when it was released in October last year so I figured I’d give it a listen. I wasn’t disappointed with what I heard, but oddly the song that stuck out to me was an album track rather than one of the singles. A band who’ve built on Chvrches’ synthpop and made something fresher, this is one of those songs I can listen to on repeat without getting bored of it.
34. Dagny - Love You Like That
Track length: 2:57
UK release date: 13th October 2017
UK chart position: N/A
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 14
Gigs this decade: 0
Dagny came to my attention late last year, as one of her songs was played before Sigrid came on stage and I liked it enough to Shazam. Scandanavian pop became my niche interest throughout that autumn and Dagny filled that with aplomb. I wasn't the only one impressed with the track - in May this year, Katy Perry released "Never Really Over" which was heavily influenced by Dagny's song!
33. Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
Track length: 3:37
UK release date: 18th December 2018
UK chart position: 2
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 9
Gigs this decade: 0
It's Miley again! For the last time, there's no Ashley O/Hannah Montana to follow. This country tinged track gave Miley her highest charting UK single since Wrecking Ball.
32. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast - You Stupid Bitch
Track length: 2:22
UK release date: 8th February 2016
UK chart position: N/A
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 12
Gigs this decade: 1
The website AV Club had several articles promoting Crazy Ex-Girlfriend before it premiered in 2015 and as they'd been spot on with Jane The Virgin, we decided to give this a try, despite the hangover from the last musical TV show we watched. I'm glad Glee didn't put us off, because CxG is one of the smartest, funniest TV shows I've watched over the last decade. This is from the climax to a season one episode where all of Rebecca's chickens come home to roost, producing this song which perfectly encapsulates feelings we've all had. (To show it's not all bleak, the episode also features a hair metal song about sending a text to the wrong person - featuring the ghost of Steve Jobs - and two characters speaking the lyrics to the theme song in conversation. It's on Netflix. Go watch it.)
31. Sia - Chandelier
Track length: 3:36
UK release date: 17th March 2014
UK chart position: 6
Last decade's chart: N/A
Listens as at 8th October: 25
Gigs this decade: 0
I like Sia. Even though I've never actively listened to her, whenever a track of hers has come on it's always invoked a nod of approval and I've let it play out - her music inspires positive feelings in me. (Even if Shape Of You nicked the opening to Cheap Thrills, so I accidentally end up nodding approvingly to Ed bloody Sheeran.) This is very much another track where you can hear the emotion in every letter, and it paints a vivid picture of someone desperately clinging on to the lifestyle as it wrings them out of everything they've got.
(Plus, Karen Gillan has done a great cover too!)
(Plus, Karen Gillan has done a great cover too!)
Next time...two artists who Taylor Swift has written songs about, one who has appeared in the video for one of said songs, an artist who produces indie records much cooler than Taylor's, and the non-Sasha-Banks Boss.
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