The subject matter of Lorde’s breakout single “Royals” wasn’t necessarily out of left field. With the birth of Prince George and television shows such as Game of Thrones and Reign resonating with young people an anthem of the times surely wasn’t far away. While the song was not necessarily the most successful single of the year it was certainly the biggest hit worldwide by cracking the Top 10 on the pop charts in over 15 countries. With its instrumentation at a minimum, the hook became its lyrics. The earworm chorus had strange effect on listeners with everyday people on subway cars or buses suddenly blurting out the chorus’ call back words “royals”, “ruler” and “I’ll rule”. The song stands in stark contrast to the human hashtag Miley Cyrus who had a chance to redeem herself with “Wrecking Ball” but fell on her own sword with her twerking antics and ratchet culture copping at the MTV Video Music Awards. The performance was confusingly derided by African American activists who condemned Cyrus for stealing an embarrassing cultural identity most black would like to forget. Which is not important to Lorde. Despite a year of absolutely horrifying fist in the air songs by Imagine Dragons and Avicii, Lorde unintentionally carved out a new anthem for Millennials. Yet no one knew that the “next big thing” to conquer the pop culture landscape would come from the Kingdom of Norway.
I wound up voting for Lorde only because as far as I know I couldn’t pick him out of a police lineup. I didn’t know ‘Fox’ was a parody, plus I don’t think that in good conscience and right mind I could ever vote for ‘Fox’ anything. Robin Thicke? Heeesh I’m just too damn old. I have never understood pop music from day one…
I voted for Thicke for the nude women in his video. Also, I though the music was all right. I hadn’t made a direct connection to that great Marvin Gaye song, but I can hear that now.
My oh my I had not seen that robin thicke video before now. Catchy song but that guy creeps me out.
Of the three, Lorde is the only one I’ve heard previously. Can’t deny the hooks, but its too precious for me.
The comedy clip was impressive and enjoyable up to a point, but I guess I’m just an old grouch as I don’t think I’d bother watching it again. Bottom line is I must abstain.
I’ll vote for Robin Thicke because I like the video you linked to. I made it to a full 60 seconds of the Fox song, and it’s too fucking stupid to be funny. I really hated every second of it. The Lorde song is just boring. How did that get popular? It’s like a lullabye.
I couldn’t vote for Robin Thicke because his song is about raping women. I ended up voting for Lorde by process of elimination – “The Fox” is both a joke and unlistenable.
Having been blissfully unaware of the controversy, I Googled it. Good summary here: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/13/blurred-lines-most-controversial-song-decade
My first draft had a line about the controversy, but decided not to include it hoping to avoid this discussion. But since, Mr. Human brought it up I’ll give my two cents. I always interpreted the lyrics to be about a woman being a tease and sending mixed messages. It’s slimy but at the end of the day it’s a harmless pop song. Still, the song could do without T.I.’s anal sex fantasies.
I love Thicke’s echoing of Nigel Tufnel when he was quoted saying “What’s wrong with being sexy?”.
I only saw the video. Were there words in that song?
Eh, I voted for Lorde because of that harmony part in the middle. I guess I’m tired of pop stars hollering their songs at me.
Out of the 3 choices, I voted for Ylvis – it doesn’t take itself too seriously, like the other 2 do. It’s meant to be enjoyed and danced to, which to me is the essence of pop music.
I like the beat of “Blurred Lines” but the lyrics are problematic. The good part of the song is the ripped off stuff. I get a kick out of this rejoinder to Mr. Thicke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2M6JUFCCSA
I’m not agreeing with all of the lyrics, but it does point out how sexist his original is.
Lorde. Meh.
For me, the best single of the year was Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” Catchy, retro but futuristic, too.
And nice recap of the year in pop, Cliff.
“when I say strong I’m referring to quantity and not quality”
What does this mean?
Yeah, I think if I could, I’d change my vote to Ylvis. You’re totally right about “Royals” taking itself too seriously, and it also has lyrics that are seriously problematic.
I just thought there was a lot of unique and popular candidates for to chose from this year. That’s why I chose 3 instead of 2. Plus the word strong can refer to smell.
The whole reason why I’ve done this article the last few years is because, whether we like it or not, these were the most popular songs of the year. We could sit here for days trying to debate who had the best album or song of the year, but chances are likely that the average radio listener and music consumer never heard any of our candidates.
I’ve always been fascinated about what makes a song a hit. Some years it seems there is a lot of quality music that ends up in the top 10. I know that a lot of it is shit. I’ve always said there not accounting for bad taste. But look at the comments some people have found some good in the Robin Thicke and Lorde songs. It’s all down to interpretation.
Perhaps I’ve gone on too long trying to explain myself, but I thought the line was self explanatory.
I stand with the representative from the great state of California and vote for Get Lucky, if only because of the Nile Rogers guitar work.
Suit and Tie would have given Get Lucky a run for the money were it not for that lame ass rap in the middle of it. It feels totally slapped on and it’s so clunky. I don’t know anything about rap but I was expecting to be wowed by Jay Z’s “flow”. The rap in Suit and Tie is some phoned-in bullshit.
That Robin Thicke song really annoys me as does the video. My long standing love of boobs is trumped by the fact that video is just a cheap stunt to get folks to listen to a song, the best parts of which are someone else’s work.
Mwaaaah!