How would you describe 2013?

I've done threads like this over the summer and the only thing I accomplished was that I became a controversial and to some extent a despised user on here.

But to answer your question, 2013 was core 2010's culturally, but not core 2010's politically; it was the last year before SJWs, the Alt-right, "incels", recreational marijuana sales officially becoming legal, and the rise of ISIS.

Just a bit of a reminder to please refrain from discussing "shifts" between different cultural periods. This thread did originally have "The 2013 Shift" as it's title, but the subject matter of the posts in this thread are predominantly based on describing the culture of 2013, so I have decided to tweak the title (to discourage decadeology discussion) and allow the discussion to continue. Thanks.

Well "Harlem Shake" is one of the most defining songs of the year and it's a Trap song.

I would also agree that songs like "Royals", "Blurred Lines" and "We Can't Stop" were very suprising at the time due to their minimal production and low BPM.
"Get Lucky" also basically started the funk resurgence of the mid-2010s that would peak with "Uptown Funk".

Disagree with almost everything you said.

I think it looks like this:

2010: 50% Late 2000s, 50% Early 2010s

2011: 25% Late 2000s, 75% Early 2010s

2012: 10% Late 2000s, 90% Early 2010s

The last year of the 10s with any 2000s influence.

2013: 40% Early 10s, 60% Mid 10s (first core 10s year)

I do believe that late 2016 WAS indeed the late 10s, while to me late 2006 is still mid 00s. I don't see how people still talk about that. 2006 felt the same all throughout the year. Here is how I see it:

2010: Mix of late 2000s & Early 10s (technically early 10s)
2011/2012 Early 10s
2013-mid 2016 Mid 10s (core years)
Late 2016 and after: Late 10s

The strange thing is, to me, all of those things almost scream mid 2010s.

Anyways I would describe 2013 as being quite transitional (pop culture wise). What I think:

In terms of music, you could already tell early in the year that electropop really wasn't going any further. Songs like "Royals" really started more of the mid 10s style music and also mid 10s edm was becoming big that year.

In terms of gaming, I would agree that 2013 was basically the early 2010s with things being 7th gen until very late in the year, and as you mentioned Minecraft was still at its peak. 

2013 TV was for sure heading into the mid 2010s. You had late 2000s/early 2010s series like Breaking Bad coming to an end, while the Netflix/streaming era was really picking up with shows like Orange is the New Black and Brooklyn Nine Nine debuting. From memory, 2012 was the last year that I physically went to a video store to rent/watch a movie.

Technology wise, 2013 was mid 2010s imo. Globally, smartphones sales overtook feature phone sales in April 2013. I was in High School then and this was roughly the time when people would start being surprised if you didn't have a smartphone. Vine, Snapchat and Instagram exploded in popularity during the middle months of the year which happened to be when I made accounts for them. Also, on the App Store I remember looking at the top charts during the early 2010s and it was mostly mobile games there like Angry Birds, Temple Run etc. Since around 2013, its mostly all social media, shopping, utility and finance apps.

Not sure about the fashion, I would say it was probably both but likely leaning more early 2010s.

Overall, I would say 2013 was transitional however if you had to draw a line I would easily say it was mid. The whole vibe and atmosphere in the second half of the year and especially around Oct, Nov, Dec felt quite removed from 2012, let alone 2010/11.

Also, @ofkx, not sure how you could possibly think mid 2010s culture wasn't clear until mid-2015?? Its your opinion and I respect that but even by early 2014 we were undoubtedly in the mid part of the decade culturally.

I feel like people exaggerate the difference between the early and mid 2010s. They share more similarities than with the eras that came before and after them imo. That said 2013 brought in a lot of new ideas, and I loved the aesthetic, new technology and pop culture of that year. A really fun year.

One similarity between 08' and 10' is that HDTV became mainstream