Everything you remember that had an early 2010s feel in 2014

Even though 2014 was mid 2010s for the most part, it felt much more connected to the early 2010s than the late 2010s.

A remix that heavily alters the production and puts a filter on the vocals. The source material doesn't really matter if it's very distinct from the new version. You wouldn't call the Fat Boys' 1988 version of "The Twist" early 60s just because it heavily samples the original, would you?

Deep house already existed back then, but poppy melodies, indie vocals, the use of organic instruments, and a bright sound in contrast to deep house's usually reflective mood were all brand new developments for the genre that wasn't common before.


There's hardly any europop songs from back then that remotely ressembles it. Especially not in the mid-2000s where house music was now less popular influence in favor of heavy trance beats. The closest I could think that might resemble it is the Romanian dance scene of the late 2000s (like "Stereo Love") that had a sort of beachy vibe too and used some brass instruments. But it was again closer to the Ibiza trance sound and was more rave-oriented while tropical house was always more of a pop style.


Technically its peak was fall 2013. By early 2014 it was already falling off the charts. But anyway, like I said it's very similar indeed to her Teenage Dream singles, but with a much simpler production:


Compare it to her most early 2010s-sounding single and the difference is staggering:

^Imagine her releasing a dubstep song in 2014.

Oh? Besides obvious shameless rip-offs like Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!", there was plenty of pop soul songs throughout the mid-2010s that seemed to have taken a influence from "Happy"'s school of minimalism, like Aloe Blacc's "The Man", R. City's "Locked Away", Adele's "Send My Love", Sam Smith's "I'm Not the Only One", Rihanna's "FourFiveSeconds" and so on.

Yeah that's reasonable I don't get this denial of even the most blatantly obvious early 2010s things in 2014, like everything MUST FIT into the island of the mid 2010s universe because it is a separate universe from the early 2010s, when the truth is a number of things in 2013-2014 were exactly identical or a slight tweak of stuff that really peaked or became a bit more mainstream around 2012  or in other cases lean towards, resemble 09-12 or don't feel like a stong enough break from then. 

I guess we just disagree. I think we were all pretty much there and it was just 6 years ago. Many other people seem to agree that there are noteworthy connections between the two periods, even if they aren't that drastic or overwhelming, between the two. It has been brought up before as well.

It is undeniable that it was the mid 2010s in 2014 and things were different than the early 2010s but I personally wouldn't reduce those influences down to picking hen's teeth, like you could with any given year. 

DVDs/Blurays from what I remember were still the standard even if renting was dead and people were buying less physical or original media than before. I remember Netflix getting big in late 2014/2015. 

I do feel like things from mid 2012 to early 2013 in particular, I would say the most out of the early 2010s, seem to be vaguely carried into the period, be it fashion, music or style sometimes with more modifications. Not every single thing  vanished into thin air or expired like in 2015ish but just continued on through mid 2013-mid 2014 and often times blended into the very early mid 2010s atmosphere in that time. 

The music and vibe largely already changed in mid to late 2013 but those early 2010s hanging elements were there imo and the in the opinion of others, you guys can disagree but I still feel this way, and see certain songs and still being innovative songs that could have been made in both eras.

Also I think we underestimate how things were already mostly set up in early 2010s and how many things carried through from then.

Music was only one topic.I can still picture Happy being released earlier but then again I did underestimate its impact, its fair to say it mid at the same time.  

While I don't mostly disagree on topic of music/genre history or the overall period and that the fact the music back then was different, I still mostly stand by the few songs, and others not listed, that I still feel could pass earlier, I don't completely agree with his points which isn't taking into account the broader shared similar and general musical approaches/techniques/aesthetics between 09-12 and 13-14 (especially compared to later) also that the base and general 2010s identity was pretty much set in 09-11, even with differences and modifications later, also the fact that a lot of songs lean to early, seem identical to the average person, or contain elements of early 2010s that later did not happen.

I guess we just disagree. Nobody thinks by 2014 music was not largely mid 2010s. I still stand by what I perceive to by early 2010s aspects in early 2014.

Not by much imo. They are practically almost the same. Spring/Summer 2013 has the most actually, and I guess at some point towards the second half of 2014 going into 2015 the early 2010s start to feel distant and dated.

2014 definitely still had some early 2010’s leftovers, specifically when it came to music. Something like “Summer” by Calvin Harris wouldn’t sound that out of place in 2012.