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Post by nightmarefarm on Apr 4, 2022 9:59:08 GMT 10
Lighthearted: 2011
Dark: 2017
crystalmetheny0428 likes this
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Post by pumpkin14 on Apr 4, 2022 10:33:18 GMT 10
most lighthearted: 2011
darkest: 2018
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Post by 10slover on Apr 4, 2022 10:35:28 GMT 10
Most light-hearted: 2012
2012 was peak early 2010s whimsical culture, also the least political year of the 10s even though it was an election year. + when we had lighthearted silly songs like Call Me Maybe and Gangnam Style.
Darkest year: 2018
Definitely darker than 2017, emo trap was super popular. Politics had become even more divisive. In 2017 we had upbeat songs like Despacito and Shape of you. Compare that to 2018's "Girls like you" and "God's plan" and "Lucid Dreams"
One of the biggest hit songs of the year was literally called "SAD" and had lyrics about threatening your partner with suicide.
+ So many young rappers were dying, weird times.
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Post by nightmarefarm on Apr 4, 2022 10:46:12 GMT 10
Most light-hearted: 2012 2012 was peak early 2010s whimsical culture, also the least political year of the 10s even though it was an election year. + when we had lighthearted silly songs like Call Me Maybe and Gangnam Style. Darkest year: 2018 Definitely darker than 2017, emo trap was super popular. Politics had become even more divisive. In 2017 we had upbeat songs like Despacito and Shape of you. Compare that to 2018's "Girls like you" and "God's plan" and "Lucid Dreams" One of the biggest hit songs of the year was literally called "SAD" and had lyrics about threatening your partner with suicide. + So many young rappers were dying, weird times. Maybe you're right about 2018 then. I mentioned 2017 because it had nazi rallies and terrorist bombings. Politics definitely felt more divisive in 2017 though, there was still a lot of tension over trump getting elected whereas in 2018 people got used to it and political division started to fade out.
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Post by astropoug on Apr 4, 2022 11:31:32 GMT 10
Most lighthearted would be any year between 2010 to 2014. I know the latter year had lots of political turmoil, but the pop culture was SUPER lighthearted, I mean, for fucks sake, the biggest single of that year was LITERALLY called Happy. The Lego Movie also came out that year, and had a song called Everything Is Awesome.
But my personal pick would honestly have to be 2013. What 10slover said about 2012 being the peak of "early 10s whimsical energy", I'd say 2013 still absolutely had. You had songs like We Can't Stop, Roar, Get Lucky, and 22. You had novelty songs like Harlem Shake, and What Does the Fox Say. Best Day of My Life I think is most strongly emblematic of the optimistic energy of the year. Outside of the Boston Marathon bombing, there was also not much bad that happened that year, and it was the last real pre-SJW/alt-right year.
As for the darkest, any year between 2017 to 2019 would be the darkest. The obviousness of all the shootings that happened in those years would be one thing, but you also had the emo rap and bedroom pop movements. However, the darkest of them all, if we're only talking culture and not world events, would have to be 2019. This was the year Billie Eilish blew up, and her songs had a very dark vibe, often with weird and creepy music videos. Bad Guy was a huge hit, and it's not a happy song by ANY means, and she has even darker songs, with the darkest being "everything i ever wanted", which is about suicide. Not only that, but the movie Joker came out that year, one of the darkest movies to become a mainstream box office hit. It showcases the life of an emotionally broken man, and is played completely seriously. Even Avengers: Endgame, maybe not to the extent of Infinity War, but still, it had a dark "finale" tone, with Iron Man dying in the movie, and the depressing funeral scene in the movie. Lastly, you had the "doomer" meme taking off, which displayed a sense of hopelessness in young people. And honestly, though maybe not as tumultuous as 2016-2018, 2019 wasn't even that happy in terms of world events, since you had news of the climate crisis making the world, with newfound end-of-the-world concerns that we will all die due to climate change.
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Post by Telso on Apr 4, 2022 11:37:38 GMT 10
Maybe you're right about 2018 then. I mentioned 2017 because it had nazi rallies and terrorist bombings. Politics definitely felt more divisive in 2017 though, there was still a lot of tension over trump getting elected whereas in 2018 people got used to it and political division started to fade out. I would argue 2017 was still the darkest, coldest, grittiest year for the charts stylistically of the decade, possibly of all-time. So many clips that year went for a very somber aesthetic with blueish tones and dramatic shadows: The fact that a more 'chill' latin pop tune was huge that summer wasn't coincidence, it offered a break from all the darkness.
astropoug likes this
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Post by crystalmetheny0428 on Apr 4, 2022 11:38:47 GMT 10
Most lighthearted would be any year between 2010 to 2014. I know the latter year had lots of political turmoil, but the pop culture was SUPER lighthearted, I mean, for fucks sake, the biggest single of that year was LITERALLY called Happy. The Lego Movie also came out that year, and had a song called Everything Is Awesome. But my personal pick would honestly have to be 2013. What 10slover said about 2012 being the peak of "early 10s whimsical energy", I'd say 2013 still absolutely had. You had songs like We Can't Stop, Roar, Get Lucky, and 22. You had novelty songs like Harlem Shake, and What Does the Fox Say. Best Day of My Life I think is most strongly emblematic of the optimistic energy of the year. Outside of the Boston Marathon bombing, there was also not much bad that happened that year, and it was the last real pre-SJW/alt-right year. As for the darkest, any year between 2017 to 2019 would be the darkest. The obviousness of all the shootings that happened in those years would be one thing, but you also had the emo rap and bedroom pop movements. However, the darkest of them all, if we're only talking culture and not world events, would have to be 2019. This was the year Billie Eilish blew up, and her songs had a very dark vibe, often with weird and creepy music videos. Bad Guy was a huge hit, and it's not a happy song by ANY means, and she has even darker songs, with the darkest being "everything i ever wanted", which is about suicide. Not only that, but the movie Joker came out that year, one of the darkest movies to become a mainstream box office hit. It showcases the life of an emotionally broken man, and is played completely seriously. Even Avengers: Endgame, maybe not to the extent of Infinity War, but still, it had a dark "finale" tone, with Iron Man dying in the movie, and the depressing funeral scene in the movie. Lastly, you had the "doomer" meme taking off, which displayed a sense of hopelessness in young people. And honestly, though maybe not as tumultuous as 2016-2018, 2019 wasn't even that happy in terms of world events, since you had news of the climate crisis making the world, with newfound end-of-the-world concerns that we will all die due to climate change. the greta stuff was mostly fear mongering imo but yea i get what you’re saying. 2019 was much lighter than the rest of the late 2010’s tho
al likes this
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Post by astropoug on Apr 4, 2022 11:40:30 GMT 10
Maybe you're right about 2018 then. I mentioned 2017 because it had nazi rallies and terrorist bombings. Politics definitely felt more divisive in 2017 though, there was still a lot of tension over trump getting elected whereas in 2018 people got used to it and political division started to fade out. I would argue 2017 was still possibly the darkest, the coldest, grittiest year for the charts stylistically, possibly of all-time. So many clips that year went for a very somber aesthetic with blueish tones and dramatic shadows: The fact that a more 'chill' latin pop was huge that summer wasn't coincidence, it offered a break from all the darkness. Certainly they are dark aesthetically, but that doesn't mean the song ITSELF is dark in terms of what it's actually talking about, which is what I think really defines "darkness" for me. So for example, I would not consider Bodak Yellow a dark song, because the song itself is rather hedonistic and, dare I say "ratchet". On the other hand, the Logic phone number song is VERY dark, since it's literally about depression and suicide.
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Post by astropoug on Apr 4, 2022 11:42:13 GMT 10
Most lighthearted would be any year between 2010 to 2014. I know the latter year had lots of political turmoil, but the pop culture was SUPER lighthearted, I mean, for fucks sake, the biggest single of that year was LITERALLY called Happy. The Lego Movie also came out that year, and had a song called Everything Is Awesome. But my personal pick would honestly have to be 2013. What 10slover said about 2012 being the peak of "early 10s whimsical energy", I'd say 2013 still absolutely had. You had songs like We Can't Stop, Roar, Get Lucky, and 22. You had novelty songs like Harlem Shake, and What Does the Fox Say. Best Day of My Life I think is most strongly emblematic of the optimistic energy of the year. Outside of the Boston Marathon bombing, there was also not much bad that happened that year, and it was the last real pre-SJW/alt-right year. As for the darkest, any year between 2017 to 2019 would be the darkest. The obviousness of all the shootings that happened in those years would be one thing, but you also had the emo rap and bedroom pop movements. However, the darkest of them all, if we're only talking culture and not world events, would have to be 2019. This was the year Billie Eilish blew up, and her songs had a very dark vibe, often with weird and creepy music videos. Bad Guy was a huge hit, and it's not a happy song by ANY means, and she has even darker songs, with the darkest being "everything i ever wanted", which is about suicide. Not only that, but the movie Joker came out that year, one of the darkest movies to become a mainstream box office hit. It showcases the life of an emotionally broken man, and is played completely seriously. Even Avengers: Endgame, maybe not to the extent of Infinity War, but still, it had a dark "finale" tone, with Iron Man dying in the movie, and the depressing funeral scene in the movie. Lastly, you had the "doomer" meme taking off, which displayed a sense of hopelessness in young people. And honestly, though maybe not as tumultuous as 2016-2018, 2019 wasn't even that happy in terms of world events, since you had news of the climate crisis making the world, with newfound end-of-the-world concerns that we will all die due to climate change. the greta stuff was mostly fear mongering imo but yea i get what you’re saying. 2019 was much lighter than the rest of the late 2010’s tho It was definitely fearmongering, as it typical from the media, but it was very different from 2012 fearmongering, which was based on conspiracy theories. This was based in real science, so you had seemingly rational people genuinely thinking the world was going to end. There was definitely a sense of panic there.
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Post by Telso on Apr 4, 2022 11:51:13 GMT 10
Certainly they are dark aesthetically, but that doesn't mean the song ITSELF is dark in terms of what it's actually talking about, which is what I think really defines "darkness" for me. So for example, I would not consider Bodak Yellow a dark song, because the song itself is rather hedonistic and, dare I say "ratchet". On the other hand, the Logic phone number song is VERY dark, since it's literally about depression and suicide. Dark lyrics don't necessarily make a song dark either. OutKast's "Hey Ya!" for example has pretty sad lyrics, but the song purposefully tries to pass itself as a bright tune. I consider "Bodak Yellow" a fairly dark song because its beat is very harsh and cold, and Cardi B's personality on it is extremely blunt and borderline violent. Going from very silly female pop rap artists like Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea to "Bodak Yellow" in such a short amount of time was sort of a whiplash.
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Post by astropoug on Apr 4, 2022 11:58:56 GMT 10
Certainly they are dark aesthetically, but that doesn't mean the song ITSELF is dark in terms of what it's actually talking about, which is what I think really defines "darkness" for me. So for example, I would not consider Bodak Yellow a dark song, because the song itself is rather hedonistic and, dare I say "ratchet". On the other hand, the Logic phone number song is VERY dark, since it's literally about depression and suicide. Dark lyrics don't necessarily make a song dark either. OutKast's "Hey Ya!" for example has pretty sad lyrics, but the song purposefully tries to pass itself as a bright tune. I consider "Bodak Yellow" a fairly dark song because its beat is very harsh and cold, and Cardi B's personality on it is extremely blunt and borderline violent. Going from very silly female pop rap artists like Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea to "Bodak Yellow" in such a short amount of time was sort of a whiplash. You could say the same for Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. It's a song with a dreamy happy vibe to it, and yet...it's about a school shooter. I think most people would agree this is NOT a lighthearted song, no matter how it sounds. This is a very common thing in music. My impression of a truly dark song has always been stuff like "Black Hole Sun", "Helena", "In The End", basically any song that both sounds gloomy and has dark lyrics.
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