Year-End Poll #63: 2012

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, Fun, Maroon 5, Ellie Goulding, The Wanted, Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, One Direction. End description]

More information about this blog here

We're starting to see the sound of the 2010's differentiating itself from the 2000's. EDM and dance pop is still big, especially that "festival sound". Nicki Minaj's Starships and Rihanna's We Found Love are notable examples of the "wordless chorus" (where the song builds up to a drop or some other kind of musical phrase instead of a traditional chorus) that will continue to shape the decade's musical landscape. We'll also start to see more examples of songs being attributed to the producer in addition to, or in some cases instead of, the vocalist.

But what's especially interesting this year are the new ways artists are being able to grow an audience. Traditional methods of promotion like TV are still present, with Fun's We Are Young gaining widespread popularity from its cover on Glee and One Direction gaining their initial popularity off of The X Factor. But this is the year we're starting to see the trends shifting. While Carly Rae Jepsen was already making a name for herself in the Canadian music scene through her appearance on Canadian Idol, her debut hit Call Me Maybe, started to take off in the States after Justin Bieber tweeted about it. This wasn't the first time a song blew up online, and it wasn't even the biggest this year.

I won't bury the lead: this was the year Psy's Gangnam Style took off worldwide. However, the song is not featured on this poll, because it only made it to number 47 on the Billboard Year-End chart. This is notable for any Korean language song (especially at the time), but for a song that was so universally known and parodied, if feels odd that it wasn't bigger than it was. The reason for that is Gangnam Style became popular through its music video, and Billboard didn't factor YouTube views into their charts at the time. Billboard changed their data collection to include YouTube views later this year. Was it because of Psy? Maybe. But after this year, we'll start to see a lot more instances of songs taking off in part to the performance of their music videos -- even more than the peak of MTV in the 80's.

Other decades will be under the "billboard poll" tag on my blog

Revisiting a poll that I conducted last year to see what everyone's thoughts are now that we have David's take on his and Michael's kiss in GO 2...

Oscar Nominee of All Time Tournament: Round 1, Group A

(info about nominees under the poll)

JOAN ALLEN (1956-)

NOMINATIONS:

Supporting- 1995 for Nixon, 1996 for The Crucible

Lead- 2000 for The Contender

--

FRANCES MCDORMAND (1957-)

NOMINATIONS:

Supporting- 1988 for Mississippi Burning, 2000 for Almost Famous, 2005 for North Country

WINS:

Lead- 1996 for Fargo, 2017 for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, 2020 for Nomadland

This shit is about to piss me off!!! Vote for clexa cuz I refuse to have the most iconic and influential wlw ship lose to some lines and colors goddammit 😤😤😤😤😤

https://x.com/dykejedis/status/1777151865349632269?s=46&t=qQfDN6w57AhyTovxMAeXzQ

Vote for Shakira in Woman In Music 2024 (Fan Polls). She competes in the category: Biggest Chart Achievement.

Year-End Poll #61: 2010

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Kesha, Lady Antebellum, Train, Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg, Usher, B.o.B and Hayley Williams, Eminem and Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Taio Cruz. End description]

More information about this blog here

Now in the 2010s, electropop and dance are dominating the charts. In the early 2000's, we saw a rise of rap fusing with R&B, with R&B singers providing the chorus to a rap song or rappers adding a guest verse to an R&B song. We're seeing a similar trend now, but with pop instead of R&B.

By this point, digital music platforms such as iTunes have taken over how people listen to music. But much like how we watched digital music and the MP3 file take over physical media in the previous decade, the reign of digital storefronts for music won't survive to the end of this one. But we'll get to that eventually.

In addition to the storefronts, the internet was also starting to play a major role in artist exposure. For many, YouTube was the first place they watched these music videos instead of on TV like previous years. Eventually, we'll see artists reach these levels of exposure almost entirely through YouTube and internet virality. But, again, we'll get to that later in the decade.

Other decades will be under the “billboard poll” tag on my blog

i cant reblog the shoni poll because i have too many homestuck mutuals i hate the homestuck website our girls are gonna lose

i stg shoni can never win anything. show got canceled. relationship got left on a cliffhanger. and they can’t even sweep a tumblr poll bc they got pitted against this site’s favorite form of media on a whim truly nasty work from the universe

Still thinking about Michael on the Zoe Ball Show today saying "The boy did good" and that David looked hot in a kilt at the BAFTAs, and I feel like another poll is necessary to take the pulse of the people. For science, that is...

Aha - Take On Me 1985

"Take On Me" is a song by the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. The original version from 1984 was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. The 1985 international hit version was produced by Alan Tarney for the group's debut studio album, Hunting High and Low.

In 1984, Andrew Wickham was the international vice-president for Warner Bros Records America, and their A&R man in London. He immediately signed A-ha to Warner Brothers America, after learning several previous attempts had failed to make "Take On Me" a commercial success. The next release was not successful either and featured a very ordinary performance video. He authorised considerable investment in the band: on Slater's recommendation, renowned producer Alan Tarney was commissioned to refine the song. The new recording achieved a cleaner and more soaring sound. It was re-released in the UK, but the record label's office in London gave them little support, and the single flopped for the second time.

Wickham placed the band on high priority and applied a lateral strategy with further investment. Steve Barron directed a revolutionary rotoscoping animation music video which took six months to create, using professional artists. Approximately 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, which took 16 weeks to complete. The single was released in the US one month after the music video, and immediately appeared in the Billboard Hot 100 and was a worldwide smash, reaching No. 1 in numerous countries.

At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won six awards: Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Direction in a Video, Best Special Effects in a Video, and Viewer's Choice, and was nominated for two others, Best Group Video and Video of the Year. It was also nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Video at the 13th American Music Awards in 1986.

"Take On Me" received a total of 95% yes votes, and is currently the most liked song on this poll blog! 🥳