The 2010s have proven to be a smorgasbord of genres as well as producing some great artists who have clearly proven that they are a force to be reckoned with in the industry. The 2000s were an awesome decade where Pop and Alternative music flourished uninhibited alongside Rap, Electropop, Dancepop and Hip-Hop music. Eurodance had become virtually non-existent at that time and had paved the way for the more successful Europop and its sub-genre Romanian Pop. However, the trends of the 2000s have come and gone and now that we are 7 years into the 2010s, it is quite conspicuous that it has developed its own unique identity clearly different from any of the preceding decades.
The decade will be known for producing tweaked and synthesized versions of the by-gone genres such as Doo-Wop and Reggae as well as giving rise to modernized genres such as Dancehall, Trap and an all-encompassing Electronic Dance Music, more popularly known as EDM. Sampling old hits is also a trend in the 2010s where only certain artists come up with their original hits and even the great Queen Bey is guilty of sampling Major Lazer’s Pon De Floor in her Run the World (Girls).
Certain artists helped lay the foundation for this decade which has now produced some of the most iconic and successful global smash hits such as Happy, Someone Like You, Uptown Funk, One Dance and Party Rock Anthem. However, there are a set of artists who initially laid the foundation for this decade and then helped mold and shape into what the decade has become. Here are the 10 artists which clearly laid that foundation:
1. Lady Gaga
Mother Monster began her run at fame in 2008 with her debut studio album, The Fame, which produced the titan hits Just Dance and Poker Face. Her second studio album, The Fame Monster, produced the global number one Bad Romance which proved that she was not just a one-album wonder. Her creativity and her unique blend of Art and Pop made her an instant celebrity. The showcasing of her bizarre originality made her extremely influential and the fact that she catered to the growing demand of Pop with significant contributions to Electropop and Dancepop makes her the most prominent pillar of this decade.
2. Pitbull
Mr.Worldwide began his career in 2004, way before his mainstream success kicked off in 2009 with I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho). His style of rapping synced brilliantly with his up-tempo Latin and Electropop beats. He introduced into Dancepop the concept of featuring major artists in his songs, which instantly led them to the top of the charts such as Give Me Everything, International Love and Feel This Moment. He became and is the most wanted artist to be featured in Pop songs during the decade with ongoing collaborations with Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez.
3. David Guetta
Guetta is the father of mainstream House music and the only DJ to be featured on this list. He was in the House scene throughout the 2000s but it was his hit When Love Takes Over that brought him into the mainstream limelight. He is the DJ that began collaborating with the bigtime mainstream artists at the time. He targeted the trends in EDM and adapted accordingly and his albums One Love and Nothing But The Beat are evidence of this, as the former is distinctive of the House music in the latter stages of the 2000s while the latter left a monumental mark in the Progressive House scene with Titanium, Without You and She Wolf.
4. Nicki Minaj
Roman Zolanski, the self-styled Queen of Rap first came into the scene as part of the Young Money crew singing BedRock. Her awesome talent is coupled with a robust personality. This includes different alter egos with varying rapping styles. In the early 2010s she became the most wanted female rapper to be featured (and overall second only to Rihanna). Her mainstream debut as a lead artist proved to be even more successful with Your Love, Super Bass and Starships each one reaching positions in the charts. She revolutionized female rapping and contributed immensely to Dancepop.
5. Bruno Mars
Mars was a breath of fresh air in 2010, as his Pop music was reminiscent of the retro and classic styles of the yesteryears. He brought in elements from Disco, Doo-Wop and retro R&B popular during the 70s and 80s. With flair similar to Michael Jackson and a style similar to Boney-M, pop culture was got a revamped look. Focusing on the genre of Pop as it was back in the day, Mars ensured that his introduction of the bygone elements would be incorporated into the decade as it unfolded.
6. Katy Perry
She started off as a rebel with I Kissed A Girl storming the charts in 2008. Her second studio album Teenage Dream spawned 5 No.1 hits – California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Firework, E.T. and Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.). Her predominance over the global charts in the early 2010s paved the way for a heavily Pop-influenced decade. She ensured that the pure essence of Pop as it had developed up to that point with its up-tempo, upbeat and light style survived the manipulation of the genre by other artists.
7. Tinie Tempah
He is the Prince of Grime with his own unique style of rapping. His debut single Pass Out was an overnight No.1 hit followed by back to back hits such as Written In The Stars, Wonderman and Frisky. He is the most wanted rapper by EDM artists be it House, Progressive House or Hip House. He has the credit for bringing rapping on EDM songs into the mainstream as his collaboration with Swedish House Mafia on Miami 2 Ibiza became an international hit and proved that it is not only powerful vocals that is needed to accompany EDM.
8. Taylor Swift
Before the reigning Princess of Pop made her strategic genre switch, she was ruling the Country music scene. Her debut studio album Taylor Swift was pure Country while her second album Fearless proved that she was ambitious and was aiming for a much bigger audience. Fearless spawned the hits Love Story and You Belong With Me while her third album Speak Now also produced hits such as Mean, Back to December and Mine. Her dominance over the Country charts encouraged and paved the way for young female musicians to inspire to break into the mainstream from whatever genre.
9. Adele
As the Queen of Soul, she introduced Blues and Soul into mainstream Pop. She proved to the industry that depth can still remain in music while everything else is changing and that slow music still has more than a niche market in the mainstream. She achieved success with her debut studio album 19 in the latter stages of the 2000s. However, with her second album 21 made it a point that Soul is here to stay and will form part of the major genres of the decade. Her hit single Rolling In The Deep in 2010 is one of the best-selling singles of all time breaking multiple records at the time.
10. Flo Rida
He is the King of Hip-Hop especially when it comes to dance music. His 2008 megahit Low made the relatively unknown rapper, instantly famous. His big follow up to Low was Right Round which cemented his presence in the industry. He has shown time and time again that his music is extremely versatile and that his adaptation skills are even better. At the initial stages of the 2010s he too shifted like Pitbull and featured major artists in his songs and then began venturing into Dancepop and EDM to solidify the dance music genre of the decade.
Some may wonder why certain
artists missed the top 10. The reason to exclude particular artists is due to
the fact that they were extremely popular during the 2000s and were established
artists from the early 2000s and more or less had defined their genres by that time.
These include artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna,
Shakira, Eminem, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé and Kanye West and
the groups such as Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas and OneRepublic. Then there are
those who had their peak in the 2000s but are still in the industry in the
2010s such as Sean Paul, Jay Sean, Sean Kingston, Nelly Furtado, Christina
Aguilera, Gwen Stefani and Akon.
Then there are the artists who
entered the mainstream at the beginning of the decade but never made a significant
impact to the genre from the inception like those listed above such as Avicii, Calvin
Harris, Ellie Goulding, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Drake, Jason Derulo and
Justin Bieber. Then we have artists like Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Meghan
Trainor, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, One Direction, Fifth Harmony and Little Mix who
entered the industry too late to make it to the list.
P.S. – One artist who did make
a huge impact at the beginning of the decade was Kesha (formerly known as
Ke$ha). However, since her legal battle with Dr. Luke she has all but
disappeared from the industry and the ones on the list are those who are still
in the industry. If she does sort out her issues and do make a comeback (as we
all hope) then she will definitely be added on to this compilation (and most
probably within the top tier).
Till the next beat...
At Ease!!!
