"Freak like me" by "The Sugababes" is the greatest "Pop" song of the last 20 years

[Steel Icarus]

Trick question. McGuffin and Higgins were both far too mainstream.

But overshadowed for wildness by Ruddy Yurts on the three sessions they did in 1975 etc etc

 

[Aladdin]

Yes
I'm sorta thinking about mass appeal and poppiness. Stan's downbeat, not pop really, Lose yourself has a great pop chorus plus Dido isn't on it

Well I beg to differ
Stan was massive over here. With people who were not rap fans or hip hop fans.
And Dido was really popular...but then again she was Irishy.

 

[killer b]

That Icona Pop song is great, just overplayed for me cos it's on the Need For Speed: Most Wanted soundtrack

I'd more or less forgotten about it til last summer when there was a local gay pride event in town that my daughter wanted to go to - it was more like a outdoor disco n the rain for tween girls when we got there. They played it during a particularly heavy spell of rain and there was something really brilliant about a few hundred kids all going wild to it in a torrential downpour.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Cause the thread is supposed to be about the best pop music of the last 20 years, not the best pop music of 15-20 years ago.

The last year I really paid proper attention to the pop charts was 2013

 

[Spandex]

More Miley:

 

[alsoknownas]

Doja Cat's version is clearly superior:

 

[planetgeli]

Lose yourself has a great pop chorus plus Dido isn't on it

Nice when mixed with Punjabi mc

 

[tommers]

More Miley:

Yes. This song is great. Just wasn't sure it was Pop.

Bit country innit.

 

[killer b]

that's 7 years ago frank. I do have some more up to date things, but they're just what my kids have heard on tiktok and play over and over on youtube - I'm not sure the charts or what they play on Radio 1 are as much a significant guide to pop as they used to be.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I'd more or less forgotten about it til last summer when there was a local gay pride event in town that my daughter wanted to go to - it was more like a outdoor disco n the rain for tween girls when we got there. They played it during a particularly heavy spell of rain and there was something really brilliant about a few hundred kids all going wild to it in a torrential downpour.

That's brilliant

I had a similar experience on my last day working at a secondary school - I was leaving to look after newborn daughter and there was a last day of school disco for the year 11s in the hall. Human by The Killers came on and every kid went bananas, shouting all the words, and I thought it was fantastic and bittersweet but also that the song had obviously "cut through"

 

[Spandex]

Yes. This song is great. Just wasn't sure it was Pop.

Bit country innit.

Got to no. 2 in the UK charts = pop

 

[editor]

I love pop music. Half of the songs in this list I've probably DJd at my gigs!

 

[scifisam]

Icona Pop is a fantastic choice. There has been loads of great pop in the last twenty years when you look back.

KillerB - small town Prides are great. I once played at Stoke Pride, which was not exactly a huge event in around 2008, and a lot of local teenage goths turned up. They were the most cheerful goths you've ever seen. They went wild to all the really cheerful pop and jumped around on the bouncy castle in full-on 80s style goth gear.

Well I beg to differ
Stan was massive over here. With people who were not rap fans or hip hop fans.
And Dido was really popular...but then again she was Irishy.

That's not what pop means. Pavarotti has had at least one number one single in the UK but he wasn't singing pop.

 

[killer b]

This is my favourite pop song my kids play off of tiktok anyway:



this is really good too - I don't think it's ever got in the charts but 12 year olds fucking love it and it's got millions and millions of plays on youtube

 

[Sweet FA]

Yes. This song is great. Just wasn't sure it was Pop.

Bit country innit.

Pop. Though I think Wrecking Ball's better.

 

[Sweet FA]

This is my favourite pop song my kids play off of tiktok anyway:



this is really good too - I don't think it's ever got in the charts but 12 year olds fucking love it and it's got millions and millions of plays on youtube

There are loads that I'd not heard of outside tiktok.

 

[Sweet FA]

There is a also lot of er I don't what you call it but it's self-described as being a chill emo rap vibe, some of which is kind of lovely.

 

[Favelado]

there is a slight edge of tragedy to a load of middle aged men arguing about what the best pop song of their 20s was.

Get off the thread then.

 

[killer b]

Get off the thread then.

I'm cool with tragic - I'm on here arguing about pop music when it's blazing outside after all.

 

[Favelado]

If we're going more current. I liked "New Rules" by Dua Lipa quite a lot. I think that pop/RnB stuff from early 2000s is probably going to be remembered for all time the same way Motown is. Jerkins Timbaland Neptunes no ordinary producers. Plus some age bias as well.

 

[killer b]

I guess it's natural to hark back to what was big when we were young tbh, and there are barriers to getting a handle on what's good atm because kids - and what kids are into is what defines pop really - have whole ecosystems for finding out about music which we don't have easy access to. Agree that the early 00s were something of a golden age though, mind.

 

[weltweit]

 

[Favelado]

I guess it's natural to hark back to what was big when we were young tbh, and there are barriers to getting a handle on what's good atm because kids - and what kids are into is what defines pop really - have whole ecosystems for finding out about music which we don't have easy access to. Agree that the early 00s were something of a golden age though, mind.

I was already sort of old then as well. I was 18 in 1995. I'm not defending Cast or Northern Uproar. There is a filter there. That was definitely a time when incredible music crossed over to the mainstream.

 

[killer b]

I'm not defending Cast or Northern Uproar.

that was a dark time.

 

[Aladdin]

 

[belboid]

that was a dark time.

Fine Time is a, uhhh, fine pop tune

 

[Aladdin]

 

[Sweet FA]

I guess it's natural to hark back to what was big when we were young tbh, and there are barriers to getting a handle on what's good atm because kids - and what kids are into is what defines pop really - have whole ecosystems for finding out about music which we don't have easy access to. Agree that the early 00s were something of a golden age though, mind.

We've been doing one of those 'song a day' things via WhatsApp with family. 4 x old bastards, 1 x 17 yo, 2 x 15 yo, 1 x 13 yo. Some of the my old bastards' tunes were perfect and eruditely chosen, the 2 boys (17 & 15) were fairly predictable reflections of parents' tastes (Oasis/Leftfield/Les Negresses Vertes), the two girls (15 & 13) had way more interesting taste. Or maybe I just hadn't heard of most of them.

I did a separate Spotify playlist for their tunes:

 

[Aladdin]

 

[Aladdin]