Matt's Books and Music

[This post is part of a large project in which I am going through the popular music released in each year. Please see the note at the bottom of the post re: omissions and limitations.]

Introduction

2012 is the year that 2010s music finally feels like 2010s music. You have Taylor Swift’s shift towards pop in Red, Lana Del Rey’s breakout (and most mainstream to date) album Born to Die, and Carly Rae Jepsen exploding onto the scene with Kiss, led of course by the viral, and irrepressible, “Call Me Maybe.” But outside pop, there’s also the emergence of Emeli Sande in the R&B space, and strong outings from Nicki Minaj and Imagine Dragons in rap and rock respectively.

Top 10 Albums

1. Red (Taylor Swift): There’s a certain moment in “I Knew You Were Trouble” that people have called ‘the bass drop that changed everything’, signalling the start of Swift’s transition to pop, which was fulfilled in her next album, 1989. Unfortunately that leaves Red feeling a bit incoherent, with classic country ballads sitting next to country-rock jams sitting next to pop bops. Its defenders would argue that this matches the wild mood swings of heartbreak, which is the album’s major theme. For me, it’s a funny album in that it’s far from one of my favourite Taylor albums and yet it features so many great songs (the original “All Two Well,” “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” “22,” “Red,” and “State of Grace” to name a few), it ends up being far and a way the top album of the year for me, despite having a lot of misses too.
2. Born to Die (Lana Del Rey): It’s considered to be basic for Born to Die to be your favourite Lana album, but in this case I’m very okay with being basic. Making pop music — music that is accessible and infectious and fun to listen to — is not a bad thing, and here Lana Del Rey shows that she can do it as well as anybody, when she wants to. Eight songs from the album made my best of the year playlist.
3. Harmony (Serena Ryder): Perhaps a bit off the beaten path, I stand by this deep album by Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder. With eight songs on my best-of-the-year playlist, and four in the top fifteen, this was lightning in a bottle.
4. Strangeland (Keane): By 2012 standards, Keane was a quirky indie band, but in the early ‘80s their sound would have been right in the centre of rock, reminiscent of iconic artists like Journey and Loverboy. Led by songs like “Day Will Come,” “On the Road,” and “The Starting Line,” this album rocks.
5. Kiss (Carly Rae Jepsen): This album is far more than the insidious viral bop that launched it all, “Call Me Maybe.” It’s upbeat, youthful, infectious, and really everything we want from a pop album.
6. The Origin of Love (MIKA): Always weird and always wonderful, this album from the ever-quirky MIKA is what the ‘cool pop’ kids were listening to.
7. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (Nicki Minaj): As someone who respects but doesn’t often love rap, it’s remarkable that this album fared so well. But with such great songs as “Pound the Alarm,” “Starships,” and even “Marilyn Monroe,” this high place is deserved.
8. Night Visions (Imagine Dragons): It’s a truth universally acknowledged that nothing is as ‘lame’ as what was popular ten years ago. And Imagine Dragons is caught in that space right now, more often ridiculed than celebrated. But in a decade dominated by pop music and ‘stomp clap’ indie rock, they had a really strong run in more more traditional rock, and this is the album that started it all, led by singles like “Radioactive” and “Demons.”
9. Our Version of Events (Emeli Sandé): While her later career has been firmly in the more mature sounds of contemporary R&B and jazz vocals, Our Version of Events brought Emeli Sandé to the edge of pop stardom. Three songs — “Next to Me,” “Where I Sleep,” and “Heaven” — are all timers for me.
10. Picture Show (Neon Trees): The 80s retro rock stylings of album should not be underestimated. While “Everybody Talks” is the song everybody talks about, don’t sleep on “Mad Love,” and “Moving in the Dark.”

Other Albums of Note

• Electra Heart (Marina and the Diamonds): I loved Marina’s previous album The Family Jewels, so was excited to listen to this one. Unfortunately, while it’s arguably her most popular album among her fans, it didn’t work quite as well for me.
• DNA (Little Mix): The UK has become famous for its girl groups, and few have been bigger than Little Mix. This is their first full album and it shows a lot of promise of things to come.
• The Heist (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis): Probably nothing says 2010s more than a popular album getting caught up in a racial controversy that really had nothing to do with it. But, while there was definitely more serious rap music out there deserving of praise than this album that is only a short step away from being ‘white guy novelty rap,’ it’s a fun album with infectious singles that perfectly captured the spirit of the times.

Top 10 Songs

1. “All Too Well” (Taylor Swift): While the hype the ten-minute version of this song released in 2021 is absolutely deserved, there’s a reason this original version was the Swifties’ collective favourite song. This more concise version is less angry and remains an iconic distillation of complex (and yes, toxic) relationships. (Favourite line: “So you call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being ‘honest’”)
2. “Everybody Talks” (Neon Trees): A note-perfect, retro punk pop anthem about gossip. (Favourite lyric: “Hey, baby, won’t you look my way? / I can be your new addiction”)
3. “For You” (Serena Ryder): A lot of Serena Ryder’s music resides comfortably in the singer-songwriter parts of indie music, so I was blown away when she released this song that sounds more like a torch song from a Bond movie soundtrack than anything else. (Favourite lyric: “I could see it in your eyes / A hello and no goodbye”)
4. “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jepsen): This song rose from obscurity to viral ubiquity thanks to a social media post by Justin Bieber (of all people). Unlike so many other viral sensations, there was substance behind the gimmick, though, and the song holds up as being more than an earworm. (Favourite lyric: “I’d trade my soul for a wish, / Pennies and dimes for a kiss / I wasn’t looking for this, / But now you’re in my way”)
5. “What I Wouldn’t Do” (Serena Ryder): The driving, percussive production elevates this sappy love song into something special. (Favourite lyric: “Oh, the things I never noticed / Opened my ears to the chorus”)
6. “Wide Awake” (Katy Perry): For an artist known for silly, lighthearted songs, this song about waking up to the realities of a toxic relationship is surprisingly beautiful, both in its music and its message. (Favourite lyric: “Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high”)
7. “Please, Baby, Please” (Serena Ryder): One of the most heartbreaking songs about heartbreak and longing you’ll ever hear. (Favourite lyric: “And you know I’m trying to be better / I don’t know what I’m doing that for”)
8. “This Is What Makes Us Girls” (Lana Del Rey): This is an out-of-left-field pick for my favourite song from this stellar album, but that’s the thing about deep albums: there’s quality that can be easily overlooked. This is a great song about being young — and the ways women betray each other. (Favourite lyric: “This is what makes us girls / We don’t stick together ’cause we put love first”)
9. “National Anthem” (Lana Del Rey): The soaring production on this always hits. (Favourite lyric: “Tell me I’m your national anthem”)
10. “Elle me dit” (MIKA): This song is pure fun; I dare you to listen to it and not dance in your chair. But it also has surprisingly moving lyrics about pushing a friend out of his bubble (and maybe even closet). (Favourite lyric: “Pourquoi tu gâches ta vie? / Elle me dit danse” [‘Why are you wasting your life?’ / She tells me: ‘Dance!’])

Other Songs of Note

• “Brokenhearted” (Karmin): It’s a real shame the duo Karmin broke up over differences in creative direction, because this song at the intersection of pop and rap is great and offered a legitimate path to wonderful success.
• “Move in the Right Direction” (Gossip): Critics could say this is a knock-off “Born This Way”, but for me this is a much better queer empowerment anthem. And, coming at a time when I was pushing through my own coming out journey, it meant, and means, a lot.
• “Oblivion” (Grimes): Grimes mostly does very experimental, non-commercial music. This is the song where she came closest to the mainstream, and it’s great.

Most Surprising Inclusion

• “Speed the Collapse” (Metric): It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when this Canadian indie band was expected to be the next big thing in rock. This song shows why, even though I think it’s been largely forgotten.

Notable Song that Missed the Cut

• “Locked Out of Heaven” (Bruno Mars): I fully expected this to be somewhere on my playlist, but it turns out I just didn’t like it very much.

[Note: It’s of course impossible to listen to everything, so while I’ve tried to be as comprehensive as possible, omissions are inevitable. For consistency’s sake, I’ve gone with the year music was released, rather than when it became popular. Any ratings or rankings are my own and entirely subjective. This has nothing to do with objective quality but is simply reflective of my personal taste.]