{"id":20774,"date":"2013-12-29T08:38:37","date_gmt":"2013-12-29T13:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=20774"},"modified":"2013-12-29T10:32:44","modified_gmt":"2013-12-29T15:32:44","slug":"song-of-the-year-robin-thicke-vs-lorde-vs-ylvis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/song-of-the-year-robin-thicke-vs-lorde-vs-ylvis\/","title":{"rendered":"Song of the Year: Robin Thicke VS. Lorde VS. Ylvis<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had mixed feelings about pitting three songs up for Song of The Year<\/strong> instead of the usual two, but this was an unusually strong year in pop music. And when I say strong I\u2019m referring to quantity and not quality. Yet, some would have thought that with the breakup of the Jonas Brothers (?)<\/strong> and the lead-ballooning of Lady GaGa\u2019s Artpop<\/em><\/a> and Justin Timberlake\u2019s 20\/20 Experience<\/em><\/a>, the four horsemen of the Pop Is Dead Apocalypse<\/em> would be riding up and down the aisles at this year\u2019s American Music Awards<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>No, we had respectable, albeit retro \u201chits\u201d from Daft Punk\u2019s “Get Lucky”<\/a> and “Treasure”<\/a> by the beta version of the hardest working man in showbiz Bruno Mars<\/strong>. That\u2019s where the good news ends because for the most part the radio sliced and served more moronic dancy nonsense like Macklemore\/Ryan Lewis’ “Can\u2019t Hold Us”<\/a>, fey losers Passenger\u2019s “Let Her Go”<\/a>, and by the numbers collaborations from Pitbull<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"thicke\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet, none of those songs could hold an iPhone lamp to the song of the summer (and NSFW video<\/a> of the year) \u201cBlurred Lines\u201d<\/a>, which itself blurred the lines between tribute and theft of the Marvin Gaye<\/strong> song \u201cGot To Give It Up\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>It was reported that the songwriters, fearing a lawsuit, lobbed a pre-emptive strike<\/a> against any potential copyright issue coming from Marvin Gaye\u2019s estate.\u00a0<\/span>But as we all know good influence can be diluted, especially after being filtered through the soul of the son of that Canadian guy<\/a> who played the dad on Growing Pains<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>In the right hands (Pharell<\/strong> should have taken the lead on this one) the song could have been decent.\u00a0U<\/span>nfortunately, Thicke<\/strong> handles the song with all the charisma of a pizza delivery man in a porn shoot.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the trend of the smug acoustic back to earth music that started with Mumford & Sons continued unabated this year with the addition of The Lumineers<\/a> and Civil Wars<\/a> to the fold.\u00a0<\/span>Another trend that won\u2019t die is the positive affirmation anthem that started a couple years ago with GaGa\u2019s \u201cBorn This Way\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Continuing this movement on radio and television in ubiquity were Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cRoar\u201d<\/a> and Sara Barreille\u2019s \u201cBrave\u201d<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Yet there was room for another female voice of power, but no one knew it would come from an unassuming 17 year old from Australia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Lorde\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The subject matter of Lorde\u2019s<\/strong> breakout single “Royals”<\/a> wasn’t necessarily out of left field. With the birth of Prince George<\/strong> and television shows such as Game of Thrones<\/strong> and Reign<\/strong> resonating with young people an anthem of the times surely wasn\u2019t far away.\u00a0<\/span>While the song was not necessarily the most successful single of the year it was certainly the biggest hit worldwide by cracking the Top 10 on the pop charts in over 15 countries. With its instrumentation at a minimum, the hook became its lyrics. The earworm chorus had strange effect on listeners with everyday people on subway cars or buses suddenly blurting out the chorus\u2019 call back words<\/a> \u201croyals\u201d, \u201cruler\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll rule\u201d.<\/em> The song stands in stark contrast to the human hashtag Miley Cyrus<\/strong> who had a chance to redeem herself with “Wrecking Ball” <\/a>but fell on her own sword with her twerking antics<\/em> and ratchet culture <\/em>copping at the MTV Video Music Awards.\u00a0<\/span>The performance was confusingly derided by African American activists who condemned Cyrus for stealing an embarrassing cultural identity most black would like to forget.\u00a0<\/span>Which is not important to Lorde<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>Despite a year of absolutely horrifying<\/strong> fist in the air songs by Imagine Dragons<\/a> and Avicii<\/a>, Lorde unintentionally carved out a new anthem for Millennials<\/strong>. Yet no one knew that the \u201cnext big thing\u201d to conquer the pop culture landscape would come from the Kingdom of Norway<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"ylvis\"<\/a>Not unlike previous pop song of the year contenders Rebecca Black<\/strong> and Psy<\/strong>, an annual review of the year\u2019s pop songs wouldn\u2019t be complete without an internet sensation. \u201cThe Fox (What Does The Fox Say)\u201d <\/a>by the Norwegian comedy duo known as Ylvis<\/strong> was the surprise hit of the year not only on YouTube<\/strong> (over 300,000,000 views) but every other facet of pop culture.\u00a0<\/span>But how does a parody of modern dance songs become itself a modern pop hit? I don\u2019t have the answer.\u00a0<\/span>All I know is that the song still cracks me up after over thirty views. Perhaps they, along with Flight of The Conchords have tapped into a new reserve of comedy\/parody songs that might spawn a full blown revitalization of the genre. My fear is that, if this should happen its imitators will not be as clever.\u00a0But all that is not important now because<\/span> i<\/span>n 2013<\/strong>, the elephant definitely \u201cgoes toot\u201d. “<\/strong><\/span>The Fox”<\/strong> gets my vote for song of the year.\u00a0What say you?<\/p>\n

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Who scored 2013's Song of the Year: Robin Thicke, Lorde, Ylvis?<\/strong><\/p>