2015 in: Music

If you don’t have me on your Facebook, you wouldn’t know I’m embarking on a ‘2015 in’ series, reviewing the year in terms of five different categories. Starting today, I bring to you everything that this year had to offer- the good, the bad and the indelible. We start the countdown with the Music Industry. Let’s play a fun game. Grab a bottle of vodka. (And Pepsi or whatever if you’re below 18. Stay in school kids). Everytime you read the word ‘million’ below, take a sip. Let me get you started- million, million, million. (Now that you’re a little tipsy, you’ll probably find this article a little more bearable). 
1. ‘Pick up the Phone already’
On 23rd October 2015, the world skipped a heartbeat. When Adele said ‘Hello’, everyone listened. And responded. With 27 million views in a day. The reason I love Adele besides the fact that she’s the queen of melody is how she’s not in the news while on sabbatical. She doesn’t employ low PR tactics to stay in the news or stay ‘relevant’. She drops an album once every couple of years and slays our existence. Her album ’25’ is pitted to be the largest selling album of ALL TIME. 

  

2. ‘The Weeknd’s here!’
Call me late to the party but the first time I heard of The Weeknd was when he collaborated with Ariana Grande on ‘Love me Harder’ and then with Sia on ‘Elastic Heart’. And then ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ happened. Followed by ‘Hills’. Just those two videos, managed to get a combined total of 760 million views. It makes me happy to see critically acclaimed musicians achieve commercial success and making waves at award ceremonies. His performance at the VS fashion show was mad. It’s very rare that you have supermodels strutting in lingerie and one ends up swooning over a performer! There’s nothing to ignore, his voice, his lyrics and most of all, his hair. It’s like his weave is at war with itself. 

  

3. ‘Comeback King’
Justin Bieber has always been a magnet for attention. Ever since he broke onto the scene with ‘My World’ 6 years ago (yes, you’re really old). But the focus has always been on his love life, his off-the-record antics and his misbehaviour- whether it was peeing in a bucket (control your urges, dude) or throwing water balloons at state troopers (he could just come to India for Holi?) he’s had his share of incidents, to put it politely. ‘Where are you Now’ released but expectedly the Bieber haters were crediting Skrillex and Diplo with the success of the number. And then ‘What do you Mean’ dropped. And then ‘Sorry’ dropped. And then ‘Love Yourself’ dropped. I think I broke the ‘replay’ button. I wish he keeps reinventing himself and staying out of trouble. 

  

4. ‘YouTube Sensations’
So if you know me, you know I love YouTube. I’ve been following youtubers since 2012 and it makes me particularly happy when I see them sign recording labels. It’s like the baby bird is ready to fly into the world. Ever since Charlie Puth released his ‘Chandelier’ cover in mid-2014, everybody knew he was here to stay. He soared new heights with ‘See You Again’ and ‘Marvin Gaye’ this year, the former hitting a billion views on YT. His lip-lock with Meghan Trainor was officially the No. 1 WTF moment of the AMA’s too. What are you doing with your life if you haven’t seen it. Troye Sivan too, released his first Album- Blue Neighbourhood later this year, shunning all his homophobic bullies. He also made the most adorable appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show. 

  

5. ‘Bling and Nae-Nae’
If you haven’t heard of either of these songs, shame on you! Silentó dropped his debut track ‘Watch me’ on June 25th and I honestly don’t know how, but it managed to scale all kinds of heights with its own remixes, renditions and parodies, my favourite being the one with a trio of ‘nuns’ dancing to the song. It had ‘whipping’, ‘nae-naeing’, ‘bopping’, ‘breaking’ and a lot of other dance steps I hadn’t even heard of. Similarly, ‘Hotline Bling’ by Drake achieved stardom not for its critical appreciation (LOL) but for its impact on pop culture. The music video was initially released on October 19th via Apple and later on his Vevo channel on YT, a week later. It features Drake trying to dance but ending up looking eerily similar to a spider on a hot plate. I’m sorry but there is nothing more accurate than that. Honestly though, if I hear either of these songs at a party or on TV, I will slit my ears. 

  

6. ‘Swift-ie Swirlie’
I don’t know why Taylor Swift isn’t the president of the world or anything equivalent to that. She became the highest followed person on Instagram with 59.5 million followers, dethroning *drum roll* Kim Kardashian. Onto more accomplished achievements, she released three singles- ‘Style’, ‘Bad Blood’, and ‘Wildest Dreams’ from her ‘1989’ album. She popularised ‘Squad Goals’ but let’s be honest, we can’t even compare our squads with hers. Not when there are four Victoria’s Secret models, two platinum musicians, a reality star and most importantly, Ed Sheeran. My ‘squad’ eats at McDonald’s, discusses fan fiction and calls each other fat. But why I love Taylor Swift is because she’s taught all of us to reach out to people in our field of work. She’s never afraid of making friends with people she’s competing with, she’s always supportive of the people she’s associated with. 

  

Those were the most memorable moments in Music for me! I’m pretty sure I’ve left out a lot of things, and I targeted the Pop genre. No hard feeling so. Tell me what I missed, and what moment you felt was most memorable! Please rememeber you don’t need to be a WordPress account holder/blogger to leave behind a comment! I’ll be back to tomorrow with another category. Feedback always appreciated. 
You can check my last post where I wrote about skin shaming: https://akashakumar.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/whos-the-fairest-of-them-all/