MUSIC

The Top 10 Most Influential Albums of the 2010s

These albums not only shaped the past decade: they'll determine what music will be in the coming one.

Photo by: Kelvin Lutan / Unsplash

Music has never been extricable from culture, but in the 2010s, it became crystal clear that music has the ability to shatter norms and reshape the world.

Take a moment and think back to the albums that changed your life over the past decade. Most likely, they altered your worldview on a fundamental level, reshaping the way you saw yourself and your life. Some albums are capable of doing that on a massive scale, and that's what this list is intended to highlight: Albums that managed to shift the way people saw music, culture, and themselves, and that paved the way for what music might become.

10. Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar - Alrightwww.youtube.com

Poet and firebrand Kendrick Lamar creates music that's both timeless and entirely of its time. To Pimp A Butterfly was Kendrick at his most inspired and radioactive. It cut into the pain and rage and hope of an era and a community and a person, and collapsed time into a tangle of sound and memory that reviewers and listeners will be playing and attempting to understand for decades.

It made an indelible impact, becoming a juggernaut and an easy name-drop, but fortunately, To Pimp A Butterfly searingly addresses all the trappings of fame, shallow understanding, and commodification that follow it, retaining an indomitable inner life.

9. BTS — Map of the Soul: Persona

BTS (방탄소년단) MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA 'Persona' Comeback Trailerwww.youtube.com

The 2010s were the era that K-pop entered the global theatre, and nobody dominated more than BTS. Their album Map of the Soul: Persona may not have been critically lauded, but it was legendary in the hearts and minds of their fans.

Map of the Soul: Persona was glittery boy-band pop, pristine and starry-eyed. Rolling Stone described it as "harmless" and "impregnable," but BTS fans are not harmless, and neither is K-pop, but what this band is is unavoidable, pervasive, and larger-than-life. To ignore the impact of BTS would be to miss a massive portion of the 2010s and to remain blind to what the 2020s will hold, which is a far more globalized music industry that, no matter what, will always, always have its beloved boy bands.

8. Carly Rae Jepsen — E•MO•TION

Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Mewww.youtube.com

Jepsen's seminal debut album gained her a cult of devoted fans and spread a wide-eyed sense of pop optimism across the 2010s. Just what about E•MO•TION was so singular, so moving, so unforgettable? As Jia Tolentino wrote, "Carly Rae Jepsen is a pop artist zeroed in on love's totipotency: the glance, the kaleidoscope-confetti-spinning instant, the first bit of nothing that contains it all." As one Twitter user insinuated, "Carly Rae Jepsen's E•MO•TION is for all the gays in a healthy relationship for the first time."

Electric Lit argued that with E•MO•TION, Jepsen ushered in a "queer renaissance," one that exists because her music occupies a familiar feeling: "the struggle to express a desire that isn't supposed to exist." From the raw ecstasy of "Run Away With Me" to the dreamy chaos of "LA Hallucinations," Jepsen's music is desperate to bridge the gap between the self and others, to leave behind loneliness, to cut straight to the feeling; and in that, it left an indelible impact for those who were there to experience its majesty.

7. Lana Del Rey — Born To Die

Lana Del Rey - Born To Die (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com

Lana Del Rey is, rightfully, credited with ushering in the wave of sad-girl pop that is still going strong, thanks to artists like Halsey, Billie Eilish, and of course, Del Rey herself. The artist formerly known as Lizzy Grant emerged onto the scene as a cyborgian, hyper-manufactured industry plant refracted through a vintage DIY filter, and now she's one of the voices of her generation, whispering platitudes on America and sex and sadness in the same breath.

Born To Die was Del Rey at her most manufactured, her most glittery, her must luxurious and opulent and depressed, and it's beautiful in its decay. Its kitschy Americana held no bars, and from its nihilistic title track to the sultry "Blue Jeans"to the weird glamour of "Off To the Races," it effectively spawned an entire generation of flower-crowned teens who are now sad Trump-hating adults.

6. Lady Gaga — Born This Way

Lady Gaga - Born This Waywww.youtube.com

Lady Gaga might not have the clout she did at the beginning of the 2010s, but back in the day, Gaga was a wild card and game-changer, crushing norms, changing fashion, and standing up for the LGBTQ+ community. She was proudly weird and always daring, and she created a whole space for weird pop stars after her. She blended drag, burlesque, and shock-factor performance with genuinely catchy pop, and created a new blueprint for stardom in the process.

Born This Way was arguably her crown jewel, the point where she blossomed into the true freak she'd been waiting to become. It had the ecstatic "You and I" and "Edge of Glory." It marked an era where pop music became inextricable from its visual component and political implications—not that it ever really was.

5. Lizzo — Cuz I Love You

Lizzo - Truth Hurts (Official Video)www.youtube.com

Most likely, Lizzo will be even bigger in the 2020s; after all, she only just released her major label debut album. But Lizzo has already changed the game, creating space for a type of beauty and confidence that pop stars before her have only played at or insinuated. From her refusal to tolerate inadequate men to her willingness to rock thongs at baseball games and her decision to pay tribute to the great women who paved the way for her, at this point, Lizzo might be our best hope for the future.

Cuz I Love You synthesized the hits Lizzo had been building up for years, twining them into a euphoric testament to self-love in spite of a world that teaches you to hate yourself. From the celebratory "Good As Hell" to the buoyant mic-drop that is "Truth Hurts," the album is a gift to us all.

4. Lil Nas X — 7 (EP)

Lil Nas X - Old Town Road (Official Movie) ft. Billy Ray Cyruswww.youtube.com

Lil Nas X's fantastic "Old Town Road" was the perfect conflagration of factors that hit at exactly the right time. It was also supremely, unbelievably catchy. Using memes, blurring genres, buying beats off SoundCloud, coming out on Twitter and being open about how he made "Old Town Road" while sleeping on his sister's couch, Lil Nas caught us all in our heartstrings and created a blueprint for music's undeniably post-genre and multimedia future.

X's EP, "7," wasn't a high-quality work so much as it was a cultural flashpoint, an inspiration that no doubt has marketing executives scrambling to replicate it.

3. Billie Eilish — when we all fall asleep, where do we go?

Billie Eilish - bad guywww.youtube.com

Billie Eilish is changing the game in terms of what pop music can sound like and how pop stars should act. Any producer who attempts to drag pop songs into clear-cut and old-fashioned forms involving high notes and beat drops will find themselves challenged by the innovative, glitchy, challenging tunes that Eilish creates with her brother in their childhood home. Her refusal to fit into gender norms and her insistence on standing up for things like climate make her emblematic of what a future of Gen-Z stars might look like.

when we all fall asleep, where do we go? is a peculiar album. A lot of its songs don't even try for radio play, and some are so sad they can take your breath away. Some are barely whispers, like the moody "when the party's over," while others are cracked and angry and challenging, like the smash hit "bad guy," but all of it's undeniably unforgettable and boundary-breaking.

2. Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West - Runaway (Full-length Film)www.youtube.com

Provocative, raw, and almost bloody with emotion, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy continues to reverberate nearly 10 years after it was released. West's album is full of unexpected dips into guitar solos and alien sounds that draw it into new dimensions; it's peppered with cheesy lines, dirty jokes, and shockingly confessional lyrics; and no matter how far West has gone into Christianity, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an enduring ode to the devils we all know.

Its best songs, "All Of the Lights," "Devil In A New Dress" and "Runaway," explore what West has always been working through—the ragged edge where sin meets faith, and where success meets corruption. MBDTF sinks its teeth into the rough, infected parts of the world and creates something great out of them. Though we might not see West exploring this territory again, his work sparked an entire generation of artists looking to dive into the world he created.

1. Beyoncé — Lemonade

Beyoncé - Formationwww.youtube.com

Beyoncé's brilliant Lemonade has yet to be surpassed, even as other artists try to mirror her surprise video-drop format. Lemonade mixed poetry, visuals, and beautiful, kaleidoscopic music to form a treatise on freedom, love, black women's power, and of course, Jay-Z. It made an indelible impact on all the music that came after it, setting the standard for what a truly creative release could look and sound like.

From the harmony-laden "Pray You Catch Me" to the gritty Jack White duet "Don't Hurt Yourself" to the triumphant, anthemic "Freedom," Lemonade changed everything. We can only hope we'll see more like it in the 2020s.

MUSIC

The Most Disturbing Music Videos of All Time

It's Halloween, so if you wanna scare your friends, here is your chance.

Halloween is right around the corner, and while the music video art form is undergoing a transformation thanks to streaming, many of today's artists still rely on music videos to help elevate their music.

Sometimes, the results are horrifying. We all remember the day we were first exposed to Marilyn Manson's eerie music video for "The Beautiful People," or what we were doing when Tool's cartoonish depictions of rape in "Prison Sex" sent us all reeling. As shown by our list below, the music video format is one that can truly shock and awe, and while horror films are having their moment this week, let's revisit some of the most disturbing music videos in recent memory.

"A Little Piece of Heaven" By Avenged Sevenfold

The playful animation, musical skeletons, and goofy cut-outs quickly lull the viewer into a false sense of security, but the next thing you know, the video's protagonist is killing his girlfriend and viciously raping her rotting corpse. At one point he even purchases a heater to keep her body warm. The cartoonish nature elevates the disturbing narrative told by M. Shadows and will forever change the way we listen to this song.

MUSIC

Why Are Country Fans So Resistant to Genre Crossover?

Country fans call Lil Nas X a cultural appropriator. Is he?

Cowboy boots and 10-gallon-hats have reemerged as staple fashion choices. Kacey Musgraves' charisma and tight melodies beat out pop music kingpins Drake and Post Malone to clench Album of the Year at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

"Old Town Road," a debut from 19-year-old college dropout Lil Nas X, beat out a streaming record set by Drake and brought about a pop culture movement known as the "yeehaw agenda," which brings the idea of black cowboys and cowgirls into mainstream viewing. From Tyga and Cardi B to Mitski, Mac Demarco and Solange, a country music crossover revolution is in full swing. So why do Country fans continue to insist on exclusivity within their genre? The "yeehaw agenda" didn't unfold gracefully; country music fans resisted the genre's crossover into black culture at every conceivable turn, dismissing the trend as its own form of "cultural appropriation." Most recently, Wrangler Jeans came under intense scrutiny when they announced a collaborative line with Lil Nas X and were consequently accused of "taking the cowboy outta country." "Can't believe Wrangler stooped to that level," wrote a user on Twitter. "Stop trying to conform and stay loyal to your roots." In March, "Old Town Road" was removed from the Billboard Country charts because it allegedly "did not merit inclusion" in the Country charts. The song's removal sparked a debate surrounding racism in Country music and cowboy culture.


Despite popular culture welcoming the Yee Haw movement with (mostly) open arms, Country music as a whole still feels relatively inaccessible for those who don't religiously follow the genre and adhere to its strict guidelines. At last week's CMT music awards, Tanya Tucker and Brandi Carlile were joined on stage by multiple generations of Country women to subtly raise awareness for the lack of female representation in Country music. From Martina McBride to Carly Pearce, all 8 women on stage sang a rendition of Tucker's 1972 hit "Delta Dawn," which tells the story of a modern-day Mary Magdalene. Additionally, Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band told his haters to "f*** off" after winning video of the year; the send-off was to comment on ZBB's alleged departure from Country music circles. In the past, Brown has called the genre "predictable" and is often criticized for collaborating with artists who aren't strictly country. Country fans' agitations also peaked when Beyonce joined The Dixie Chicks on stage at 2016's CMT Awards, and again a month later when beloved duo Florida Georgia Line appeared to be anti-police by refusing security backstage at a show in Wisconsin—as if being anti-police would've been a bad thing when "52% of all the years of life lost [in 2015 and 2016] at the hands of police were lost by nonwhite, non-Hispanic ethnic groups." But that's a different argument altogether.

"Country, as a genre, is obsessed with notions of patriotism, of purity, of some nondescript American-ness," wrote The New Yorker. Yet as Country fans attempt time and time again to shove artists into the cookie cutters of a strict list of dated archetypes, the genre has naturally evolved to incorporate pop and R&B with or without the traditionalists in tow. Kelsea Ballerini's top song is a progressive house collaboration with The Chainsmokers. Maren Morris, who performed at this year's CMT awards and was nominated for Best Video, infuses pop melodies throughout her debut album, Girl, with tracks like "Flavor" and "Gold Love" seemingly devoid of Country-influence. Chris Stapleton, one of Country's biggest breakout stars in recent years, continually borrows influence from R&B and Southern Rock. "Musically he understands that 'country' is an inclusive label," writes Pitchfork. "One that uses the bristly twang of 1970's outlaw as its foundation but also covers the excitable R&B from Memphis...as well as the blues-based Southern rock of the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd."

Yet all the artists listed above have often cited Country music icons as their heroes and influencers, acknowledging and respecting the confines of the genre, therefore fostering a connection with conservative country hot-heads. Meanwhile, Lil Nas X admitted in a Rolling Stone interview that he had to "google Western terms," that he had never ridden a horse, and that "Old Town Road" was engineered for virality rather than to be a country song. Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Kid Cudi are his primary influences, and not once has he acknowledged that he listened to Country or was influenced by the genre. As shown by their brewing agitations, Country fans can only be so open-minded. "[The] country [music industry] is guarded," Lil Nas X said of the "Old Town Road" Billboard controversy. "You can have your country song with trap elements...if it's known by country artists, then it's allowed."

As Country fans continue to protest the genre's evolution, there is little they can do about the changing sound, with their protests mostly coming off as petty whining rather than concrete accusations of cultural appropriation. Whether the reluctance of country fans to accept the genre's crossover into black culture is due to racism or a simple fear of change, it seems there is little they can actually do to stop Country music from moving outside the tired confines of the antiquated genre.

CULTURE

Where Does Lil Nas X Go From Here?

What kids connect to today is more relevant than easy-to-swallow pop.

Lil Nas X (of "Old Town Road" fame) is refreshingly wholesome and unique, reminding us chart-topping music doesn't need to pander.

Charting for the ninth week in a row, "Old Town Road Remix" ft. Billy Ray Cyrus has been the song of the summer since it hit the charts in January. Instead of releasing new music, Lil Nas X is growing his fan base by releasing new memes and trolling himself and his haters. Better yet, he's giving his followers a glimpse of his life. Having recently moved into his first apartment, 20-year-old Montero Lamar Hill is unveiling enough of himself to seem like he's accessible. Gen Z and Millennials might seem to be glued to their phones, but really they want to be in the know. With his internet and musical success, it's hard to imagine Hill outside of the box he intentionally placed himself into: on our devices, on Twitter.

But the rapper hiding behind his phone has more to say than a joke. Teen Vogue's recent profile of Hill finally offered readers insight to the mind behind the hit song and Twitter account. In the interview, Hill admitted he originally had trouble finding his sound, mainly searching for ways to make his first EP, Nasarati, go viral. Between trap beats, tongue-in-cheek, and trending titles, the intention was clever, but ineffective. The reason? The heart wasn't there, so his voice and personality couldn't shine.

The standout song from Nasarati is "Carry On," which now has over 900k streams on SoundCloud. The lyrics of the overproduced track unveil a perspective most would not expect from the goofy rapper. Bobby Caldwell's '80s track carries us into the song, as Hill raps about his complicated family dynamics: "My grandma died / I shed some tears / my mama lied / she left me here." Being the youngest of six children, finally moving into his own apartment after the success of "Old Town Road" was a big step for Hill. He lived with his father most of his life, then his grandmother. After she passed, he moved in with his sister, who had several of his other siblings living with her as well.

Shifting from a "Carry On" mentality, Hill took a big leap from self-reflection to autonomy. His "can't nobody tell me nothing" persona speaks of a kid who's ready for big things. While the over-saturated music market is filled with try-hards, Hill recognizes that the difference between his failures and success come from his intention to gain attention. Yet, his sudden success seems too easy to some, to the point that people question whether he's an industry plant: a theory he then memed.

Lil Nas X and other successful musicians who grew up with and weaponize social media pose a conundrum for industry staples. What kids connect to today is more relevant than easy-to-swallow pop. Mass consumption in the past meant radio-friendly music. But new artists are going against the grain, digging deeper than catchy and stepping up with role model beliefs, without the squeaky clean image. Not only are they stars who wear designers, they use their platforms for important issues, too. But who Gen Zers listen to now is only a snapshot of what's to come.

The music industry has been able to reinvent itself successfully for the Internet age. Artists embrace streaming nowadays, but that doesn't mean labels aren't attempting to milk each song's worth. For example, Nicki's twenty track Queen was tacked onto her blood curdling single, "FEFE" (ft. 6ix9ine), to increase streams and sway album sales. But Lil Nas X has reversed that narrative, messing with fans and his management by joking about only releasing new remixes of "Old Town Road." So he gets on stage and sings the same song over and over again to the crowd's delight, but how long can that last?

Hill is aware that the juice will, in fact, run out, trolling his haters that he's not actually a one trick pony. If his recent music video tells us anything, it's that he has a vision.

The music video is both plot-driven and fun in ways we rarely get nowadays. Perhaps Hill's spotlight can last based on personality alone. Look at Doja Cat and Cardi B. Internet culture may blow up the music, but their talent keeps them around for a reason. While it's hard to predict where Hill's career will go, early fame tends to widen the net of inspiration and success for new artists. The work ethic involved in maintaining an online personality can come with random outbursts and deleted tweets, but Hill runs to the bank with it. Whether or not he'll be a meme-queen forever is up for debate, but his influences go beyond the bubble of country-trap.

When Billboard decided to remove "Old Town Road" from their country charts, a debate was sparked as to how we define genres and whether content (lyrics) alone can encapsulate the genre. Our culture is ever-shifting and ever-blending between different sound, stories, and ideas. Lil Nas X isn't exactly a pioneer, but his story is a conversation starter and reminder that the younger generations want to hear the unexpected. If Hill is as smart as he seems to be, he'll take his moment in the spotlight and turn it into a rich, genre-bending career.

Photo by Gene Devine on Unsplash

Billy Ray Cyrus' recent remix of Lil Nas X's track "Old Town Road" rekindled the fiery debate surrounding the controversial genre-defying track. If you're feeling confused about how Lil Nas X and the musical mind behind "Achy Breaky Heart" teamed up, keep reading.

In December of 2018, the yeehaw moment was in full swing. It was then that Lil Nas X first released "Old Town Road," and gained notoriety through the app Tik Tok. The genre-defying song––which combined elements of trap, country, and hip-hop with cowboy motifs––went on to debut on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, the Hot Country Songs chart, and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

But before Lil Nas X could bask in the song's cowboy splendor, Billboard removed the song from the country chart and cited the inclusion of the song as a mistake. This created a controversy online, where people began debating what exactly constitutes a country song, and to what extent race plays a role in that definition of the genre. Many pointed to some of country's biggest stars, like Kane Brown or Sam Hunt, who have long incorporated hip-hop and rap influences into their music as indications that the exclusion of Lil Nas X was perhaps racially charged.

Billboard didn't announce the takedown of the track, but went on to release a statement to Rolling Stonestating, "While 'Old Town Road' incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today's country music to chart in its current version."

But despite the exclusion from the country charts, OTR continued to gain momentum, get air time on radio stations and reach peak viral status online. The original video, posted on YouTube, has garnered over 23 million views.

Just when you thought things couldn't get any more tangled, Billy Ray Cyrus threw his cowboy hat into the rink. Cyrus is no stranger to the gatekeepers of country. In a tweet on April 3rd, he commiserated: ".@LilNasX Been watching everything going on with OTR. When I got thrown off the charts, Waylon Jennings said to me "Take this as a compliment" means you're doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!"

On December 4th, 2018 Lil Nas X tweeted "twitter please help me get billy ray cyrus on this" and four months later, his wish came true. On April 5th, the song reached #1 on i-Tunes, and the remix video was #1 on Youtube's trending chart.

On April 4th, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus officially dropped the new "Old Town Road" remix, and everyone is going absolutely going nuts over it. Not only is it the most glorious, ridiculous combination of artists on one of the most controversial tracks of the year, but Billy Ray's verse goes absolutely off.

Listen to the remix below.


Sara is a music and culture writer who lives in Brooklyn. Her work has previously appeared in PAPER magazine and Stereogum.


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