Went with “This is America” as it comes closest to being the only truly original song on this list. And it’s a good list, I don’t have a problem with it or the artists appearing - it’s just that TiA is different enough to stand out.
My rankings:
Tossup between Lorde & Lizzo. I went with Lorde, though.
I’m surprised that I know seven of the 10 songs. Figured it would be a lot lower, as I stopped following pop music 15+ years ago.
Voted for Gotye, mainly because it’s the closest to conventional rock on the list.
“Up Town Funk” is super catchy, but tried a little too obviously to be a pop smash. (It worked, though.) The video is a lot of fun.
Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, featuring Wanz.
Reached #1 on US Billboard chart (and several other countries) despite being from an independent label. (Only the 2nd song to do that. The other was Lisa Loeb’s Stay.) Plus it has a Delorean.
“I’m gonna pop some tags
Only got 20 dollars in my pocket”
Been there, done that.
2nd choice: JEFF the Brotherhood’s Sixpack. Love the retro guitar saturation.
Voted for Gotye w/Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used to Know” for a combo of catchy & earwormy in a good way, good overall sound without an excess of the same damn drum thump or the same damn vocal riff repeated electronically ad nauseum. Very listenable.
Other nice ones were the Pharell Williams (“Happy”) and the Camila Cabello, the Lorde piece was catchy, “Despacito” was quite listenable.
TL;DR commentary from a fogey:
Ke$ha Tik Tok was annoyingly overprocessed on too many levels and just not very interesting;
Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” she has a nice passionate voice I could enjoy listening to and the song is a good one for her but the drums are too mechanical and absolutely identical and ultimately intrusive.
Lorde’s “Royals” a clever catchy tune, nice voice but way overprocessed to the point it sounds metallic
Pharell Williams “Happy” – hey, one I knew before playing it! Very catchy and bouncy. I probably benefit from not having been overexposed to it when everyone else was?
“Uptown Funk” – I know this one already too, but don’t care for it
Adele’s “Hello” again I like her voice but don’t like the song as much. Way overprocessed on her high notes.
“Despacito” by Fonzi and Daddy Yankee / Bieber is quite listenable, more than a bit derivative of lots of other stuff I’ve heard, and this recording suffers from that volume-equalizing thing, “compression” I think they call it, which kills the expressiveness.
Camila Cabello & young Thug “Havana” nice smouldery beginning and I like her voice. But as soon as the background harmony and the male vocalist come in, the autotune hits me like fingernails on a blackboard. After ~ 2.5 minutes just too repetitious
Childish Gambino - "This is America’ - ugh no, just now, changeit-changeit-changeit
Lisso - “Truth Hurts” cute, fun. Too repetititious after a bit though. The sonic processing greatly emphasizes the repetitiousness and the compression does too.
All in all, I’m mostly oblivious to the music of the aughts. These aren’t horrible and some are fun and pleasant but none of these songs should be the best of a decade. Any decade.
Indeed, it’s a classic. Unfortunately, it only got 36 votes in the Best of 2013 poll to the 78 for “Royals”, and thus wasn’t eligible for this poll.
I can’t possibly choose. These are all so terrific.
Based on those choices, I will go with Rolling In The Deep. The song became an instant standard.