Best song of 21st Century

Topic

I think 'Empire State Of Mind' is the best song of the 21st century. What do you think is the best song of the 21st century? No negativity, just recommend a song you love to everyone else.

— Richard Osman (@richardosman) November 7, 2020

I’ll rip off this idea from Richard Osman and see what some old fellas think. I’ll chime in later as I’m undecided right now. For the purposes of this we count 21st Century as starting 1st January 2000 – don’t argue on that one, everyone knows and it’s boring. 😁

Replies

I have lots of personal favourites, but if we’re talking best pop song I think this is hard to beat. Hugely catchy and fun and upbeat.

This one also sneaks in at the start of the century.

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Andrew

Neither one is a personal favourite song but I think they’re perfectly crafted pieces of pop.

This is another contender.

I can never hear that song without remembering a pub quiz I was at where the quizmaster asked “who scored a number one single this year with Pure Shoes?’ in a thick Swansea accent.

It will forever be a song now about the purity of your footwear.

By the way it doesn’t have to be a ‘pop’ song, just song.

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Dave

I recently claimed it was Ghost Love Score by Nightwish, but I think I’m too influenced by a single phenomenal live recording of it, and it’s not really fair to assess a song on a live performance. The original studio version is great, but I wouldn’t have said “the best”.

So that leaves me undecided

When it comes to Western popular music probably this.

 

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Todd

I’ll have to think more about it before choosing my “best”, but this is one of the contenders:

Anonymous wrote:

When it comes to Western popular music probably this.

 

I really enjoy Fever Ray. With her sibling as The Knife, I really like this song:

While probably not the best of the 21st century, this is a definite favorite of mine:

I’m thinking of which new tunes I’ve played the most in the last 20 years. It’s probably a tie between these two.

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njerry

Here are a few of mine:

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Todd

And can’t forget the best ever song to drive in the rain to:

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Todd

I went to Rolling Stone to remind me what is from this century.

No.3 on their list

Seven Nation Army by White Stripes

No.2 on their list

Paper Planes by M.I.A.

 

thinking of Paper Planes also reminds me of Royals by Lorde

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garjones

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njerry

I’m seriously tempted to pick The Whirlwind by Transatlantic. I mean, at 77 minutes it wins on quantity if nothing else.

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Todd

I love this song for its pure wild enthusiasm. There’s a lot of good music that comes from Islamic countries.

 

Why are you guys still posting? @Anders posted the correct answer a few posts above. Game over!

Not having Richard Osman’s pick; it’s fine – not exactly a universal sentiment of a song (maybe that’s just my personal criteria), and very clunky (offensively so) lyrics/scansion/syntax on the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” bit, yuck!

There are songs I keep a mental list of; “Stone cold classics” – they’re ones that for me have reached a whole other level – they’ll be added to playlists/devices of mine forever, they’ll rarely be skipped, I’ll cheer if they come on at a pub – over the past 20 years, filtering out those that weren’t chart hits or culturally impactful, the list would include at least these:

Last Nite – the Strokes

All these things that I’ve done – Killers

Use Somebody – Kings of Leon

Kids – MGMT

Sprawl II – Arcade Fire

Bad Romance – Lady Gaga

Land of hope and dreams – Bruce Springsteen

Power – Kanye West

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njerry, Todd

I was thinking Land of Hope and Dreams as well but technically it was written in 1999.

Now I’m thinking that Baby Shark is watching over this thread, lurking, biding his time, waiting to attack…

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Todd, Andrew

Who knows for sure when any of these songs were written; if it was released officially for the first time post 31 December 1999, it counts.

For sure, Bruce is not one to rush out songs as soon as he’s written them. The album he just put out this year contains three tracks he wrote in 1972!

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Andrew

Yeah we’ll go with release dates. As Andrew says you don’t know with many when they were penned and most songs released in 2000 were probably written the year before and it all gets very confusing.

Should we even mention the fact that the year 2000 is actually the final year of the 20th century and thus technically not part of the 21st Century?

No?

Well, you didn’t hear it from me, then…

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Todd

njerry wrote:

Should we even mention the fact that the year 2000 is actually the final year of the 20th century and thus technically not part of the 21st Century? No?

No. See Gar’s opening post.

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njerry

for purposes of this thread, I strongly believe njerry be ignored and his posts treated as spam. first he thinks this is the worst song thread then he gets the time period wrong. :pbbbbt:

@Anders your face is a baby shark

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DavidM, Todd

Rocket wrote:

@Anders your face is a baby shark

I wish my face had seven billion views.

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DavidM, Todd

[JRCarter]

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by JRCarter.

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Andrew

Hey Ya is a great pick I’d add to my list; I need one more for a list of ten…

May I suggest Crazy in Love?

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Andrew

Sold!

(Though, I think it’s a weak verse from Jay-Z.)

[DavidM]

Crazy in Love? Well I admit it’s a fun song but I wouldn’t have said a great one. Besides, it’s from 1999:

Edit: never mind, I just noticed it’s a slightly different title. My bad memory

• This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by DavidM.

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Rocket