Thursday, July 16, 2020

Best Musicians of the 2010s

This blog is so old that I'm taking an idea from more than 10 years ago. Let's say that there is a 2020 version of "We Are The World" designed to raise funds to help people impacted by COVID-19.* The only catch is that this edition features artists that either started or had a major breakout between 2010-2019. That means no Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Janelle Monae, Rihanna, Pink, Justin Bieber (just missed the cut-off), any "American Idol" judges or "The Voice" coaches, and many others. This is basically your all-decade team.

Here's my line-up in no particular order:

Billie Eilish
One Direction
Ed Sheeran
Childish Gambino / Donald Glover
Ariana Grande


Khalid
Kacey Musgraves
Fifth Harmony
Shawn Mendes
Bruno Mars

(Although "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars was released in December 2019, the song didn't reach #1 until May 2010.)

Chance The Rapper
Dua Lipa
H.E.R.  
Drake
Nicki Minaj 

(Although Drake and Nicki Minaj both had mixtapes and were part of Young Money before 2010, each had their first major solo studio albums released in 2010, so they make the list.)


Chris Stapleton
Wiz Khalifa
Lorde
Sam Smith
Lizzo
Fun

(Although both Lizzo and Fun really only have one big album, they each have among the biggest songs of the decade.)

Post Malone (He makes it for his face tattoos alone.) 
Kendrick Lamar
Cardi B
The Weeknd
Maren Morris


I'm sure that I'm missing artists and groups since I'm not as "hip" and as knowledgeable about the music scene as I used to be. (Basically, I'm old.) Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below and let me know how I did and who I'm missing. Are there any Hall of Famers from this group?


* This post is about musicians and not a commentary on the fact that so many people really do need financial assistance for essentials like food and healthcare. We should be much better about this as a country.

Ariana Grande photo by Steve Granitz/Getty Images. Nicki Minaj and Drake photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images. Maren Morris photo from Sesame Street. I may have watched the video of her and the Sesame Street characters singing "Oops! Whoops! Wait, Ah ha!" a few times. And by few, I mean a lot, but that's for a different blog post.

2 comments:

Melissa F. said...

OK, so I love this idea and may steal it for a blog post of my own. I'll give you a sneak preview as my thanks.

Brandi Carlile
Harry Styles
Ben Rector
Christina Perri
The Head and the Heart
fun.

Sean said...

Please feel free to "borrow" my idea.

From your list, I feel like Brandi and Christina started before 2010. Maybe their big breaks happened in the last 10 years?

Harry Styles makes it with the rest of One Direction!