|
Post by phieaglesfan712 on Apr 28, 2022 9:04:46 GMT -5
Blurred Lines, Happy, Uptown Funk, and See You Again were the earliest smash hits of the streaming era. Why did Uptown Funk and See You Again age well, while Blurred Lines and Happy aged like milk?
|
|
Au$tin
Diamond Member
Pop Culture Guru
Joined: August 2008
Posts: 54,493
My Charts
Pronouns: He/his/him
|
Post by Au$tin on Apr 28, 2022 9:07:16 GMT -5
Speak for yourself, they all aged terribly for me. (Happy and SYA were duds on arrival too.)
|
|
|
Post by phieaglesfan712 on Apr 28, 2022 9:33:56 GMT -5
By aging well, I mean why are Uptown Funk and SYA still in the Top 50 of YouTube daily (and Top 10 all time), while still getting played on the radio from time to time, even after all these years? I mean, I heard Uptown Funk twice this past week, including once on the AC boardwalk this past Sunday. Meanwhile, Blurred Lines and Happy just about completely disappeared after their Hot 100 runs were finished.
|
|
mkarns
2x Platinum Member
Joined: February 2011
Posts: 2,176
|
Post by mkarns on Apr 28, 2022 9:40:25 GMT -5
I like the groove of "Blurred Lines", even if it was swiped directly from Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up". It has some questionable lyrics, though I think the "RAPEY!!" criticism was a bit overdone. The subsequent copyright trial and Robin Thicke's related behaviour ("blame it on the Vicodin") don't help.
"Happy" is fun but feels overly simplistic, like a children's song almost. It's the sort of earwormy tune that's enjoyably catchy at first but becomes annoying in fairly short order.
|
|
HamedM1 ๐
Moderator
Skinny Muslim Legend
No Peace On Stolen Land #FreePalestine
Joined: April 2021
Posts: 5,174
Pronouns: He/Him
Staff
|
Post by HamedM1 ๐ on Apr 28, 2022 10:38:51 GMT -5
The only one of these that ever was a good song is Uptown Funk.
|
|
|
Post by Fat Ass Kelly Price on Apr 28, 2022 10:51:43 GMT -5
"Blurred Lines" got cancelled. That's all you need to know. "Happy" became too overexposed.
A take: "Blurred Lines" is the best song here. Cancel me.
|
|
|
Post by Walking Contradiction on Apr 28, 2022 14:14:15 GMT -5
I agree with all this.
I still unironically and unabashedly love "Happy", and think it's way over-hated. "Uptown Funk" is great too. "See You Again" is the one that doesn't resonate anymore for me.
I also still hear all of them pretty regularly, for what it's worth, though "Uptown Funk" is definitely the most ubiquitous.
|
|
jodakyellow
Platinum Member
Joined: July 2018
Posts: 1,492
|
Post by jodakyellow on Apr 28, 2022 17:24:49 GMT -5
"Uptown Funk" is just "one of those songs" โ everything about it hits just right. It's a classic, and far be it from me to try to explain why.
I personally never even think about "See You Again" anymore and I'm surprised to hear it's still doing so well on YouTube after all these years.
"Blurred Lines" is probably due for a re-appraisal. I was on board with its "cancellation" at the time, but I do think there was some willful misinterpretation of the lyrics involved. On the other hand, the video and Robin Thicke's personality didn't help (which @mkarnes also alluded to above).
Apropos of nothing, the first time I heard "Happy" I wondered out loud why the radio was playing such a corny old song. Turns out it was brand new and I was about to hear it a whole lot more.
|
|
B-Boy
Diamond Member
Joined: June 2008
Posts: 14,438
|
Post by B-Boy on Apr 28, 2022 19:08:23 GMT -5
"Blurred Lines" is a somewhat stripped mix of Madonna's "Give It To Me" in terms of production. It ruined Usher's chance of getting a hit since Pharrell re-recycled the beat for his song "She Came To Give It To You".
|
|
|
Post by Disco๐ถ๏ธ๐ on Apr 28, 2022 23:19:55 GMT -5
Of these, "Blurred Lines" is the only one I still use. The rest are still shameful abominations.
|
|
Choco
Diamond Member
lavender haze
Joined: February 2009
Posts: 26,884
My Charts
Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by Choco on Apr 29, 2022 11:59:15 GMT -5
If y'all are still playing these constantly you need to find more music. They're all very much tied to their years and way too overexposed.
"Happy" got way too much exposure and I truly hate it nowadays. BL is a jam but it would never get released now. UF is good but I remove some points from it for the way it changed Bruno's career for the worse (imo). SYA was always a bore.
|
|
Relaxing Cup
Diamond Member
Joined: March 2014
Posts: 14,673
|
Post by Relaxing Cup on Apr 30, 2022 8:59:20 GMT -5
I like blurred lines and uptown funks the bedt
|
|
Kelly's 10th Fan
Moderator
like a grandma with a peppermint
Joined: November 2021
Posts: 515
Staff
|
Post by Kelly's 10th Fan on Apr 30, 2022 17:44:49 GMT -5
Uptown Funk 'aged well' because Bruno himself is still relevant and never deviated from his throwback brand, so as long as he is a current hitmaker most of his old hits will sound like they could be current ones. The real question is what Bruno songs will remain evergreen when he does finally phase out of mainstream popularity; we're just not yet at a place to test that. But also, from a purely compositional/behind-the-boards perspective, UF's arrangement is objectively the most sophisticated by far of all songs mentioned here and maybe out of every 2010s hit as a whole. People give Bruno a hard time for not being 'original,' but there is a level of skill to his music that very few others possess...and Mark Ronson was one of those few. Lightning in a bottle.
Blurred Lines got canceled when Robin Thicke did, as was mentioned above...but it also probably would have been eclipsed in the long run anyway because lowkey it's just the lyrically and musically simpler version of Get Lucky.
Happy was extremely divisive even while it was a hit so it was kind of predestined to fall off as soon as its run was over since there were never that many adults who truly liked it. Its resonance seemed largely rooted in its childlike appeal (it was from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack, after all), but even in that department it got overshadowed by the more eternally quotable Let It Go.
I don't think SYA is "aging well" so much as it was a pleasant tribute to the deceased star of a wildly popular (and still on-going) film franchise and that enabled it to become a go-to 'funeral song' for anyone putting together a slide presentation or looking for something to play in the background during the wake for one of their own loved ones. Legit would not bat an eye if someone told me SYA's streams were 25% Paul Walker fans and 75% funeral homes.
|
|