Do you remember the last time Rihanna has graced our earbuds with a solo project? It was 2016. To put it on perspective, Obama was in the White House. Since then, America elected a fucking actual fascist as President, and, somehow, made it so the Republican party could actually say out loud the stuff they mumble quietly. Overt racism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, etc, went from being something pushed aside and shamed to something folks were visibly proud of! And, of course, that awful human ended his time in office by turning COVID into pure chaos instead of working hard to get the country aligned on it. And, yes, we are still picking up the pieces of that nonesense today. (I stand by the fact that if we had clear, concise COVID messaging from the get-go, we wouldn’t be in the current financial mess we are in today)
When I learned that Rihanna was dropping a new single on 10.28, the day after my birthday, it was the first time I felt a shred of optimism in, dear god, 6 years? Like, maybe- just maybe- Rihanna was the key to returning the world to order and kindness. The song itself was written in memory of Chadwick Boseman. The lyrics, however, are actually about finding strength through grief. So maybe, just maybe, Rihanna isn’t the prophet we needed, but the catalyst for building up the strength to get through the pain of now and help encourage and motivate us to fix it. Anyways- “Lift Me Up” is a stunning ballad that I’ve already listened to 10 times and will keep relistening to for the rest of the day, maybe longer. And you probably should, too.
As the decade comes to an end, it means it’s time for lists. Lots of lists. All making a vague attempt at condensing the most pivotal parts of our popular culture, and spitting them out in a haphazard form. This is a list of what I, personally, consider to be the most important pure pop musical moments of our decade. You will be upset by things on this list. You may think I am a complete idiot for missing “____” by The _____’s. Just remember, this is a list of POP songs. I will not mis-estimate the importance of Radiohead, AR Rahman, The Strokes, Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, and other acts that will appear on every other best of the decade list. This is just a pop list. I don’t have room for the Fleet Foxes, I’m sorry.