As the year of 2013 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect back on the music that was debuted this past year. Every year there’s new and up and coming artists, “one hit wonders,” and bands and solo artists trying to make a comeback.
The year of 2013 went through a lot of “drama” musically. Between the drama of whose album topped whose on the top 100 charts to the Pop music of 2013 that allegedly “copied” riffs or melodies from other songs.
The first song that really caused controversy was the Katy Perry and Sara Bareilles saga. Sara Bareilles released her hit single Brave in May of 2013, while Katy Perry released her song Roar as a pre-album release shortly after and everyone attacked Katy Perry because of the similarity between the two songs, stating that Katy “blatantly copied Brave.” The most recent scandal showed up on One Directions pre-album release of “The Best Song Ever” off of their Midnight Memories album, having a lot of The Who fans in an uproar, stating that “The Best Song Ever” sounded an awful lot like The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.” The song still hit #1 in 31 countries regardless of the strong resemblance.
Although it was towards the end of the 2013 year, Miley Cyrus still made it her mission to pervade everyone’s mind. Dinner table conversations, tabloids, trending Twitter topics– Miley hit it all with her dramatic transition to her “new” image. With her new album Bangerz that came out during the month of November, Miley caused a mass amount of controversy with her subsequent performance on the VMA’S with Robin Thicke. Wrecking Ball, her next released song caused more controversy with a music video of her swinging on a wrecking ball without any clothes. The video made such a stir that people began to parody it on YouTube and Vine.
2013 was a prominent year for Britney Spears to make her comeback in the pop industry, taking her crown back from everyone else with her self-titled album release of Britney Jean. Her album was listed as number three on the top 25 albums of 2013. Currently, Spears is performing a 90 minute show entitled Britney: Piece of Me at Planet Hollywood Resorts and Casino in Las Vegas.
Pop music made its 2013 take-over memorable this year definitely. Artists like One Direction, Miley Cyrus, Lorde, Kanye West, and Britney Spears, really had the z100 charts at their fingertips. But the newer and up and coming artists definitely proved their worth this year.
HAIM, a girl group composed of three sisters, hit the music scene with their 70’s and 80’s inspired hits. Over the summer their song “The Wire” was deemed popular with a pure 70’s feel. While Lorde, a 16 year old from New Zealand came up and out with her album Pure Heroine, with ballads about how people perceive fame and money.
Also, bringing 2013 to a close, Beyoncé decided to WOW everyone with an “out of the blue” surprise release of her self-titled album “Beyoncé.” The 14 track album was released without a promo, tour, or pre-album release date, like most artists do. Beyoncé did ZERO amount of press release to promote the album. It came as a shock after its release on iTunes. It overshadowed all other major artists of this year, selling more copies than Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Lorde, and many more. Beyoncé definitely closed 2013 with a bang.
2013 was an eventful year, a year full of new songs, albums, artists, and drama. It made its stamp in the music industry, but knowing Hollywood and these celebrities, 2014 will hold even more.
