Ten Sounds that Shaped the 2010s
In the 1960s, heavy use of reverb and echo helped form the sound of psychedelic rock. Four-on-the-floor beats came in during the 1970s with the rise of disco, and the ’80s saw the introduction of the synthesizer. Every decade has its own sonic quirks — ones that range from revolutionary (AutoTune) to fleeting (airhorns).
The 2010s was no exception. Here are 10 sounds that helped defined the music of the decade. Sometimes they were side effects of streaming — the blending of genres, the rise of hip-hop, and the growing influence of electronic music. Sometimes they were visionary indicators of where music is heading. Other times, they were the result of producers seeing just how weird things could get, the aural equivalent of Pizza Hut’s hot dog-stuffed crust. Time will tell which ones stick around (but let’s hope it’s not the Millennial Whoop).
-
Saxy Pop
Image Credit: Pjp Photos/Shutterstock WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: The sassy, self-deprecating grandchild of “Careless Whisper”
WHAT IT WAS: After two decades of near-exile from mainstream music, the saxophone made its grand return in 2011, as the climactic third act of M83’s “Midnight City,” the screaming partygoer on Katy Perry’s “T.G.I.F.” and the hype man of Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory.” Between 2013 and 2015, it took center stage: Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty,” Ariana Grande’s “Problem” and Fifth Harmony’s “Worth It” all featured the sax in all its over-the-top splendor. Even Taylor Swift, whose historically country-steeped sound had never made room for the sax, embraced it on 2014’s “Shake It Off” and “False God,” a standout from this year’s Lover.
WHO USED IT BEST: Carly Rae Jepsen on “Run Away With Me”
-
The Anti-Chorus
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: Singers being automated out of their job
WHAT IT WAS: Further cementing the ubiquity of electronic music — and the impending extinction of the human race — a new kind of chorus emerged in the 2010s that was mostly devoid of a human voice. Here, singers would appear in a song during the intro, verse and bridge. But on the chorus, they politely moved aside and handed the mic to something else, only stepping in for a sporadic ad-libs or a quick “oooh” or ”aaah”. On a string of Chainsmokers hits like “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Roses,” that something was a brash EDM drop. On Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ funk-pop opus “Uptown Funk,” it was the swaggering strut of brass instruments. On Jason Derulo’s 2013 hit “Wiggle,” it was, according to producer Ricky Reed, a toy flute purchased at Party City.
WHO DID IT BEST: Mark Ronson on “Uptown Funk”
-
Flute Rap
Image Credit: Kevin Tachman/Vogue/Shutterstock WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: Ron Burgundy in the club
WHAT IT WAS: Before 2010, the flute would flutter into rap songs every once in a while, like on the Beastie Boys “Flute Loop,” T.I.’s “Motivation” and 50 Cent’s “Just A Little Bit.” But in the 2010s, it became one of the hottest features in rap. The lithe woodwind did heavy lifting on A$AP Rocky’s “Goldie,” Gucci Mane’s “Back on Road,” Migos’ “Get Right Witcha,” D.R.A.M. and Drake’s “Portland” and many, many more. In her rise to the top, Lizzo brought the flute with her, regularly setting aside time for a flute solo in her shows.
WHO USED IT BEST: Migos on “Get Right Witcha” (produced by Zaytoven and Murda Beatz)
-
The Millennial Whoop
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: The White Claw to traditional melisma’s dirty martini
WHAT IT WAS: The backbone of the Millennial Whoop — according to writer and musician Patrick Metzger, who coined the phrase — is “a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale.” It started off as a “Yasss”-like accessory on songs like Kesha’s “Tik Tok” and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls,” and got more flexible over time, even becoming the sonic equivalent of a good cry (Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High),” Frank Ocean’s “Ivy”). By the mid-2010s, this wobbly howl had become so inescapable that it was parodied by Lonely Island in a song for their 2016 mockumentary Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping.
WHO USED IT BEST: The Lonely Island/Conner4Real on “F**k Off”
-
Country Snaps
Image Credit: Debby Wong/Shutterstock WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: A pop beat with twang on top
WHAT IT WAS: Could the electronic drum machine ever make its way into country, a genre that was built on “real” music? In the 2010s, the answer was yes — but an apprehensive one. As Nashville artists started to embrace electronic textures, some producers introduced drum machines into songs. Programmed percussion — which some called “snapping” —set the pace of Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” and held the disparate ends of Florida Georgia Line and Bebe Rexha’s “Meant to Be” together. Producer Joey Moi was one of its biggest proponents, on hits for Chris Lane, Jake Owen and Florida Georgia Line. Whether purists liked it or not, it was everywhere in the 2010s — even on songs from more traditional artists like Jon Pardi (“Dirt on My Boots”) and Maren Morris (“80s Mercedes”).
WHO USED IT BEST: Jon Pardi on “Dirt on My Boots”
-
Distorted Basslines in Rap
Image Credit: Rick Kern/WireImage WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: If the bass had serious vocal fry
WHAT IT WAS: The distorted bass has long been a player in rock, being the thick, guttural foundation of many songs by Motorhead and Rage Against the Machine, just to name two examples. But it didn’t really show up in hip-hop until the 2010s, with the rise of rock-influenced, Soundcloud-bred rap. Artists like XXXTentacion, Ski Mask the Slump God and Smokepurpp were known for murky, decidedly lo-fi productions — and often they were built on heavily distorted basslines. It’d been done before, on G.O.O.D. music’s posse cut “Mercy,” Future’s “Move That Dope” and Ace Hood’s “Bugatti,” but it hadn’t been done quite like this. On 2016 hits like XXXTentacion’s “Look at Me!” and Lil Pump’s “Gucci Gang” the bass was so exaggerated you could practically feel it vibrate through your EarPods.
WHO USED IT BEST: Lil Pump on “Gucci Gang,” Future on “Move That Dope”
-
Manipulated Vocals
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: The start of the A.I. apocalypse
WHAT IT WAS: Most accounts trace it all back to 1998, when Cher’s warbling dance-pop hit “Believe” used Auto-Tune in an unprecedented way: To purposefully distort vocals for effect, rather than pitch correction. Now, the so-called “Cher effect” has been even further distorted — with vocals chopped, re-pitched and transfigured into something that doesn’t sound human at all. Justin Bieber’s voice became spastic, dolphin-like squeals on his 2015 hits “Where Are Ü Now” and “Sorry.” Kygo diced Selena Gomez’s voice into dozens of glitchy little pieces on 2017’s “It Ain’t Me.” And Kanye West distorted his own voice to sound like a bass guitar in the anguished second half of “Runaway.”
WHO USED IT BEST: Diplo and Skrillex on “Where Are Ü Now (with Justin Bieber)” and Kanye West on “Runaway”
-
Trap Hi-Hats
Image Credit: Raven Varona/Parkwood/PictureGroup/Shutterstock WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: The skittering soul of Atlanta
WHAT IT WAS: While country has only embraced the drum machine in recent years, programmed beats have been a staple of hip-hop and pop for decades. In the 2010s, that sound started to take a new shape. The skittering heartbeat of trap was the synthetic hi-hat, employed in a way we hadn’t heard before. Trap producers like 808 Mafia and Southside programmed the hi-hat at unparalleled speed and complexity on hits for Future, Migos and Gucci Mane. After Beyonce and Jay-Z employed trap beats on “Drunk In Love” and “Apeshit,” it was only a matter of time before pop producers started using them too: Ariana Grande’s “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” and Halsey’s “Without Me” both use trap-style hi-hats.
WHO USED IT BEST: Migos’ “Stir Fry”
-
Whisper Pop
Image Credit: Koury Angelo for Rolling Stone WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: music for the ASMR crowd
WHAT IT WAS: There used to be an unspoken rule that if you couldn’t be a pop star if you couldn’t belt it out. In the 2010s, a new wave of singers emerged who collectively whispered goodbye to all that, opting for more subdued vocal deliveries. A sigh-like singing style has been part of Lana Del Rey’s DNA from the start, with her 2012 album Born To Die delivering hushed hits like “Blue Jeans” and “Radio.” Lorde made noise without raising her voice on her 2013 debut Pure Heroine. And while Selena Gomez got her start as a more traditional pop vocalist, she softened up and quieted down over time, on “Good For You” and its Janet-esque successor “Hands to Myself.” But the queen of whisper pop is Billie Eilish, whose debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was so notably hushed that it inspired ASMR “covers” where ASMRtists recited the album’s lyrics like they were playing a game of Telephone. (Gibi ASMR’s cover has seen over 2.7 million views on YouTube.)
WHO USED IT BEST: Billie Eilish on “bad guy”
-
Sounds as Lyrics in Rap
Image Credit: Invision/AP/Shutterstock WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE: Your favorite rapper after a few too many
WHAT IT WAS: As rap moved further from its lyricism-focused past, a new class of rappers — most of them from the hip-hop hotbed of Atlanta — pushed it even further with flows that ranged from barely enunciated to barely English. Future became known for his codeine-drenched growl on songs like “Where Ya At” and “Codeine Crazy.” Young Thug played his voice like an instrument, yelping and chirping and skurring his way through hits like “Danny Glover,” “Can’t Tell” and “Best Friend.” While the style was widely disregarded by hip-hop purists as “mumble rap,” it didn’t go anywhere. Two of the biggest up-and-coming rappers of 2019 — Gunna and Lil Baby — were proteges of Young Thug.
WHO DID IT BEST: Future on “Codeine Crazy”