United States of Pop 2016 (Into Pieces)

Happy New Year!

United States of Pop 2016 (Into Pieces) by DJ Earworm

If you're not familiar with DJ Earworm, he's a DJ and producer who is famous for his mashups. I've been following him since he did his first "United States of Pop" video almost a decade ago, and my favorite part of every year is listening to what he comes up with.

As you can probably tell from the video embedded above, DJ Earworm's creation mashes up the most popular songs of the year into a single track. The result is something entirely new.

I know when I first started listening to these things, it was hard to think of it as its own song because, of course, we're all familiar with the original songs. But just wait until you have it stuck in your head, and you'll realize it has its own melody.

It also has its own lyrics. Again, at first I could only hear the individual clips, but DJ Earworm weaves them together in such a way that the lyrics tell a new, complete story.

DJ Earworm - or Jordan Roseman - says he start by collecting the lyrics of the year's pop hits into a single document.

"I'll sort of scan through the document and try to identify my main thesis. If the sentences don't exist, I try to build them from the individual phrases and see if I can get something that creates the sentiment so that it goes from darkness into light, it gives you an emotional journey" (x).

He always hopes that it "conveys the general feeling of the year" (x).

2016, of course, has been a wild ride, so I was curious to hear his take on it. He calls this year's mashup "Into Pieces."

"I liked it because it was about my artistic method — I cut things into pieces," he says. "But also, it very much feels like our world is fracturing" (x).

This was this only track I could choose tonight.

a) It covers all the most popular songs of the year, including 6 (out of the 25 used in the song) that I covered previously on this blog. What a perfect recap.

b) It's all pop music, which - after listening to songs of myriad genres throughout the course of this year and my 366 (it was a leap year) blog posts - is still my favorite. I like not having to think too hard. I like being able to sing along after listening to a song for 30 seconds.

c) Per tradition, I was going to listen to it anyway.

I hope y'all have enjoyed this experience as much as I have, and I hope I introduced you to a few new songs. I know I found a bunch of artists that I never would have discovered without this blog. Thank you for sticking with me :)

Overview:

Genre:
Pop

Verdict:
helped this year (and this blog) end on a good note (no pun intended)

Special thanks to my biggest contributors:
- Manny A.
- Michelle K.
- Kim C.
- Robert E.

I couldn't have done it without you!