The Top Ten most underrated singles of the past ten years
By Will Stroude
We’ve all got favourite songs that failed to set the charts alight or get the recognition they deserve.
While the likes of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ continue to fill the charts, spare a thought for some of the pop songs that slipped under the radar and were quickly forgotten.
Here at Attitude, we decided it was time to compile a list of songs that the public either failed to appreciate, or that simply deserve to finally go down in history as the absolute pop classics we know they are.
Take a look and see if you agree below:
Lorde – Green Light (2017)
Captivating from the moment it begins, ‘Green Light’ is one of those songs that makes you feel a multitude of emotions depending on what mood you’re in when you click play. A break-up track with an uplifting twist, the juxtaposition of the song’s impassioned, bordering on bitter lyrics with the joyous piano riff that lies at the crux of the song manages to summarise every confusing feeling we experience when losing someone we love in just four blissful minutes.
Avril Lavigne – Smile (2011)
Despite falling out of the limelight somewhat in recent years – and being replaced by a clone – Avril/Melissa has remained one of the most musically consistent pop stars out there. She’s stuck to her sound, remained true to herself and in 2011 she unleashed one of the best pop choruses of the past decade without even breaking a sweat. A masterclass in pop/rock, the song chugs along until the chorus crashes into focus and absolutely obliterates every wig within a five-mile radius.
Tinashe – Company (2016)
Honestly, it’s impossible to name a song that more succinctly sums up that unremitting feeling of just wanting to get absolutely railed more so than ‘Company’. The best three-and-a-half minute ride of your life, Tinashe does away with emotions and demands that she just needs a “moment to fuck and leave”. We can’t believe she just invented casual sex.
Kylie Minogue – Get Outta My Way (2011)
Why does ‘All The Lovers’ get all the props as the best single from Kylie’s eleventh album Aphrodite? It’s a fantastic song, but it quite obviously pales in comparison to ‘Get Outta My Way’. Kylie purrs her way through the verses then delivers one of the best choruses of her 30-year career. ‘Get Outta My Way’ deserves far better than the #12 chart placement it was handed.
Marina and the Diamonds – Primadonna (2012)
Criminally overlooked as a lip sync for your life song on Drag Race, ‘Primadonna’ is Marina at her subversive best. The Electra Heart era was one of the greatest gifts ever given to pop music, with the exploration of American culture providing us with some of the greatest songs and visuals of the last decade. ‘Primadonna’ is a mixture of everything that was brilliant about it. I challenge you to find me a better pop lyric than ‘Fill the void up with celluloid’.
Carly Rae Jepsen – Run Away With Me (2015)
The song that launched a thousand memes. A little known fact is that ‘Run Away With Me’ single-handedly saved the saxophone industry from going under.
Christina Aguilera – Your Body (2012)
“I THINK YOU AL-REA-DY KNOW MY NAAAAAAAAAAAME!”
Penned by a trio of legendary hit-makers in Savan Kotecha, Max Martin and Shellback, this was the Christina Aguilera comeback song that never was. A strong central message about the joys of meaningless sex combined with that bridge and Xtina’s best video in years somehow couldn’t propel The Voice coach back the upper echelons of the charts. And we hate to say it, but if it wasn’t gonna happen with this, it ain’t gonna happen period.
Pia Mia – Touch (2015)
Another track espousing the virtues of getting it (can you see a theme emerging here), the second single from Kylie Jenner’s BFF Pia Mia failed to reach the chart highs of debut ‘Do it Again’, narrowly missing out on the UK Top 40 back in late 2015. We’ll say this loudly for those at the back: THAT’S A CRIME, HUNS. The combination of Pia’s yearning vocal twinned with that obnoxiously loud throbbing baseline provided one of the most infectious pop moments of the year – one that has been unjustly consigned to the dustbin of history. RIP.
Fifth Harmony – Sledgehammer (2014)
The only justification we’ve found so far for Meghan Trianor’s continued existence, this, the last dying gasp of Fifth Harmony’s wholesome pop roots, remains the US girl group’s unparalleled best. Written by Trainor and delivered by Lauren, Normani, Dinah, Ally and Camila with the breathless optimism of five girls yet to sex-up a cement mixer, it combines glorious ’80s syths and one of the catchiest choruses known to man yet was somehow replaced by ‘BO$$’ as the band’s debut UK single, leaving most of the general public unaware of its glory.
Hilary Duff – Sparks (2015)
There was a FAN DEMANDED version of the video for a reason, guys.
Words: Joshua Haigh, Will Stroude and Ross Semple