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(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still \/ Album Cover)<\/p>\n
Mon 8 September 2025 23:00, UK <\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s just a pre-disposed attitude of self-deprecation, or maybe it is just rooted in the outright truth, but my adolescence truly existed in one of the worst eras of culture. The 2010s<\/a>\u00a0were a horrifically drab chapter of culture, with no real obvious characteristics besides skinny jeans and stomp-clap music.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not like the charismatically nonchalant 1990s or the laid-back\u00a0coolness of the 1970s<\/a>, the 2010s were where cringe finally broke the commercial threshold and became the common currency of the decade. One Direction ruled the roost as Simon Cowell\u2019s reign of supremacy rolled on, hip-hop sleepwalked into baseless mumble rap led by internet sensationalists and indie; well, indie was hijacked by Mumford and Sons copycats.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a culture vulture, I looked around and thought, this surely can\u2019t be it can it? Of all artistic eras to be cutting my adolescent teeth in, I somehow found myself in the realms of Made In Chelsea-inspired indie-pop.<\/p>\n While I fully accept trashy pop music is inevitable in all eras, or in fact a necessary evil upon which authenticity can rebel, I can confidently say that some of the tripe we were gifted in the 2010s was truly the worst of the lot. Don\u2019t believe me? Then how on earth do you account for: Psy\u2019s \u2018Gangnam Style\u2019 <\/a>Megha Trainor\u2019s \u2018All About That Bass\u2019 or worse yet, \u2018Fireflies\u2019 by Owl City.<\/p>\n All three of these ideas are classic examples of how the era fostered an attitude of \u201cthere\u2019s no such thing as a bad idea.\u201d Rudimentary and rather basic creative ideas were championed in the name of earworms, hoping to capitalize on a growing era of internet trends.<\/p>\n Okay, in defence of Owl City, in comparison to the former two examples, this was a song driven a little bit more by own experience. But still, the very kernel of his idea was what made the final song, without any development or nuance. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d just been on vacation to Iowa the week before I wrote the song and was amazed at how many fireflies came out at dusk. I didn\u2019t really have to think about making a connection between insomnia and lighting bugs, it just sort of happened and the song basically wrote itself. It was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps what is so frustrating is that the almost transcendental inspiration for the song has the hallmarks of a great idea. Cosmic irreverence has often been used in great songs, but to a more captivating and dare I say it, mature effect. And the autotune certainly didn\u2019t help the maturity, which ultimately made the song sound like the genuine dreamstate of a child.\u00a0<\/p>\n Which is unfortunate, given the genesis of the idea was rooted in actual instrumental curiosity, as oppose to horrifically catchy hook writing like Psy and Trainor.<\/p>\n