It’s December, the time of year when everyone gets ready for an onslaught of Best Of countdowns, essays, and slideshows, recapping the year that was. As we here at Vanya HQ prep our Year in ReView for the week of December 15 to 19, DJ Earworm is providing a nice crash-course reminder of the year in pop.
Each year since 2007, the man born Jordan Roseman has created his “United State Of Pop,” a 25-song mash-up of all the best-selling tracks of the past year, all packaged into one tight pop jam. Today he unveiled his 2014 edition, subtitled as “Do What You Wanna Do.”
Our takeaway: Tove Lo, Charli XCX, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry ruled the airwaves — and our faces. They did more than just dominate the charts, they dominated our playlists, too.
“Personally, I’ve been obsessed with the Billboard charts since I was 11 or 12,” Earworm tells Billboard, which premiered his track today. “When I was a little boy, I used to tune in to Top 40 shows on the weekends, and I’ve always been fascinated by what makes popular tastes tick… It’s great to be able to come full-circle with Billboard.”
Of note in 2014, according to the producer, has been a shift back to the basics of pop music.
“The thing that has been most notable in the past two or three years is the decline of EDM,” he says. “The ‘United State of Pop’ became this dance track from ’09 to ’12, and then starting last year, there just wasn’t enough in that genre to fully support it, so I went down-tempo. And this year, ‘Timber,’ which was popular in January, is the only popular dance track I’m dealing with. It’s definitely down-tempo, so you have to decide, how is this going to go? How am I going to maintain the energy levels while being true to the sound of the year?”