My Favorite Song of the Past Decade: A Retrospective

"CALL THE SHOTS" BY GIRLS ALOUD

 

The last few months of 2009 were flooded with "best of the decade" articles and posts from all over the publishing world, regardless of niche. I love those kinds of things, and I wanted to throw myself in, but I found it really hard to choose a list of the best songs the past decade had to offer.

Now the first decade of the new millennium has past, I looked through my ever-expanding iTunes library and decided on the one song that was worthy of mention. It is the song that completely changed how I viewed pop music, and if I never heard it, there was a good chance that I would not have discovered and downloaded 75% of the music that I did in the two years since its release.

And, as of 1:29 am, I have played this song 837 times.

The song I am talking about is "Call The Shots" by Girls Aloud.

I had first encountered the British girl group in early 2007, when their song "Something Kinda Oooh" (the second most played song on my iTunes) was used in a YouTube video about Melrose Place I was watching. After doing my research, I found their song and quickly began playing the heck out of it. I only added one song of theirs after that, "I Think We're Alone Now", choosing not to do my usual thing where I become obsessed with them and quickly burn out on them a month later.

In November of 2007, I was on YouTube again when I saw a link to Girls Aloud performing on X Factor, the British show that I only knew as Leona Lewis' origin. I watched the video, where they performed their new single titled "Call The Shots". Besides the little issue of Sarah Harding being a hot mess, everything about that performance was fantastic, and I immediately sought out the song. When I found the studio version, I fell head over heels in love with it.

I thought it was one of the most perfect pop songs I ever heard. It was a ballad, but the wondrous synths gave it an undeniable energy. The production, provided by Xenomania, was flawless in its mixture of melancholy, resilience, and hope, and it made me realize that synthpop could be more than just a dance floor filler. I fell in love with Nadine's voice, which sounded so powerful as she sang one of the most addictive hooks I ever heard (and ballads aren't supposed to have addictive hooks). The lyrics, although a bit confusing in the first few listens, have one of the most mature, adult outlooks on relationships that pop music has ever had, while maintaining its Europop style (again, the "call the shots" hook still gets me to this day). The song would end up being one of their biggest hits, peaking at #3 on the UK charts (behind Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and Take That's "Rule The World") and spending seven weeks inside the top 10. It is also one of their most critically acclaimed records, with Popjustice declaring it the best pop song of the 21st century and their best song ever. Even though seeing the song's success was nice, it was the song that truly commanded my attention. After years of listening to current mainstream R&B slosh, my ears were touched by a whole new, much more attractive, sound.

My musical tastes would never be the same.

So, what would come of my love of "Call The Shots"? Well, my Girls Aloud hesitation quickly abated, and I gathered as much music as I could from them. My scavenger hunt for all things GA ultimately brought my attention to other British artists, which immediately included Sugababes, George Michael, Take That, and Westlife. It was also the song that helped my curiosity about Leona Lewis, the X Factor winner, develop into being a huge fan of hers. For awhile, in fact, "Bleeding Love" and "Call The Shots" were duking it out in my iTunes library for most played song of the year. Girls Aloud ultimately exposed me to a whole new country to find music. I soon began realizing that British music tended to be a lot more satisfying than pop in the States. Since 2007, a lot of my music has been influenced by what is successful in Great Britain, which allowed me to be ahead of the curve when it ultimately arrived here. Although it would be really hard to be exact, I can safely say that British and American music have a near equal bearing in my library. As you could expect, my life for British music poured over into a love for British culture. I became fascinated by everything Brit; their TV, their government, their newspapers, even their celebrities. To this day, when I make my daily internet rounds, I always stop at The Sun or The Daily Mail to see what's up across the pond. It allowed for a different perspective, which I think is necessary as you are growing into an adult.

I also credit "Call The Shots" for elevating my pop senses. Before, it would be really easy to fall into the crap traps that were the one-hit wonder pop songs that seemed to flood the decade. With a solid example of what good pop music could be, I found myself evading certain music that ended up smashes, like "Crank That" or "This Is Why I'm Hot", or, more recently, the R&B pop male triumvirate ("Replay", "Whatcha Say", and "Down", for the most part). I became a smarter, more thoughtful pop music listener, and I credit it to that song.

Without "Call the Shots", I have absolutely no clue where my tastes in pop would lie. Without that song, my view of the entertainment world would be vastly different. It may seem doubtful that one song could be so transformative, but I can honestly say that it did. For those reasons, and the because it is inarguably one of the best British pop songs of the last 25 years, "Call The Shots" is my best song of the decade.

If you haven't heard of the song, or them, do yourself a favor and check out the video below.