If You Don't Know Who Sang These Pop Hits, You Don't Know Music
- by Ben Sherlock
- – on
- in Entertainment
Pop music is short for popular music, which is why songs in the pop genre frequently top the charts. It’s one of the most diverse genres out there. Jazz music has the relaxing sounds of the trumpet and the saxophone and other brass instruments. Rock ‘n’ roll music has the kick of an electric guitar and the roar of a set of drums with the backing of a cool bass. Metal is a more aggressive variation on this. But pop music’s style ranges between instrumental and electric sounds, different vocal inflections, and a variety of different subjects. Pop music is also one of the only music genres that’s been the most popular style of music for many decades. Rock dominated the mid to late 20th century, but pop music has been around since roughly the ‘80s and it’s still going strong and not showing any signs of going anywhere. It’s transitioned from the days of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, taken a detour through Britpop and grunge of the 1990s, and come out the other end with today’s stars like Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus. But are you really a music fan or are you a poser? Take this quiz to find out, because only a true fan of music would be able to identify who sang all of these pop hits!
Wrecking Ball
In the Christmas comedy movie The Night Before, Mindy Kaling says of Wrecking Ball, “You can cry to it, you can run to it, you can party to it,” to which Seth Rogen says, “It’s timeless.” And that’s all true. The music video had the singer swinging around a demolished building, naked, sitting on an actual wrecking ball. The song and its video were both huge at their time of release. Everyone was singing it, all the radio stations were playing it – but who sang it?
Beat It
This singer is known as the King of Pop, and he’s one of the highest selling musical artists of all time. He’s responsible for the best selling album ever made, Thriller, which has sold tens of millions of copies and attained its record in less than a year and still holds it to this day. His songs are still played on the radio regularly, decades after they were first released. He still makes millions of dollars every year, even in death. Who is he?
Firework
Firework was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year when it was first released back in 2010, and it was also purported to be ruthless North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s favorite song in Seth Rogen and James Franco’s recklessly produced The Interview that almost started the Third World War and ended humanity with a nuclear holocaust. Now the President of the United States is taking care of that. Anyway, Firework was a huge hit – who sang it?
Lego House
Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasley) starred in the music video for this song, which was a huge hit when it was released back in 2011. The singer behind it has since gone on to become one of the most successful artists of all time. At one point, he had 16 of the songs in the top 20 chart. That’s unheard of. It means he had 80% of the music industry under his thumb. So, who was it that sang Lego House?
When Doves Cry
It was a great tragedy when this singer died in 2016, leaving a gaping hole in the world of music that can never again be filled. “How can you just leave me standing? / Alone in a world that’s so cold? / Maybe I’m just too demanding / Maybe I’m just like my father, too bold / Maybe you’re just like my mother / She’s never satisfied / Why do we scream at each other? / This is what it sounds like / When doves cry.” Who sang this song?
Diamonds
This song was written by Sia Furler, but it was sung by a pop star from Barbados. She recorded it for her seventh studio album, Unapologetic. Diamonds is a song about how diamonds – fun fact: the strongest naturally occurring material in the world – look beautiful when they’re in the sky and shine very brightly. This, of course, is all a metaphor for something else. What exactly that is, is up to the listener to interpret for themselves. So, who sings it?
Call Me Maybe
The lyrics of this song are not exactly nuanced and filled with colorful metaphors, and the meaning is not exactly open to interpretation. The opening of the song goes, “Hey, I just met you / And this is crazy / But here’s my number / So call me maybe.” Pretty obvious what that’s about. It was written by the same singer who sang it, a Canadian pop star. It was written as a folk song, but obviously didn’t pan out that way. Who sings it?
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
This song is a pop song, but it also mixes in subtle characteristics of R&B and soul. It was nominated for the Soul Train Music Award for Best Video of the Year. It was from the album named after the artist who sang it – it was her second studio album. I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a staple of nostalgic nightclubs. The song was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam of the band Boy Meets Girl – but who sang it?
Never Gonna Give You Up
This song has become kind of a joke, since it’s become the basis of a popular internet meme and it was the subject of ridicule in a routine by Bill Hicks. It is the signature song of the singer behind it, who will often do it last at his concerts and uses the line “And if you ask me how I’m feeling” to have a bit of banter with the audience about how he is actually feeling at the time. So, who sang it?
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is reported to be about the singer’s ex, actor Jake Gyllenhaal. One of her ex’s friends came into the recording studio when she and her team were struggling to come up with a new song to tell her about a rumor he’d heard that the two were getting back together. So, she was so angry that she picked up her guitar and started singing, and then this song was born. Who is the singer?
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
The song Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) is about how men are unwilling to commit to a relationship and propose marriage, which leads to the women leaving them and saying that if they wanted her to stick around, he should’ve proposed and given her an engagement ring and then she would know he was serious about being with her. The singer was saying all of this through her more aggressive Sasha Fierce alter ego. But what’s her original name?
...Baby One More Time
The parenthesis in the title here is in place of “Hit me.” The full version, as it is sung in the song, is “Hit me, baby, one more time.” The music video for the song has the artist in a Catholic high school where she dreams about running around the school, singing and dancing, and watching the guy she likes from a distance. It is one of the best selling singles of all time, with over 10 million copies sold. Who sings it?
The Lazy Song
The Lazy Song was released in 2010 on the album Doo-Wops & Hooligans and it was an instant hit, being nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Song and other accolades. It’s about how the singer doesn’t want to do anything on a certain day – a lazy day – so he unhooks the phone and just kicks back with the aim of hanging out with some monkey/human hybrids at home instead. So, who is the singer of The Lazy Song?
Poker Face
In Poker Face, the singer talks about how she has a great poker face that can’t be spotted when she’s playing card games, making her impossible to beat. It is one of the best selling singles of all time, having sold over 14 million copies. It was nominated for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 52nd Grammy Awards, and won the Award for Best Dance Recording. So, who is the singer of Poker Face?
Like a Virgin
In the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature film Reservoir Dogs, the characters discuss the song Like a Virgin. Mr. Brown tells the other guys, “Let me tell you what Like a Virgin is about. It’s all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It’s a metaphor for big dicks.” The artist behind the song – one of the most popular of all time – has since disputed this interpretation of the song’s meaning. Who is she?
Get the Party Started
When Get the Party Started was released, it was the artist’s best selling song that she had ever done. It was the song that made her a superstar. It made it onto the top ten charts in a whole bunch of different countries. It was released as a single to rave reviews before being featured on the artist’s album Missundaztood. This artist made headlines recently with an aspiring and positive message about the beauty of androgynous people. Which singer is it?
My Heart Will Go On
This song is also known as the Love Theme from Titanic, on account of the fact that the movie Titanic included My Heart Will Go On on its soundtrack and turned it into one of the highest selling tracks of the 1990s. Because the movie became the highest grossing movie of all time, the song shot to number one on chart listings all over the world, in countries including the United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, and Australia. Who sings it?
Happy
This song is from the movie Despicable Me 2, and like that movie, it dominated the summer of 2013. This artist composed that movie’s soundtrack – all of its original music – along with his collaborator Heitor Pereira. The song has been described as a mid-tempo soul and neo soul song, and the artist’s falsetto voice on the track has been compared by music critics to that of the great Curtis Mayfield (the guy who did Move On Up). But who sings it?
Royals
The artist behind this song – a young singer from New Zealand – broke a number of records when this song became a huge hit. For starters, she was the first ever solo act from New Zealand to top the Hot 100. She was also the youngest artist to have a single reach the number one spot since 1987. Her style goes against the norms of pop music, and maybe that’s why it struck such a chord with such a wide audience. Anyway, who is the singer?
Livin’ la Vida Loca
The phrase “la vida loca” from the title of this song is Spanish for “the crazy life.” This sexy Latin singer is living the crazy life and he loves it so much that he’s written a whole song about it and he’s singing it and dancing to it with serious vigor. It’s an infectious song that really grows on you – Puss in Boots performed it on the DVD of Shrek 2. The single was a massive success, having sold over 8 million copies. Who sings it?
Hollaback Girl
Maxim magazine has declared Hollaback Girl to be the Most Annoying Song Ever, but some people consider it to be their jam. It’s a very divisive piece of music. The artist has refused to reveal its meaning, so some satirists have sarcastically “interpreted” it. One wrote, “[The singer] is apparently the captain of the cheerleader squad; she is the girl who ‘hollas’ the chants, not one of the girls who simply ‘hollas’ them back.” Who is the singer in question?
SexyBack
SexyBack is one of the best selling singles of all time. It held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and it’s been certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker jokingly wrote of the song, “How DARE this dot-eyed, crop-haired, fun-sized, guff-tongued, pirouetting waif-boy scamper on to the world’s airwaves and loudly proclaim to be the sole global administrator of all things sexy?” Who is he referring to?
Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
The singer who blessed us with this pop rap hit from the ‘90s has since gone on to top the A list as a movie star in such movies as Men in Black, Independence Day, and I Am Legend, after breaking out as an actor under the same stage name he performed music under, the Fresh Prince, with a show in which he played pretty much himself: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. So, who is this highly famous actor/singer?
Hips Don’t Lie
Hips Don’t Lie is a certified triple platinum single, having sold over 4 million physical copies and over 13 million digital downloads. The famous Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean was added into the song for the reissue of the album it’s on, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, but he wasn’t always on it. The singer behind the song remains to this day to be the only artist from South America to reach the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100. Who is she?
Let’s Dance
This song was a huge hit. The artist behind it is one of most iconic and legendary and revolutionary and ingenious musical acts of all time, and when he died last year, it was a tragic loss to the world of music. He has a very diverse range of sounds, and this one is perhaps his most pop-y sounding track. Stevie Ray Vaughan is responsible for the guitar solo at the end of the song. But what singer is it?