2015 Future Mainstream Classics

[Image Credit: Uptown Funk Official Video]

Can I be honest and say that I don’t love 2015 music?

Every excellent A-list pop artists from Rihanna to One Direction fall flat trying to stage a comeback. Even Adele’s “Hello” is really just a cheesy Céline Dion send-up (which is a-okay, I do ENJOY cheese after all).

Somehow, the general public just doesn’t care about the good stuff.

Hilary Duff’s and Adam Lambert’s albums were terrific. Nick Jonas’ “Teacher” is the Song of the Summer that never was because Pitbull ripped it off and watered it down with “Fun”. And it’s unlikely that Adele’s “When We Were Young” will unseat “Hello” before 2015 ends.

But thankfully, the following seven songs managed to find the perfect balance between QUALITY and SUCCESS. That’s what Future Mainstream Classics is all about. Which songs make the cut?

[For complete list of all songs STAMPED as Future Mainstream Classics, follow this Pinterest board.]

Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk

I can’t decide what I like best: that bassy “doh-doh” hooks, the blaring retro horns, the chameleon MJ-like vocal styling or that irresistible Minneapolis groove which helped this song clock in 14 weeks at #1. Say, didn’t I crown him the new King of Pop two years ago?

Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do

This is a freaking progressive-rock song dressed in Top 40 earworm. The beat pulsates, Ellie masterfully teases with her silky coos, the drums slowly crash but never lets rip until the second refrain. This is foreplay done right!

Taylor Swift – Style

It’s nostalgic, it’s romantic, it’s pure pop’s aural pleasure, it’s the sound of your heart racing inside his/her skin-tight jeans, it’s basically the perfect twin sister to “Teenage Dream”. Forget the bad blood, I demand a mash-up!

Walk the Moon – Shut Up And Dance

Don’t be fooled by the indie-electro-new-wave-arena-rock outfit the band is wearing. At its heart, this is a straight-up pop song with classic 1960s lyricism. Nobody writes simplistic-but-yet-so-effective lines like “This woman is my destiny” anymore.

The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face

Six weeks before it hit #1, I predicted “I Can’t Feel My Face” would be HUGE just from one listen. But looking back, it was quite obvious. A former indie-R&B darling sold his soul to the devil in return for a Max Martin surefire. And the result is an unexpected, but surprisingly infectious, marriage of funky grooves and dark brooding synths with an unmistakably Michael Jackson charm.

Major Lazer and DJ Snake feat. MØ – Lean On

The ghost of EDM past has never left. It has simply taken a new shape in the world of orientalism and minimalistic beats that never explode, but simply warp into a bizzare series of cacophonous symphony.

George Ezra – Budapest

There’s quite a bit of folk revival going on in 2015. But where most of his peers look at Bon Iver for inspiration, George Ezra knows better and take his cues from true greats like Tom Waits and Van Morrison. “Budapest” is no pretentious look-how-deep-and-complex-I-am nonsense, it’s just great old-fashioned poetry.

Justin Bieber – Sorry

The rise of tropical EDM omnipresence can be traced back to this infectious dancehall tune, strategically written as an image makeover to a former brat who now symbolically ask for the public to take him back in.

What are your favorite songs from 2015?