Despite what you may have heard over and over and over ... 2014's music was not "All About That Bass."
Not that Meghan Trainor's hit went unnoticed. Hardly. It has been on the charts for six months and is still in the Top 10.
If 2014 has to be about any one thing, it would likely be Taylor Swift.
The singer-songwriter was 2014's most significant artist; she hit a new creative and commercial high with her album 1989. Its first week, it sold 1.3 million copies, unheard of these days, and was the first to top 1 million in one week since Swift's Red was released in 2012. The album has received mostly glowing reviews.
The first single, "Shake It Off," quickly rose to No. 1, which is where the second single, "Blank Space," currently resides. The Grammy Awards nominated "Shake It Off" for record and song of the year. 1989's October release came too late for album of the year consideration.
However, that hasn't stopped 1989 from appearing on several publications' best albums list, including Rolling Stone (No. 10), American Songwriter (No. 4), The Philadelphia Inquirer (No. 10) and Time magazine (No. 10).
Though 1989 has only been on the market for two months, it finished 2014 as the third best-selling album of the year. The two ahead of it -- the Frozen soundtrack and Beyonce's 3 -- were released in 2013.
But that's not all Swift did to stir the popular music pot.
After writing an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal about streaming music services, Swift pulled her catalog from the website Spotify. Swift's beef was simple: She didn't want her albums available on free, on-demand streaming services. The debate continues, pitting free, advertiser-supported streaming against paid subscription streaming. It's a debate we will hear a lot about in 2015.
Other developments helped make 2014 memorable:
• U2's decision to release their Songs of Innocence
album through Apple, which gave it away free to all its iTunes customers, whether they wanted it or not. Not everyone appreciated the gift, forcing Apple to set up a website to help people delete it. Still, U2 raked in the big bucks.
Rolling Stone proclaimed Songs of Innocence the year's best album. The Los Angeles Times, however, described it as "unsurprising and mostly unmemorable" and called it the worst release of 2014.
• Thom Yorke of Radiohead's different release route. His album Tomorrow's Modern Boxes was distributed via a BitTorrent "bundle"-- free to download but costing $6 to unlock the album. It is not known how many of the reportedly 4 million or so people who took the download paid up. If 10 percent did, that's sales of at least 400,000, or $2.4 million. BitTorrent takes 10 percent.
• The emergence of new female pop artists such as Trainor, Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, Charli XCX. These new stars -- particularly Azalea, Grande and Charli XCX -- often sang on each other's tunes. Also making an impression were indie rocker St. Vincent and avant-R&B performer FKA Twigs.
• Beyonce, riding the crest of her surprise December 2013 release of 3, had one of the year's biggest tours. "Drunk in Love," a duet with husband Jay-Z, was a huge hit. The singer's public and private life intersected frequently as she dealt with tours, scandal and rumors about her marriage. The entertainer also brought her perspective on women's concerns to her new music, tour and TV appearances. Beyonce as feminist sparked much social media discussion.
• Run the Jewels emerged as hip-hop's brightest new act with their politically charged storytelling.
• Lorde continued to surprise with her excellent work on the soundtrack of Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1.
• Pharrell Williams and John Legend hit new career heights. Williams, a multi-award-winning producer and songwriter (Daft Punk, et al.) hit the charts big on his own with "Happy," securing an Oscar nomination for the song from Despicable Me 2. Legend, the talented singer-songwriter discovered by Kanye West, had a monster hit with the ballad and new wedding song favorite "All of Me," which has been on the charts for nearly a year.
• A new British invasion has been led by singers Sam Smith (Grammy nominee for best new artist), Ed Sheeran (also Grammy-nominated) and Calvin Harris. Ireland's Hozier pushed his way into the Grammy Awards with a songwriting nomination for "Take Me to Church."
• There was a resurgence of dad and granddad rock as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Hiatt, Billy Joe Shaver, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson and Leonard Cohen showed age need not be a barrier to creative growth.
• Comebacks. D'Angelo dropped the stunning Black Messiah on Dec. 15, his first new album in 14 years. Mary J. Blige went to England and recorded The London Sessions with Sam Smith and other English stars. It was her best and most inspired work in years.
• Shawn Mendes, who released an EP this summer, got his break courtesy of the six-second video-sharing app Vine.
• The backlash against Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," combined with the stalker-esque vibe of his new music, doomed his album Paula.
• Miranda Lambert dominated country music and made a splash in pop with her album Platinum, her best work yet. Some of country's most interesting music also came from Angeleena Presley (Lambert's cohort in Pistol Annies), Little Big Town ("Day Drinking" is one of the year's best singles), Hurray for the Riff Raff and newcomer Sam Hunt.
• Garth Brooks is back. The country artist hit the road, including three nights in Little Rock, and drew huge crowds. He released a new studio album, Man Against Machine, but in the year-end wrap-ups, a 2013 release, the six-CD, two-DVD boxed set Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences ended up in Billboard's Top 10 best-selling country album list.
• Lana Del Rey proved her mettle and creativity with her lush noir/retro album Ultraviolence. This impressive set of songs and performances has proved she has the goods.
• After 13 songs in various stages of completion were leaked on the Internet, Madonna released six tunes from her forthcoming album, Rebel Heart. The response was immediate: She went to the top of iTunes charts in more than 40 countries. The album is expected to be released March 10. The tunes feature producers Kanye West and Diplo and singer Nicki Minaj.
Style on 01/04/2015