What has happened in music since Arts Award was born?

This December, we'll be celebrating Arts Award's 10th Birthday by asking you to vote for the best music from the last ten years! Here are some of our highlights to get you thinking…let us know what we've missed in the comments box.

What has happened in music since Arts Award was born?

We open with one-hit wonder James Blunt releasing his only charting song so far in his career with You're Beautiful back in 2005. He has remained a practically household musical name ever since, just off the back of this one hugely successful song. Fair play if you ask me. Write a song, spend the rest of your career writing pretty original tweets, sit pretty.

Also in 2005, a Live Aid-style concert was held to raise money for the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami victims.

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BBC News

I imagine a lot of people would see it as pretty scandalous if I didn't mention certain artists in this list. I think Amy Winehouse is one of them. One of the most original voices of the last decade - there was no one like Amy Winehouse. Her dark personal life made her almost an endearing artist to follow for many. Her short career saw her become an international superstar on the back of just two albums and 5 Grammys. Her death made global news shocking many.

What to say about the career of Kanye West? A narcissistic, megalomaniac, almost-genius whose work has made him one of the biggest rappers in history. Instrumental in that massive success was his first global hit, Stronger.

Another someone who might just be worth mentioning is this American singer called Beyoncé. Not sure if you've heard of her. She is the highest-selling black singer ever, has only released five solo albums, starred in ten films, headlined four tours as well as Glastonbury and is one of the most influential people in the world. She is worth about $250 million, too.

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BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

Kasabian have been in music since 1997 and have sewn themselves deeply into the fabric of British music. Their highest charting single so far is the iconic Fire from 2009 which was reused in adverts and promos about a million times. Hailed as one of the greatest rock songs ever, it's been part of holding up the indie/Britpop beacon for Kasabian.

The xx is probably the most successful alternative music group ever. While they haven't had huge money makers, they made some truly beautiful music including Intro which showed how well music works when it's just the instruments without the lyrics. A perfectly balanced song which gives us chills without words.

Alongside having massive success in the music industry with recognition from musical organisations, Lady Gaga is the 21st century artists with the most Guinness World Records!

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Wikipedia/Lady Gaga

Keeping things current, we have Adele. Her album, 21, sits pretty at one of the best-selling in history. It's the album which has sat longest atop both UK and US music charts, with all the album's three single releases hitting number one in the US whilst the album was at number 1. It sets a bunch of records, is considered a quintessential pop-soul record and is pretty emotional to boot.

The last ten years also gave us the rise, the fall, and the fall for Take That.

The Telegraph | Digital Spy

In Kasabian's good company is Arctic Monkeys. Their last album was there most commercially and critically successful yet. A friend of mine went so far as to review it as "one of the most important albums of the century". It was the album that got them the attention that they've gone on record to say they've never chased. Not only that, the 'AM' waveform of the album cover became tattoo fodder for their fans the world over.

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Bio/Amy-Winehouse | /Whitney-Houston | /Michael-Jackson

Taking the world by storm by almost giving Adele's impactful songwriting an up-tempo transformation is Sia. Her sophomore album made the Australian singer a global star with theme of acceptance and self-belief. Her ethic of not wanting her face to sell her music and hiding from fame has unified and fractured critics the world over. I happen to think it's inspired and is a statement against the superficiality which causes so much grief to our young people. You go, Sia.

Think we've missed something? Let us know in the comments and we'll add it to the selection!

Image courtesy of Flickr/JesseKruger

Author

Bhavesh Jadva

Bhavesh Jadva Voice Team

Former Media Editor on Voice and former Arts Award Editor on AAoV covering film, TV, music and comedy.

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1 Comments

  • Emrys Green

    On 29 October 2015, 12:28 Emrys Green Voice Team commented:

    Too many to choose from. But the Skyfall theme was a good hit? I also quite enjoyed some more indie stuff really.

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