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The 10's also became the most successful period for a couple of pop musicians that were already these huge prominent veterans at that point. For instance, Pharrell Williams achieved his biggest successes then. I mean the 10's were the era that finally recognized him as an important songsmith on his own. Check his biggest hit from the time and marvel how he basically takes what could have a Marvin Gaye fan fiction – yes, I can notice some similarties to a certain tune by the famous soul singer – and makes the entire thing his own. Sure, there are several traces that serve as tip of the hat to his idol – Pharrell likes to do that –, yet he also finds a way to bring the whole thing into the 10's with his production.

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What might have been the era that the 10's pop hits mostly seem similar to in a lot of aspects? Personally, I am reminded of the 80's, when I discuss the 10's pop. Both of these eras had a certain sense of unreality present in their biggest songs. Check the tune on the link, which sounds like a glorious celebration of capitalism, though you do have to admit they do this in an ironic way. True, how many actually noticed this satirical edge remains up to a healthy debate – I believe the piece dilutes that possibility with the maximalist production the musicians deploy in here – and I also ask myself how many mistook the sarcastic nihilism here for a real one. Hm, are we dealing with another warning sign we missed?

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The funny thing about the 10's pop hits might be the fact they weren't liked much. For instance, LMFAO were mocked back then, when they had their big successes, which always seemed a bit too goofy to be taken seriously. Mind you, I'm not suggesting they're now seen as one of the masters of pop – I could be wrong, though, I don't follow the discourse on them that much –, yet they did know what they were doing. You see, I consider them to be one of those that managed to mix EDM and pop into an intoxicating blend that in their case sounds gloriously stupid and I mean that in the best possible way. Sure, this is one of those ditties you consider to be a bit too much to handle, yet you also can't stop dancing to that.

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What can one actually locate in several of these 10's pop chestnuts? I mean, I notice a certain optimism present in these tunes as there is a chance anything can happen without being obvious about that, yet there's also a sense of an ephemereality present there. One could've foreseen these tunes as a warning for our times. For instance, doesn't the chorus of the tune on the link by Emma Louise serve as a great phrase about the way doomscrolling affects our brains? I agree, this is another reading going towards way out there in order to serve a poptimism ideology, yet I still believe there might be something in that vein present here. Then again, the modern times made this reading feasible, I'm sure no one saw that one back then.

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What I say in this 10's pop lookout? I think I'm planning to get a bit too solipsist in my choices of the 10's songs. Sure, the tune on the link was popular, but was that really that popular? The group was one of the many whose major tune became something of a mixed blessing thanks to the latter both giving them a career and also tanking that at the same. Then again, one can recognize why that happened thanks the way the musicians captured the zeitgeist by sounding vaguely optimistic with their haziness. I won't go with my chillwave observation again – ah, wait, well, the truth is they do move there, though do they actually go there? While they point towards the direction, they leave the latter for a different shape.

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The 10's popular tunes? I mean, I'm unsure how to see what was popular in the 10's now, though I notice a pattern of haziness present in the sound. For instance, the tune on the link from The Naked And The Famous felt like an answer to a question no one ever asked – what do you get, when you mix rock and chillwave? True, the chillwave part seems a bit – ha! – ephemereal to the whole composition, but I observe the sonic ethos of the genres as the hit sounds like a half-remembered battle anthem that is sung after a memory trigger. Sure, the emotions are still there, but the times are distant now you can only perceive them as an echo. Still, there are some parts that still hit harder than one would have assumed.

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My discussion on the second albums proved that they are not always the worst things that can happen to their musicians as one sees, though they do serve as the great signposts. For instance, Major Lazer is one such project that was meant to be a huge success, yet the trio needed more time to balance what they tried to achieve, i.e. they should've been seen as one of the building blocks of the 10's pop thanks to the maximalism they hinted at on their second album. You see, they always hovered over a possibility they could end up being understood as a laughing stock and I assume some did scoff at their over-the-topness, though the latter remains a part of their charm. Then again, they chose the guest vocalists that could keep up with that without losing their plot.

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There is a myriad of second albums that cannot really decide what they wish to do and they end up being weirdly out-of-sync with their own later on. Chromatics' second album was one such work, a platter of a much different group we got later on. The genre they were in at that time was closer to the post-punk revival of the period, which seemed to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown. They went over that to sharpen themselves into a more athmospheric direction. I mean, locate some of their demos from that point of their career to notice they always planned to go into the consequent version of the collective, they just needed the musicians to focus on that sort of a soundscape, because their original incarnation did not have those.

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There are some second albums that turned their musicians into these figures we still know now, but was that really a good thing then? To give you an example – Gerry Rafferty became popular with his second album, though the latter sadly ruined him on the long run. Sure, he did have a career thanks to City To City, but ask anyone, if there's any other song by him besides the piece on the link they recall? You see, he had many great ones, yet I must admit I get well why that one resonated. While the tune does sound highly melancholic, one also notices a strong resilience of the protagonist thanks to the instrumental choices. He wishes to tell us that the things are quite bad at the moment, though he will survive and he will soar above them.

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Several second albums pointed towards the venues their musicians abandoned later on thanks to the issues that plagued them. For instance, For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music found them sharper and better, yet the seams could be already seen. The group became a battlefield for both Eno and Ferry, yet we all know the latter won at the end. Still, let us play a game – what if they declared a truce? I mean, I sort of see a different Roxy Music then, this verson wouldn't have ended on Avalon, since For Your Pleasure pointed towards a more cynical version of the group, their swan song might be a cruel joke. Then again, even Eno admitted him being sacked was for the best, though one's mind does boggle about the uncharted paths their second LP showed.

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Some seconds albums did not really do much damage to their musicians, they actually enriched them. For instance, Ryuichi Sakamoto basically outdid whatever synthpop was doing at the time with B-2 Unit. However, we mustn't forget he didn't merely continue what he did with Yellow Magic Orchestra, he went further – the track on the link shows many IDM musicians paid attention –, though I ask myself how the West saw him at that point. We cherish Sakamoto now for what he represented, yet the early 80's weren't really a period where a musician from Japan achieved that much prominence. Sure, he did get ther in the later part of the period, yet how did the West see him at the point of B-2 Unit? He basically invented techno, yet does the West acknowledge that?

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These second albums have a strange characteristic of being a huge challenge. In the case of Simply Red? That might be true, since they stumbled with their second album. Then again, this was the case with many of the similar groups, i.e. their debut cast a huge shadow thanks to the success and the reception, though most of them consequently made better follow-ups to their second LPs, their failure at them didn't derail them. However, listen to Men And Women again. Sure, this is more of the same, but Hucknall and the rest of the group don't half-ass anything. I agree, this might be a bigger problem – they try to cover the fact the material is not that strong, so they attempt to make the pieces better wit the sheer power of their force. They are half-way there, though …

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We cannot claim these second albums mostly suck. For instance, Björk's Post made her her. I agree, her debut was already a sign of an intriguing solo personality, but I would claim Post gave those who weren't sure of her – I'm uncertain about the why of this all, though the 90's had their share of peculiarities – a chance to check her again and be surprised, since what they found was a type of a musician you couldn't really pinpoint to anything. Sure, you could possibly hear her sing with Massive Attack at the time, but she would've probably scared them with her incredibile curiosity that dwarfs theirs. Moreover, she continued her development as she could've done more of the same. True, she became her own genre.

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Skunk Anansie did succeed. With what? Well, they appear to have made a fine second album, since they could've been done by the latter. FKA twigs also did well with Magdalene, the follow-up to her debut, though you do ask yourself, if she succeeded thanks to her label. Mind you, I'm not suggesting she's a product of her label – she's brilliant without the latter –, yet Young Turks were probably heavily supportive of her deepening her idiom. I assume any other house would've wished for her to stay in the vicinity of her debut, wheeas Young Turks let her go wild and they even called some of their mainstays to provide her with the sonic possibilities she then augmented with her own skills. While she's still in R&B, she's moving in the uncharted shapes of that style.

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When I discussed these long-deserved successes and all that they mostly did to their different musicians, I made the whole thing sound more negative than I intended that with the words I chose. Look, some actually became much better after them and they have to thanks for the opportunities these gave them. For instance, Skunk Anansie achieved their heights with their second album. The latter also showed such endeavours don't have to destroy their musicians. Still, you do notice they inhabitted the zeitgest well. Perhaps they did do that a bit too well, which made their consequent work a bit of a letdown. Moreover, we mustn't forget Skin, their singer, who remains one of the best voices in alternative rock and who is sadly underappreciated, I fear.

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Several of these long-deserved successes did not really show the whole picture of their musicians that much as they mostly present the easily digestible version of their players. Blink-182, for instance, were a group that seemed way too tied to their time, though their recent work proved they can still surprise us. Still, we won't deal with the latter, we're checking the work that gave them the status they continue to have, i.e. Enema Of The State. You do notice they still had a lot of maturity in front of them, but think of this – they became the biggest name in their style thanks to their Jackass-like energy, yet we mustn't forget they also possessed an incredible vulnerability, which made them an outlier on the scene they were on.

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A couple of these long-deserved successes became something of a huge albatross around their musicians' necks, yet some of these managed to move on. For instance – while Carly Rae Jepsen's Kiss remains her biggest seller, I must say I'm happy to notice she's being cherished for what she does to pop. Then again, Kiss already showed her as a singer that knows how to deal with the structure and the zeitgeist, though this wouldn't matter without an element of surprise, which makes a good pop tune soar above average. I mean, the piece on the link might seem like a sweet ditty, but check the lyrics and notice Mrs. Jepsen can twist this into the shapes you're not sure how to feel. She speaks the language and what goes behind that.