These tracks just don't hit the same anymore. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at pieces of music released from 2010 to 2019 that, in light of dark events that occurred after their release, now induce chills.
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00:00You got a baby bands, you got some bad friends.
00:02High school pics, you was even bad then.
00:05You ain't stressing off no lover in the past tense.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:09And today we're looking at pieces of music released from 2010 to 2019
00:13that in light of dark events that occurred after their release,
00:16now induced chills.
00:18Out of respect for those involved,
00:20all entries to follow are unranked
00:22and listed in chronological order of album release date.
00:25Who cares if one more light goes out in the sky of a million stars?
00:35TikTok Kesha
00:37Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy
00:40Grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit this city
00:44Wake up in the morning feeling like...
00:46Wait, who?
00:48Long before we were made aware of Sean Diddy Combs's literal dozens of assault charges,
00:52he was a freewheeling, seemingly ubiquitous hip-hop mogul.
00:56Music, movies, brand deals, you name it.
00:59Diddy was everywhere.
01:00It made sense then that emerging pop singer Kesha
01:03name-dropped the rapper-producer in the opening line of her breakthrough hit.
01:06Don't stop, make it pop
01:08DJ, blow my speakers up tonight
01:11I'ma fight till we see the sunlight
01:14After Combs was arrested on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in 2024,
01:19TikTok threatened to disappear from the public consciousness entirely
01:23due to its association with the performer.
01:25Thankfully, Kesha had already changed the song's lyrics
01:28to denounce Combs in live performances,
01:30with plans for a full studio re-recording in the works.
01:34You build me up, you break me down
01:38My heart in pounds, yeah, you got me
01:42Pumped Up Kicks
01:43Foster the People
01:44Rob's got quick hands
01:47He looked around the room, won't tell you his plans
01:51This seemingly breezy indie pop tune was inescapable in the early 2010s,
01:56playing at every mall food court,
01:58dentist's office, and children's birthday party.
02:01What we all failed to consider at the time, though,
02:03was the song's pitch-dark lyrics,
02:05which detail the inner life of a fictional mass shooter.
02:09In the status quo, they ain't gonna wear to the box office
02:12No, they ain't gonna wear to the box office
02:14Lead singer-songwriter Mark Foster has said that the song stemmed from his desire
02:18to raise awareness for gun control,
02:20expressing his feeling that, quote,
02:22mental illness among youth had skyrocketed in the last decade.
02:25With such violence and epidemic that has continued to plague the United States,
02:29Pumped Up Kicks remains an unfortunately timely anthem
02:32over a decade after its initial release.
02:35All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
02:38You better run from me, run from me
02:40I don't run from my guns
02:42Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell and T.I.
02:46If you can't hear what I'm trying to say
02:50If you can't read from the same page
02:54Admittedly, Blurred Lines felt uncomfortable right from the start.
02:58Critics praised its funky, danceable sound,
03:00courtesy of featured artist Pharrell Williams,
03:02but they condemned the song for its ambiguous stance
03:05on the necessity of consent in intimate encounters.
03:08Despite being pop veteran Thicke's mainstream breakthrough
03:10and reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100,
03:13the song faced significant backlash.
03:16Okay, now he was close
03:18Tried to domesticate you
03:20But you're an animal
03:22Baby, it's in your nature
03:24The true turning point wasn't the lawsuit by Marvin Gaye's estate,
03:28which successfully argued that Thicke and Thicke's relationship
03:30which successfully argued that Thicke and Williams
03:33had plagiarized Gaye's Gotta Give It Up.
03:35Rather, it was model and actor Emily Ratajkowski's 2021 revelation
03:39that Thicke had groped her on the set of the Blurred Lines music video.
03:43I know you want it
03:45I know you want it
03:46You're a good girl
03:48Do What You Want, Lady Gaga featuring R. Kelly.
03:52You're just not my body
03:54You can't stop my boy
03:56Because you don't own my life
03:59In what seemed like an inherently questionable decision,
04:02Gaga recruited the already disgraced R&B mainstay R. Kelly because,
04:06as she explained,
04:07quote,
04:08this is a real R&B song,
04:09and I have to call the king of R&B for his blessing.
04:12At the time,
04:13Kelly was already embroiled in legal troubles
04:16and was later convicted of sex trafficking charges in 2019.
04:20Early morning, longer nights
04:22Time for private flights
04:25Crazy schedule, fast life
04:27It's more than a little cringeworthy to hear him singing about
04:30doing whatever he wants with someone's body.
04:32After the release of Surviving R. Kelly,
04:35Gaga publicly apologized for collaborating with him
04:38and replaced his version of the song on streaming services
04:41with a remix featuring Christina Aguilera.
04:43I could be the drink in your cup
04:46I could be the dream in your blunt
04:47Don't push a man, yeah, I got what you want
04:50I took a pill in Ibiza
04:51Mike Posner featuring Seed
04:53Took a pill in Ibiza
04:56To show a feature I was cool
04:58On the face of it,
04:59there doesn't seem to be anything particularly disturbing
05:02about the cooler-than-me hitmaker's tropical house banger.
05:05However, like Pumped Up Kicks,
05:07listen a little closer to the song's vulnerable lyrics
05:10and you'll find a raw, heartbreaking indictment of fame.
05:13Posner laments the hollow nature of what it means to be a celebrity
05:16and just how false and fleeting Hollywood success can be.
05:20That's what I took a pill in Ibiza is about
05:22I say I'm just a singer
05:23Who already blew his shot
05:25I get along with old-timers
05:27Cause my name's a reminder of a pop song people forgot
05:30Somehow, that is not even the most disturbing part.
05:33That would be the fact that name-dropped Avicii
05:36would take his own life in 2018.
05:38Knowing that turns a dancefloor anthem
05:41into an uneasy tribute to the Swedish DJ,
05:43who had reportedly struggled with mental illness
05:46and substance use disorder for years.
05:48Point being, he never cared,
05:51unlike almost everybody in the music industry,
05:54he never cared if I was number one or number a million.
05:58Blackstar, David Bowie
06:07Leave it to David Bowie to do everything
06:09with a tantalizing dash of mystery,
06:11even his own death.
06:13Bowie released the Blackstar album on January 8th, 2016,
06:17preceded by its title track and Lazarus as singles.
06:20Little did the public know about his valiant battle with liver cancer,
06:24which would claim his life on January 10th,
06:27nearly two days after the album's debut.
06:34Little by little,
06:35devastated Bowie fans realized that the song,
06:38its music video and accompanying album
06:40contained hints and Easter eggs
06:42that seemed to allude to his impending death.
06:44Pay close attention to Blackstar's cryptic morbid lyrics
06:47if you don't believe us.
07:06It's unlikely that fans of nu-metal stalwarts Linkin Park
07:09were at all surprised to hear them experimenting
07:11with new genres of music on their One More Light album.
07:14That said, one song that might have caught them off guard
07:17was the record's title track,
07:19an uncharacteristically mellow, affecting ballad
07:21that finds frontman Chester Bennington
07:23expressing solidarity with those suffering privately.
07:34The song turned into a moving tribute
07:36after Bennington took his own life in 2017.
07:39It is the last single Linkin Park released with Bennington
07:42as their lead singer,
07:43nearly three months after his July 20th passing.
07:46Who cares when someone's time runs out
07:50If a moment is all we are
08:04Almost everything about this emo rap classic
08:06could send a chill down your spine.
08:08Juice WRLD, born Jared Higgins,
08:10was just 21 at the time of his death,
08:12the result of a December 2019 oxycodone and codeine overdose.
08:16Looking back, it's clear that the Chicago native
08:19had a certain preoccupation with death and dying.
08:21In some ways, the concept permeated nearly every song the rapper wrote.
08:33This is perhaps no more apparent than on Legends,
08:36in which Higgins accurately predicts his own death,
08:39down to the age he'd be when it would happen.
08:42Even creepier, Higgins recorded the song as a tribute
08:45to already-deceased rappers Lil Peep and XXXTentacion.
09:03Canadian rapper Aubrey Drake Graham
09:06has consistently maintained a reputation
09:07as hip-hop's resident lover boy,
09:09incorporating once-unconventional themes into his music.
09:12These included highly vulnerable accounts of his experiences with women.
09:16It was this reputation, though, that served as fodder
09:19for his fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar,
09:21who engaged in a widely-publicized beef with Drake in early 2024.
09:31Most damningly of all,
09:32Lamar accused Graham of inappropriate conduct with underage girls.
09:37This charge causes a particular line in Nice For What
09:40to take on an entirely new context.
09:42She was bad even then?
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10:08Murder On My Mind
10:10YNW Melly
10:13On its own, Murder On My Mind serves as a catchy,
10:21if painfully dark meditation on inner-city gang violence.
10:24Melly spins a descriptive first-person tale about what it means to take a life.
10:28While this was mere fiction at the time of its writing in 2016,
10:32Murder On My Mind was subject to renewed attention
10:35when its performer was charged with double homicide in February 2019.
10:42Posting to his official Instagram account shortly after turning himself in,
10:52Melly reassured fans that,
10:54Unfortunately, a lot of rumors and lies are being said.
10:57But no worries, God is with me and my brother."
10:59The Florida native, whose first trial ended with a deadlocked jury,
11:03is set to be tried again in September 2025.
11:12Murder On My Mind
11:14Which 2010 song is hard for you to listen to nowadays?
11:18Let us know in the comments below.
11:26Did you enjoy this video?
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