Arts & Society’s Staff Picks is a column bringing readers the staff’s favorite albums, songs, TV Shows, and movies. For the third edition, writers from the Arts & Society section of The Greyhound compiled and submitted their top five favorites in each of the categories, with one criterion: they had to represent favorites from the 2010’s decade. Read below, and let us know whether you agree with our choices @loyolagreyhound on Twitter and @thegreyhoundnews on Instagram and Facebook.
Songs
Music during the 2010s saw the embrace of big pop records during the beginning of the decade to huge cultural hip hop imprints later on with a mix of indie and alternative genre-bending in between. From the bombast of “Teenage Dream” to the rally of “Formation” and the defiance of “Royals,” here are the songs that defined the 2010s:
Adele, “Rolling In the Deep” (2011)
Anderson .Paak, “Come Down” (2016)
Anderson.Paak, “Make It Better” (2019)
Ariana Grande, “no tears left to cry” (2018)
Ariana Grande, “thank u, next”* (2018)
Bazzi, “Paradise” (2019)
Benny Blanco feat. Halsey and Khalid, “Eastside” (2018)
Beyoncé, “Formation”* (2016)
Bruno Mars, “When I Was Your Man” (2012)
Chance the Rapper, “Angels” (2015)
Childish Gambino, “IV. Sweatpants” (2013)
Coldplay, “Everglow” (2015)
Dermot Kennedy, “An Evening I Will Not Forget” (2019)
Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, “Sunday Candy” (2015)
Frank Ocean, “Self Control” (2016)
Harry Styles, “Ever Since New York” (2017)
The Head and the Heart, “Rivers and Roads” (2011)
Hozier, “Work Song” (2014)
J. Cole, “Neighbors” (2016)
Jon Bellion, “Run Wild” (2014)
Kacey Musgraves, “Rainbow” (2018)
Katy Perry, “Teenage Dream”* (2010)
Kendrick Lamar, “King Kunta” (2015)
Kendrick Lamar, “Swimming Pools (Drank)” (2012)
Lady Gaga, “The Edge of Glory” (2011)
Lil Nas X, “Old Town Road” (2019)
Lizzo, “Good as Hell” (2016)
Lorde, “Green Light” (2017)
Lorde, “Royals”* (2013)
Maggie Rogers, “Fallingwater” (2018)
Maggie Rogers, “Retrograde” (2019)
Old Dominion, “Song for Another Time” (2015)
One Direction, “Stockholm Syndrome” (2014)
Panic! At the Disco, “Death of a Bachelor”(2016)
Post Malone, “Circles” (2019)
Rex Orange County, “Loving Is Easy” (2017)
Russ, “CIVIL WAR” (2019)
Ryn Weaver, “OctaHate” (2015)
Sabaton, “The Last Stand” (2016)
Small Forward, “The Reservoir”(2017)
SZA, “The Weekend” (2017)
Tame Impala, “Eventually” (2015)
Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”* (2014)
Taylor Swift, “King of My Heart” (2017)
Tyler, the Creator, “GONE GONE / THANK YOU” (2019)
The 1975, “Somebody Else” (2016)
Movies
Cinema this past decade saw box office knockouts like the “Star Wars” revival and Marvel’s dominance. Filmmakers pushed genre in directions unexplored (“Hereditary”) or abided by genre conventions in all the best ways possible (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”). From the “Avengers” franchise wrapping up to the critical acclaim of “Spotlight,” check below for our favorites from the past decade:
“Avengers: Endgame” (2019)**
“Avengers: Infinity War” (2017)**
“Baby Driver” (2017)
“Black Swan” (2010)
“Brooklyn” (2015)
“Call Me By Your Name” (2017)**
“Django Unchained” (2012)
“Free Solo” (2018)
“Friends with Benefits” (2011)
“Frozen” (2013)
“Frozen 2” (2019)
“Furious 7” (2015)
“Get Out” (2017)
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” (2011)
“Hereditary” (2017)
“Inception”* (2010)
“Interstellar” (2014)
“Joker” (2019)*
“Knives Out” (2019)
“La La Land” (2016)**
“Lady Bird” (2017)**
“Moana” (2016)
“Room”* (2015)
“Shutter Island” (2010)
“Spotlight” (2015)*
“The Social Network”* (2010)
“A Star Is Born” (2018)**
“Star Wars: Force Awakens” (2015)*
“Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” (2019)
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2018)
“12 Years a Slave” (2013)
TV Shows
Unlike the sitcoms and reality shows of past years, television shows from the 2010s appealed to more niche audiences and employed a more focused voice. Tendencies to appeal to the masses were replaced with streaming-era novelties. From the sardonic humor of “Fleabag” to the larger-than-life “Game of Thrones,” here are our favorite TV shows from the past 10 years:
“The Bachelor” (2002-Present)
“Big Mouth” (2017-Present)
“Black Mirror”** (2011-Present)
“Bojack Horseman” (2014-2020)
“Breaking Bad”* (2008-2013)
“Broad City” (2014-2019)
“The Crown” (2016-Present)
“Daredevil” (2015-2018)
“Euphoria” (2019-Present)
“Fleabag” (2016-2019)
“Game of Thrones”*** (2011-2019)
“Grey’s Anatomy” (2005-Present)
“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” (2019-Present)
“Jane the Virgin”* (2014-2019)
“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” (1999-Present)
“A Million Little Things” (2018-Present)
“Modern Family”* (2009-Present)
“Master of None” (2015-2017)
“The Mandalorian” (2019-Present)
“Narcos” (2015-2017)
“NCIS” (2003-Present)
“The Office”*** (2005-2013)
“Orange Is the New Black” (2013-2019)
“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” (2016)
“Parks and Recreation”** (2009-2015)
“Santa Clarita Diet” (2017 – 2019)
“Shameless” (2011-Present)
“The Society”(2019-Present)
“Stranger Things”*** (2016-Present)
“This is US”* (2016-Present)
“30 Rock” (2006-2013)
Albums
Even in the streaming age where playlists reign supreme, albums are not dead. These bodies of work show that artists are still prioritizing concepts, whether it be the growing pains of “Melodrama” to the heartache of “21.” Plus, J. Cole went platinum without any features! Check below for the full list of our favorites from the 2010s:
Adele, “21” (2011)
Ariana Grande, “My Everything” (2014)
Arctic Monkeys, “AM”* (2013)
Bazzi, “Soul Searching” (2019)
Beyoncé, “BEYONCÉ” (2013)
Beyoncé, “Lemonade”* (2016)
Billie Eilish, “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” (2019)
Chance the Rapper, “Coloring Book” (2016)
Childish Gambino, “Awaken, My Love!” (2016)
Coldplay, “A Head Full of Dreams” (2015)
Coldplay, “Mylo Xyloto” (2011)
The Decemberists, “The King Is Dead” (2011)
Fall Out Boy, “Save Rock and Roll” (2013)
Florence +the Machine, “How Big How Blue How Beautiful” (2015)
Frank Ocean, “Blonde” (2016)
George Ezra, “Staying at Tamara’s” (2018)
Harry Styles, “Fine Line”* (2019)
Harry Styles, “Harry Styles” (2017)*
Hiatus Kaiyote, “Choose Your Weapon” (2015)
Hozier, “Hozier” (2014)
Khalid, “American Teen” (2017)
J Cole, “2014 Forest Hills Drive”* (2014)
Jon Bellion, “The Human Condition”** (2016)
Jorja Smith, “Lost & Found” (2018)
Kacey Musgraves, “Golden Hour” (2018)
Kali Uchis, “Isolation” (2018)
Kanye West, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (2010)
Kanye West, “Yeezus” (2013)
Kendrick Lamar, “To Pimp a Butterfly” (2015)
Lady Gaga, “Born This Way” (2011)
Lady Gaga, “Joanne” (2016)
Lorde, “Melodrama”* (2017)
Maggie Rogers, “Heard It In a Past Life” (2019)
Megadeth, “Dystopia” (2016)
Mumford & Sons, “Wilder Mind” (2015)
Old Dominion, “Meat and Candy” (2015)
One Direction, “Made in the AM” (2015)
Rihanna, “Loud” (2010)
Ryn Weaver, “The Fool” (2015)
Sabaton, “The Great War” (2019)
Sabaton, “Heroes” (2014)
Sabaton, “The Last Stand” (2016)
Taylor Swift, “1989” (2014)
Taylor Swift, “Red”** (2012)
Tyler, the Creator, “Flower Boy” (2017)
The 1975, “The 1975” (2013)
*Denotes more than one panelist voted for this selection. Multiple asterisks indicate the corresponding amount of votes accordingly.
Participating panel: Matty Brown, Carly Dacanay, Carlos Balazs, Anjali Chanda, Lily McGuire-Eggleston, Olivia Brown, Stefan Joyce, Katie Quigley, Marley Scheld, Abby Newman, Kathryn McLane
