Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
The end of the year is near and as lights and decorations go up, people switch over to Micheal Buble’s and Mariah Carey’s Christmas albums on Spotify. While I love belting out “Last Christmas” each year, it’s not the Christmas music that makes this season most memorable for me. Instead, it is the annual end-of-the-year myriad of mashups.
You may ask, “what is a mashup?” A mashup is song a DJ creates from a mix of backbeats and voice tracks from other songs. A common technique in recent mashups is creating new sets of coherent lyrics from various songs. In 2008, I stumbled upon DJ Earworm’s United States of Pop 2007, a compilation of Billboards Top 25 radio songs from 2007. He was one of the first to popularize this genre, and now many other DJs are joining in this new craze. During the holiday season, many DJs now tend to highlight the year’s most popular songs. Here is a playlist of songs (and music videos) everyone should check out that highlight some of the most popular songs from 2012. Happy mashing!
1) Pop Danthology 2012
Mashup of 50+ Pop Songs from 2012
2) Where Them Pop Girls At
Mashup of Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Britney Spears
3) I Am Fantastic Gangnam Style Baby
Mashup of BIGBANG, Psy, and 2NE1
4) Fly by Dj Earworm
Mashup of songs by artists who performed at the 2012 Capital FM Summertime Ball
5) Pop Culture by Madeon
Mashup of 39 Song Madeon likes (was featured in the 2012 Spring Rhythm and Motion Show!)
6) Ultimate Christmas Medley by Brett Domino Trio
Oh my, Christmas overload.