Category Archives: 2010s songs

The best 500 songs from the 2010s. Lyrics, meanings and interpretations from your favorite musicians. Adele, Halsey, Sara Bareilles, Grouplove, Sia, The 1975, Harry Styles. Find out our highest ranked music acts of the 2010 decade. It was a great decade for music.

2010s songs, breakup songs

#453 All I Ask- Adele

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It matters how this ends/
Cause what if I never love again?

Adele’s “All I Ask” is about a relationship that is at an end. On this last night together Adele asks her man that they treat each other kindly cause what if they never find love again? Even if they are just pretending…that is enough for her. And she knows it would be pretending…by the look in his eyes she can tell that he doesn’t love her anymore.

She will revisit this theme in another song on this list. It is a unique feeling that I have not heard many (any?) other artists express, but two of Adele’s great songs are about this very theme. Adele’s voice can elevate any song to another level, and this is both well-written and beautifully sung.

All I Ask meaning
Adele

Adele’s “All I Ask” is one of the more recent songs on this Top 500 Greatest Song List. It is admittedly easier to judge songs as they age. Can you still enjoy a song after hearing it 50 times? That is a great song. Songs in the 2010s will have a more difficult time getting on this list…but many still made it! It has been a good decade for music.

Adele may be the biggest superstar of this past decade, but I will argue there is one person higher…but it is close…and I would certainly be fine with anyone who argues that Adele will be the biggest star alive.

All I Ask Lyrics

I will leave my heart at the door
I won’t say a word
They’ve all been said before you know
So why don’t we just play pretend
Like we’re not scared of what’s coming next
Or scared of having nothing left

Look, don’t get me wrong
I know there is no tomorrow
All I ask is

If this is my last night with you
Hold me like I’m more than just a friend
Give me a memory I can use
Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do
It matters how this ends
‘Cause what if I never love again?

I don’t need your honesty
It’s already in your eyes
And I’m sure my eyes, they speak for me
No one knows me like you do
And since you’re the only one that matters
Tell me who do I run to?

Look, don’t get me wrong
I know there is no tomorrow
All I ask is

If this is my last night with you
Hold me like I’m more than just a friend
Give me a memory I can use
Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do
It matters how this ends
‘Cause what if I never love again?

Let this be our lesson in love
Let this be the way we remember us
I don’t wanna be cruel or vicious
And I ain’t asking for forgiveness
All I ask is

If this is my last night with you
Hold me like I’m more than just a friend
Give me a memory I can use
Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do
It matters how this ends
‘Cause what if I never love again?

Songwriters: Adele Laurie Adkins / Bruno Mars / Christopher Brown / Philip Lawrence

2010s songs, authenticity

#444 Beneath Your Beautiful- Labrinth/ Emile Sande

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Take it off now girl, take it off now girl/
I wanna see inside.
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight.

“Beneath Your Beautiful” is a classic guy/girl duet sung by Labrinth and Emilie Sande. He sees her as beautiful. He sees her reject all the guys probably because it makes her feel good to do it. But that won’t scare him away. He is going to get to know her…underneath her beautiful.

She sees him constantly dropping girls and she doubts he’d even know how to quit if he wanted to, but she too sees something within him and “wants to see beneath you beautiful.”

Beneath Your Beautiful Meaning
Sande

“See Beneath Your Beautiful” is about two people who want to see the real insides of each other, not just the public personae that is available that we present to the world. For some people who have crafted their public image or look so perfectly that beauty is difficult to see past. The contrast in the voices adds to the song. Sande is an up and comer (if she’s not already there) and her voice blends well with Labrinth’s.

Beneath Your Beautiful Meaning
Labrinth

Lyrics Beneath Your Beautiful

You tell all the boys no
Makes you feel good, yeah.
I know you’re out of my league,
But that won’t scare me away oh no.
You’ve carried on so long,
You couldn’t stop if you tried it.
You’ve built your wall so high,
That no one could climb it.
But I’m gonna try.

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now girl, take it off now girl,
I wanna see inside.
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?

You let all the girls go,
Makes you feel good, don’t it?
Behind your Broadway show,
I heard a voice say please don’t hurt me.
You’ve carried on so long,
You couldn’t stop if you tried it.
You’ve built your wall so high,
That no one could climb it.
But I’m gonna try.

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now boy, take it off now boy,
I wanna see inside.
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?
Oh, tonight.

See beneath, see beneath,
I Tonight I

I’m gonna climb on top your ivory tower,
I’ll hold your hand and then we’ll jump right out.
We’ll be falling, falling
But that’s okay.
Cause I’ll be right here
I just wanna know.

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now girl, take it off now girl,
Cause I wanna see you say:
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?
Tonight, see beneath your beautiful.
Oh tonight, we ain’t perfect, we ain’t perfect.
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?

Songwriters: Emeli Sande / Mike Posner / Timothy Mckenzie

2010s songs, death

#443 Broken- Jake Bugg

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I’m waiting for you/
For I’m broken down…

The narrator of Broken by Jake Bugg, tells us at the beginning of the song that he is broken and waiting for his Sophie. But he knows she is not coming. You see, Sophie committed suicide at her house, after she perhaps had unsuccessfully tried before. She was broken.

He knows that for at least the immediate future, a big part of his life will be overcoming the fact that he, himself, is broken. He is angry, yet he still loves her. Why could she not see this? He feels an obligation to appear together, perhaps because there are other people in her life who are equally hurting.

 

Jake Bugg Broken Meaning
Jake Bugg

The next section of lyrics are slightly obfuscated—so we have to fill in some of the blanks to create a coherent picture of what Bugg is singing about.  How does he keep it together? It appears that he imagines her in a happy, heaven-like place: “down in the valley where the church bells cry…with a future bright…never broken.”

He tries to share this vision of her (in a better place) with others, and it seems to bring him some sort of peace. In this future he and all her friends and family will gather in the valley of the church bells. This thought brings him peace.

The vocal delivery really makes this song. It is a sad song and Bugg delivers it perfectly. While the immediacy of the lyrics might not hit us, it is clear what emotion he is expressing. That is a rare feat in music. Bugg sounds like a mix of Dylan and Donovan-which is saying something.

Broken Lyrics

I’m waiting for you
For I’m broken down.
Coming down this time.
For my heart lies
Far and away where they took you down.
Let them over to your house-
Where I’m broken.
Down by the people if they let you breathe;
Don’t give a damn if you still can’t see,
Still my heart beats, for you
Have become, all I love
And all I hoped for.
But I, must carry on
Always one
Never broken.
Run to the lobby where I saw you try.
Don’t give a damn for your reasons why.

Where Sophie’s down in the valley where the church bells cry,
I’ll lead them over to your eyes.
Woah, I am one.
I am one.
Pray, story eye
Peace and love
In a future
Bright. Sacrifice
Came around, never broken.
Down by the people if they let you breathe,
Don’t give a damn if you still can’t see,
Traveling a street that I did not go.
Lifetime to the winter load.
Down in the valley where the church bells cry
I’ll lead them over to your eyes.
Woah, I am one
Woah, I am one
I am one.

written by Jake Bugg/Crispin Hunt