2008 gave the world a plethora of things. We were gifted music, shutter shades and boho headbands, to name a few. We can only hope the fashion trends don’t make their way back into our lives, but every time I attend a party, I hope a bop from 2008 makes an appearance.
2008 was a special time for music. The Jonas Brothers released what I see as their best album, “A Little Bit Longer," giving us those classic hits such as “Burnin’ Up" and “Lovebug."
The year came with a surplus of Disney bops. As a pre-teen, I was there for every single one of them. Vanessa Hudgens' sophomore album “Identified” – yes, she sang outside of High School Musical and yes, it was incredible – was released in 2008, gifting us with the absolute banger that is “Sneakernight.”
Speaking of High School Musical, “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” was released in October. While this wasn’t the best film or the best soundtrack, we were still able to drool over the beautiful cast from the movie while singing the songs with friends.
Disney was not the only thing in its prime in 2008. Season 7 of American Idol may have ended in May, but runner-up David Archuleta released "Crush," a song I still get down to 10 years later and one of the biggest bops of 2008.
The winner of the season, David Cook, gave us some heartfelt songs on his debut, such as “The Time of My Life” and “Light On” before fading into the inevitable nothingness that came with winning American Idol unless you were Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood.
Speaking of blondes who are amazing at what they do, we might as well touch on the beauty that is Lady Gaga’s debut album, “The Fame.” The entire album was a gift that the world didn’t deserve, but one Gaga knew we needed. We were given “Just Dance,” “Starstuck” and “Paparazzi” — all songs that would be blessings to hear at parties or bars in 2018.
Another icon that was absolutely murdering the game in 2008 was Rihanna with “Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded.” Rihanna is still an icon, and she has been releasing hits since she began singing. While all her newer songs are amazing, something about the thought of “Disturbia” or “Umbrella” featuring Jay-Z playing at a party gets me more excited than hearing anything else by her.
Alongside Rihanna and Lady Gaga, the queen of all queens, Beyoncé, released “I AM…SASHA FIERCE,” awarding the world for doing nothing with “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” “Video Phone” and “Halo.” I mean, seriously. What did we do to deserve this? I was only 12 when the album was released, and Queen Bey had me pretending I was a full-grown woman.
Beyoncé was not the only artist making me feel like I was grown. Flo Rida did too.
He released “In The Ayer” featuring will.i.am and “Low” featuring T-Pain, and I vividly remember showing my parents “Low” to ask if I could buy the song on iTunes. Needless to say, they told 11-year-old me absolutely not, but 21-year-old me queues it up on the aux at parties quite frequently.
The two songs are endless classics, and they elevate the energy at any party. I highly recommend playing either one of them at your next gathering when things begin to die out.
I’m not sure if all the music in 2008 is brilliant, or if it just brings me a sense of fondness due to nostalgia, but if I were to write about all the hits from 10 years ago, I would be sitting in front of my computer for days.
I recommend getting out your old first-generation iPod and seeing what bops it contains, because maybe it’ll have some songs you can add to a party playlist in 2018.
