With all the wedding pictures, birth announcements and 30/40/50th birthday celebration albums flooding our Facebook pages these days, it’s a struggle to not feel old. So of course, as much as it hurts us, we thought we’d help you feel even older.
Just kidding, With each new year we bloom brighter and grow wiser, and as Abraham Lincoln said “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” It’s always fun taking a stroll through memory lane, looking over the treasure of the past.
And one such treasure is the year 2002 with its iconic happenings in the music industry. It’s the year Celine Dion came back after three years with a new hit album, A New Day Has Come, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake broke up, and Fergie made her debut as the Black Eyed Peas’ newest member.
It was also the year that Pop, rap and R&B all dominated the music scene. It’s crazy to think about how much music has changed over the years. And yet, we still find ourselves belting out the lyrics as accurately as ever to what we didn’t even realise is now deemed “oldies” by the youngsters today.
Did you know these iconic songs turn 20 this year?
1. Dilemma – Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland
The year Nelly was literally everywhere, and Kelly Rowland made her biggest move since being part of Destiny’s Child. About 20 years later, and this song sounds just as good.
2. A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton
All you need to hear is the first few seconds of the intro for all the lyrics to come flooding into your head instantly – Along with that iconic Terry Crews scene from White Chicks
Let’s be real, the piano is the greatest part of this song.
3. Family Affair – Mary J. Blige
If you needed anyone to start bopping their head to the beat in 2002, all you had to was play Mary J. Blige’s biggest hit of the time and you would soon see the crowd nodding in a wave-like unison.
4. Hot in Herre – Nelly
“It’s getting hot in herre, so take off all your clothes” was perhaps the sauciest, simplest, perhaps most direct lyric in the catchiest of pick-up line packages.
Let’s not even get into the iconic face-plaster look. We know we all did it at least once.
5. The Ketchup Song (Asereje) – Las Ketchup
It’s safe to say that in an instant of this song’s release, the iconic criss cross and leg-jiggle dance movies became automatic reflexes whenever the song played.
Did we know what they were saying? Not at all. Did that matter? Not at all.
6. Sk8er Boi – Avril Lavigne
2002 Avril Lavigne was the grunged-up pop star we never knew we needed until this song came out. Making us feel so much regret for our nonexistent skater boy that got away, and teaching us that you don’t need a shirt to make ties look unironically cool.
It was such a gigantic hit, along with Complicated which is another iconic song turning 20 this year.
7. Lose Yourself – Eminem
While it’s crazy that one of Eminem’s biggest hits is officially turning 20 this year, it’s just as nuts that the iconic movie, 8 Mile, where the song is from is also turning 20.
The song is so intertwined in with the semi-autobiographical movie that its hard to distinguish the real from the semi-real.
8. Beautiful – Christina Aguilera
In 2002, if ever you needed a song to make you feel beautiful, empowered and represented. This was the iconic song to listen to.
Let’s not forget it’s guest appearance it made on another timeless icon, the movie Mean Girls
9. Work It – Missy Elliot
Missy Elliott knew how to put her thing down, flip it, and reverse it when she released this song, and she will continue for many more years to come.
The funniest part of all is that the hook “Ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup” was an audio engineer mistake. The engineer accidentally hit something causing the flow to play backwards, to which Missy responded, “Yo, keep that in there and I’m going to write around it,” according to Associated Press.
An insane moment for an insane song for sure.
10. The Scientist – Coldplay
Packed to the brim with euphoric soundscapes and beautiful melodies, Coldplay had us drifting in mellow vibes with this song and the entire A rush of Blood to the Head album as a whole. Even to this day it’s the perfect song to remind us to prioritise appreciating our loved ones
It’s no wonder they won three Grammy Awards.
11. In the End – Linkin Park
2002 saw the mashing up of a plethora of genres. This song stands to this day as evidence that alternative rock and pop make an unapologetically epic duo.
I can still remember singing ever so passionately with all my tween troubles in my mind says Cape {town} Etc’s Tauhira Ajam. Or perhaps I’m thinking about a few weeks ago when it played in my car.
12. Always On Time – Ja Rule ft. Ashanti
Any millenial will firmly argue that the RNB era of the 200s will forever be undefeated and this song is one of the reasons why. Everytime this song played, it transported us to a music video scene chilling in the car, driving with the top down and our significant other or besties right there beside us.
Not much has changed, except that we can actual drive now.
13. Hero – Enrique Iglesias
Yes Enrique, you could be our hero in 2002 and you can still be it today.
We would dance, run, cry, laugh and anything else you want if it means you would be our side forever.
14. Get the Party Started – P!nk
What an absolute party banger of it’s time. When this infectiously catchy song played it was pretty impossible to stay still. P!nk with her iconic wild style and spiky hair had us feeling like a million bucks and ready for any party anywhere.
15. How You Remind Me – Nickelback
Nickelback’s break-through single was the embodiment of a curious cocktail of love and frustration. It’s rawness was portrayed so well by the band’s frontman Chad Kroeger that it has managed to stand the test of time and become an alternative rock favourite.
16. Cry Me a River – Justin Timberlake
Everyone’s break anthem at the time, this song had us deep in our feels whether we actually broke up with someone, were in a happy relationsip, or had never even been in a relationship before.
As Justin Timberlake does, he also provided us with just the right pop song to get us back in the mood to dance with Rock Your Body, which also turns 20.
17. She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
It may be safe to say that 2002 was full of emotions. But it’s these exact sentiments that make this song a timeless classic love song of our era. It has us swooning over both Adam Levine and the guy standing on the corner in the pouring rain waiting to love our broken smiles to this day.
18. Bootylicious – Destiny Child
Destiny Child didn’t think we could handle this in 2002, yet here we are 20 years later trying to twerk and singing our hearts out with our besties and the iconic trio: Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams.
19. Beautiful Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrell Williams
Long before Snoop Dogg was narrating wildlife videos and hosting cooking shows with his buddy Martha Stewart, his claim to fame was being one of the hottest rappers from the West Coast. This song had you wishing to make your way down to Rio just to hang with them.
Much like Pharrell Williams who never seems to age, this song will remain a favourite till the end of time.
20. Jenny from the Block – Jennifer Lopez
After a quick leap to fame, J-Lo released this song as a reminder to everyone that fame would never take her away from her roots. As well as show off her heart throb of a man, Ben Afflick.
Boy did we wish to be just like her, and seeing just hope good she looks 20 years later, perhaps we still want to.
Also read:
The long-awaited musical return of Britney Spears is finally upon us
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