What is UUUUUUUUUUUUP???

So it’s finally that time.

My Decade of Music project is done and, like I promised I would, I must face the difficult (?) task of thinning out my Five Stars. Why am I doing this, you ask? Because a Five Star song is a very special thing to me, and I feel like while I truly enjoy all 50 songs that are currently Five Stars, not all of them bring me unadulterated joy every single time they come up on Shuffle. And that’s what a Five Star should do: bring unadulterated joy.

So we have to cull the herd.

Originally, I figured I’d have an idea of how many songs could truly be Five Stars and I’d just go from there and cut out songs until I hit that total. But I’m not sure if that’s the best way to go about it. So how about we do it “naturally” and just go through the list and see what we end up with? I’mma bold the ones that should remain Five Stars.

NOTE: Blinding Lights is on here even though that is technically a post-Decade of Music song because I’m doing this thing so late after the end of the project that I’ve already managed to get another Five Star. So yeah.

• Airwaves by Airplanes
• Algorithm (Alternate Reality Version) by Muse
• Any Way You Want It by Journey
• Blinding Lights by The Weeknd
• Breathe (LMC Extended Club Mix) by Erasure
• Call On Me by Eric Prydz
• Canada Dry (Acoustic) by Barenaked Ladies
• Check It Out by will.i.am & Nicki Minaj
• Damn Son by Tobu
• Dare You To Move by Vitamin String Quartet
• Death Sentence Lost! (Coldplay vs. Dethklok) by …And Sushi! Productions
• Doin’ It Right (feat. Panda Bear) by Daft Punk
• Door by Caroline Polachek
• Get Over It by OK Go
• Gold (Thomas Jack Radio Edit) by Gabriel Rios
• Golden Dandielions by Barns Courtney
• Gone by JR JR
• Hello (Single Edit) by Martin Solveig & Dragonette
• Here It Goes Again by OK Go
• Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap
• Hide and Seek (A Cappella Cover) by Dan Wright
• Hula Hoop (Mark Ianni Bootleg) by Omi
• Ice Cream by MIKA
• Infectious by Tobu
• Jealous (I Ain’t With It) by Chromeo
• Jealously by Robert DeLong
• Life by Tobu
• Lights and Music by Cut Copy
• Madness by Muse
• Mirrors (Radio Edit) by Justin Timberlake
• O Magnum Mysterium by Robert Shaw
• Paradise by Coldplay
• Paradise (Gabe Flaherty Remix) by Coldplay
• Peanut Butter Jelly by Galantis
• Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson
• Pressure (feat. the UCLA Bruin Marching Band) by Muse
• Run for Cover by The Killers
• Running Away by The Royal Foundry
• Send Me on My Way (Jesse Bloch Bootleg) by Rusted Root
• Sleepyhead by Passion Pit
• Sleepyhead (Cillo Mix) by Passion Pit
• Sleepyhead (Jazzsteppa Remix) by Passion Pit
• Something Human by Muse
• The Riddle by Gigi D’agostino
• This Is So Good (Radio Edit) by Ehrencrona
• Tightrope by WALK THE MOON
• Tilted by Christine and the Queens
• Valdres March by the Eastman Wind Ensemble & Frederick Fennell
• Viva la Vida by Coldplay
• When I Need a Friend by Coldplay
• Work This Body by WALK THE MOON

There. There are 25 that are bolded.

But I feel like this is a much tighter Five Star list, which is what I was looking for in the first place. I want it to be really hard to knock a song off of this list – which, looking at the 25 bold songs, is true. I’d have a hard time picking any of those to be demoted. Especially compared to the original list of 50; there were a good number that were very easily removed from Five Star status.

So yay? The real test will be when I find my next “ZOMG THIS IS SO FANTASTIC” song and I have to go in and actually kick something off of the bold list above. But we’ll get there when we get there.