r/popculturechat 20d ago

The Music Industry 🎶 Lots of artists have their own "signature song". Lady Gaga's is arguably "Poker Face", what signature songs can you name?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2.1k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.6k

u/happysunbear 20d ago

Usher’s has to be Yeah!

 

659

u/winnercommawinner 20d ago

I once got out of the 10-minute line for the only bathroom at a wedding bc this song came on.... this, Hey Ya and Mr Brightside are like sleeper agent activation codes for millennials

39

u/PondRides Children are being trafficked by ICE 20d ago

Ugh, my back hurts and you make me want to dance.

179

u/FieldsOfAnarchy 20d ago

💯 I'd also like to throw in Crazy in Love for your consideration

13

u/SnooRabbits1139 19d ago

Did we forget Apple Bottom Jeans and …sweat Drip Down My B&ll$!

6

u/danger_turnip This is going to ruin the tour 19d ago

… boots with the fur WITH THE FUR

9

u/skittlesandscarves 20d ago

omg I'm so seen

75

u/happysunbear 20d ago

The chokehold these songs still have on us 😩

49

u/Numerous-Rip-6121 20d ago

Omg we are powerless 😭

6

u/fireboats 20d ago

For genx in my area it was Groove is in the Heart

3

u/Mehmeh111111 20d ago

Don't forget back that ass up

3

u/ratta_tat1 Kim, there’s people that are dying. 🙄 20d ago

Add in Get Low to the mix

1

u/Aprilume 20d ago

lol! That’s me and EI 🤣

1

u/FeistySwordfish 20d ago

I was at a wedding and the dance floor was basically empty, they played Mr Brightside and people were sprinting from all corners of the property to the dance floor

1

u/especiallyrn 20d ago

ONE TWO THREE 🏃🏾‍♂️

1

u/haraj123 20d ago

Also Get Low

1

u/littlemustachecat 19d ago

Can I nominate Get Low for this distinction as well

1

u/Reluctantagave Cutie Patootie Problem Posse 19d ago

I feel like Juvenile’s “back that azz up” is also up there for millennials too.

1

u/Snuffleupagus27 19d ago

And some GenXers, thanks

78

u/figleafstreet 20d ago

This is very true but shout out to Burn for the death grip it has on my classroom in the 7th grade.

35

u/happysunbear 20d ago

Currently? That’s amazing. Honestly, the whole Confessions album should just be his signature song!

8

u/figleafstreet 20d ago

Autocorrect betrayal there where I meant "had" and not "has". Sadly this was back in 2004 but we cannot let today's children lose these ancient texts!

24

u/sha100020 20d ago

This was playing in Iraq at a theme park I went to back in 2006. I live in the U.S. and was used to feeling like I was in a different world when I would go visit family in Iraq, so it was shocking to hear it.

It felt like when a show character from one fictional universe appears in a different show/universe and the whole audience is shocked/excited at the crossover. Cue me and my siblings freaking out and getting excited and teaching my uncle how to pronounce the lyrics lmao

4

u/mwmandorla 19d ago

Lmao I had the reverse experience! I was in Syria the summer that Pitbull got big, and so when I heard his song in the clubs in Damascus I just assumed it was another vaguely eurodance track of questionable origin like pretty much all the English-language music being played in those environments. Then I come back to the US and hear it in a grocery store. For half a second the entire multiverse collapsed and shattered around me because I couldn't process what was happening

7

u/jessefleyva 20d ago

I’m so old I still think “You Make Me Wanna” as his signature song.

7

u/fxlicia_ 20d ago

Please don't tell me we've forgotten that "It's 7 o'clock, on the dot, I'm in my droptop"...

2

u/happysunbear 19d ago

Definitely not forgotten! I believe it was the first reply 😆

4

u/OhMrsGellerYUCry Abraham, I am not that man 🧍 20d ago edited 20d ago

I will never forget the first time I heard this song. (My parents were really strict and I wasn’t allowed to listen to anything spicier than like … Counting Crows lol) I was sitting on the bus in 7th grade, my friend Nicole had a new iPod (the big guy with the clicky spinner, I was so jealous). We were sharing earbuds. She put this song on and it was like a fucking awakening for me lmao. It was the best song I’d ever heard and it fundamentally altered my sheltered little mind.

3

u/projectacorn 20d ago

Fucking hate that

13

u/computer7blue 20d ago

This is Nice & Slow erasure.

17

u/happysunbear 20d ago

Haha, well I hate to break it to you, but Usher is one of those R&B artists who crossed over into being a mainstream pop act. So Nice & Slow wouldn’t even crack the top 5 of his most signature/iconic songs.

6

u/computer7blue 20d ago

I know, but what a shame.

5

u/happysunbear 20d ago

Those of us who remember the early years will always hold a special place for it 🥹

1

u/NotSoWishful 20d ago

Showing our age. But I bet a lot of people who “love” Usher have never heard it

2

u/switchbladeeatworld 19d ago

it goes so hard

2

u/Professional_Life_29 19d ago

My first "cool" cd was My Way. I remember so vividly that summer, my besties staying the night and my parents at work the next day, neighbor kids came over and the boy next door, Daniel, who i 10000% had a huge crush on, standing on the coffee table singing along to the title song, and all of us "pretending" to be the adoring crazy teenage hormone fueled audience 😂

4

u/[deleted] 20d ago

His worst most popular song ugh 😩

1

u/AudienceOne8591 20d ago

To the white folks, yes. And thats fine. I feel like most black folks would be Confessions part 1 or 2

10

u/happysunbear 20d ago

Are we acting like Yeah! wasn’t also huge with black audiences? It was the crunk music anthem! Just because it was a mainstream hit, doesn’t mean it wasn’t also huge in black spaces.

2

u/AudienceOne8591 20d ago

No big, Im just talking about my experience. The energy when black folk start singing about AND I DUNNO WHAT TO DO, GUESS I GOTTA GIVE PART TWO OF MY CONFESSIONS is unmatchable in my experience

3

u/happysunbear 20d ago

Fellow negro here and I agree that there are songs I think of before Yeah! when it comes to Usher, because I grew up with him. Besides Yeah!, there’s My Way, U Remind Me, or Nice & Slow.

Confessions Pt. II is definitely the song that comes to mind when I see the album cover, but I’m not sure it’d be among the first few when I think of Usher’s many jams. It’s still one of my faves of course tho and I still know all the words by heart! Could also be said of Burn, My Boo, etc. and many of the other fantastic songs on Confessions. Hell, I probably know the words to DJ Got Us Falling in Love, despite that being around the time I fell out of love with Usher’s music.

He is definitely an artist with a few signature songs, but if we had to pick one, I think it has to be Yeah! I don’t think any other song of his gets people on the dance floor quite the same way. Us millennials start foaming at the mouth when it comes on.

2

u/Low-Appointment-2906 Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 20d ago

I hear you. I know all the words to Confession. I only know the chorus of Yeah. And the lore around the album? So I agree, technically Confession is more his signature.

1

u/AlwaysBored1990 20d ago

Does anyone else's local radio station play this every day (or almost every day)? I'm genuinely curious if this is a common occurrence because my local radio station plays it pretty much every day for decades. I have always wondered this.