The Weirdest Hit Song of 2011 

Why were pop stars so obsessed with Mick Jagger in the early 2010s

cher Lloyd, the first scientist to ever ask the question “does this sound like a helleecopta bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb”

Swagger Jagger is a classic example of a song where the verses are great and hype as hell, and then the chorus comes in proceeds to steal my soul

The third biggest song of the 2010s with a Jagger mention

Can’t believe you made a video about Cher Lloyd without mentioning the iconic ‘DISGUSTANG’ video

I do miss that bombastic era where every other song was about being on "the floor" - wonder if the misery that set in after 2008 was the reason it all got replaced with mumbling and "authenticity" sometimes.

I remember watching Cher's season of X-Factor when it aired. So glad we're out of that era of swag-pop. I hope she's doing well now.

I love the swag era. Pitbull, the black eyed peas, psy, 2NE1, and of course justin bieber. Ever since the pandemic it’s become some of my most listened to music. Early 10s k pop is like American swag pop on meth. It goes crazy.

Pop in the 00s and 10s definitely has that strange, campy, indescribable energy

This song gave me the same reaction as Dance Monkey

i feel so nostalgic for this era. ive had swagger jagger in my spotify playlist since 2018 cause i unironically love the song. its cringe but we as a society need to be more accepting of cringe. its freeing.

I love looking back at the early 2010s. Music just doesn't sound like that anymore, and it's great to analyse the songs that paved the way for what we have nowadays.

This was EVERYWHERE in the UK at the time. People hated it. People loved it. People were baffled by it. I know many people who claimed to hate it but still went and bought it. So it worked

When it comes to “real winners” not coming in first. I absolutely agree. It’s the same with American idol (for the most part)

We will never get anyone audtioning on The X Factor with "Turn My Swag On" ever again. Only in 2010.

"We rejected her like we rejected Jesus" 😂 Aaaahhaaaaa this is hilarious. Call me a baby watching keys jangle but i still love that "turn my swag on" audition. I think she deserves a comeback

The song has a sort of campness that I have only ever seen since in Kpop, particularly groups like ITZY and NMIXX. It would easily be classed as hyperpop today. Swagger Jagger will forever be a classic to me, I just love how so many things that feel like they shouldn't belong together (and probanly shouldn't belong together) are blended.

I'd say Lady Sovereign was the UK pre-text to Cher Lloyd, add some Kesha & early Jessie J to the mix and you get Swagger Jagger.

This feels like a Todd In The Shadows video, and I'm very happy to have more Todd in my life. Looking at a time that seems as embarrasingly absurd and excessive as the early 2010's through a historical lens is fun and allows us to appreciate it all a bit more. A lot of it was made with a sense of humour and joy thats hard to disparriage. I'd rather a cheesy, fake, joyous pop song than a cheesy, fake, gloomy/melodramatic pop song any day of the week. Joy in any form serves a positive purpose - crocodile tears help no one.

she showed us a truth that we were yet to understand 🙏

When it comes to people making crazy wild over-the-top ridiculous energetic bangers in the early 2010s I just really miss Kreayshawn

Why were we so obsessed with making fun of literal minors in the 2000’s and 2010’s, especially on the internet? Like why???? Honesty people who did that and still do that are the saddest people around in my perspective. 16 years old is a literal kid who is still learning and growing and just starting to try and figure themselves and all the things in life, give them a break. No body is always making the perfect thing that everyone is gonna like or not think it’s annoying especially children, minors and young people in general. She deserves much more love and respect than what she got when she was 16, she’s a human being for goodness sakes!

2NE1 and f(x) are great examples of kpop"s foray into swagger pop in the early 2010s, serving parallel to western artists like Cher Lloyd at the time.

As a fellow Romani here in America ive always been partial towars Cher Lloyd. I Want You Back is a jam idc what anybody says.

i genuinely like this LOL this has definitely gotta be the most early 2010s 2nd gen k-pop song EVER and it's not even k-pop

If you get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't. And if you don't, you'll never understand the philosophical prowess and insight of "You're a hater, just let it go" 🤪

thank you for introducing me to this glorious piece; i have an obsession with the overblown and unapologetically dumb pop music of the early 2010s and this is such a prime example of that! Great analysis and commentary as well.

I really loved Cher Lloyd. She took risks & seemed very confident

I haven't heard this song in 12 years. It's all coming back to me now.

Never thought I would see this song on this channel in a million years. I've always had a soft spot for Cher Lloyd. Very peak early 2010s commercial pop as you say, but sometimes kinda weird.

We need to bring back the “swag” and “YOLO” era.

god you aced the tone of this video this is so good

None of the pop hits from the 2010s will live on like some other classics. It was such a bizarre time for music and fashion

This actually my first time hearing about this song. I only really heard Gucci Gucci by Kreayshawn playing back in 2011.

You were right - this really is a time machine

I somehow never heard this song before. I feel like I just dropped in from a parallel universe

Youknow, i can understand why there was such a hatred for this kind of music back in the day because it was everywhere. Inescapable. Pretty much all pop music was like this. It got tiresome after a while, sometimes you needed a break from the loud ass sirens and random alvin and the chipmunk sound fx & the lyrics about nonstop partying.. but now that these trends have settled and its not all like this, these kinds of song are much more enjoyable just because theres not much like it anymore. It really is how the saying goes, everything in moderation.

Getting a little sidetracked here, but why do early 2010s pop hit music videos always have a person breakdancing or doing a backflip in front of a crowd LOL

When I was 9 this was my favorite song and I do not regret it

This was HISTORIC.

I didn't even remember this song existed until seeing this video, but occasionally that "you can't stop looking at me, starring at me, talking about me" like pops into my head and its fun to sing but I could never remember what it was from

Swagger Jagger is so much better than the tropic edm-chorus songs of 2015-2018

The time period between 2008-2013 was a quite unique one in music, that was the time when I was growing up and I really enjoy that more people are talking about/analyzing it. I was 14 in 2011 and got immediately obsessed with Swagger Jagger (I guess I still have a thing for loud and noisy pop songs) 😅😅 The lyrics doesn't make any sense, but that didn't matter to me, since I'm not a native english speaker, I would just enjoy the fun beat and that sort of "powerful" vibe it gave me - Even though I don't really like Cher Lloyd's voice, I loved the song because it sounded so cool, fun and modern back then... a true piece of its time

I bought this song on my ipod touch as it the older kids listened to it. I dont remeber ever really enjoying, but after asking my friends about it, no one had even heard of it. It wasn't until recently that I even heard anyone even talk about it. I thought I'd just dreamed that it was popular.

It's crazy how pop music from the early 2010s was so bad that we may have had the first instance in music history where pop music actually got better over time

I'm a fan of these videos of weird songs that somehow have a huge story and rabbit holes.

brb gonna listen to the song swagger jagger

i feel like swagger jagger was a decade ahead of its time with all the nursery rhyme samples tiktok musicians are using

I know I’m old; my pop music sensibilities were formed by Michael Jackson, Prince, Duran Duran, Madonna, and everyone else in the first half of the ‘80s (my high school years). I’ve tried to keep up with what’s popular in the decades since, though. That said, I’ve never heard of Cher Lloyd or this song. I missed this chapter of pop music, obviously. I’ve never watched any of the singing competition shows so that might be the reason I missed her, but I’ve heard plenty of One Direction. Can’t say that I’m upset to have missed out on this song, however…

I WAS A STAN!!!! Love my Cher😭❤️

You can tell alfo really had fun making this video

i fucking love cher lloyd i still listen to her a lot even have her debut album

i love your style of humor. don't ever change.

5:45 Ngl that’s a crazy comparison 😂

You can really hear the impact of this kind of music on K-Pop. Glad you mentioned it.

i remember my cousin loving this song when it came out. she would have been around 13 and played it whenever i saw her that year

Lana Del Rey was anti-pop which came a year before Lorde.

I absolutely hated that era of mainstream music, there's almost nothing to save from it

i remember the 2010 era...i remember saying that it seemed like a modern version of 80's pop vomit threw up in 2010 or so. I remenber u couldn't get away from seeing people & dancers wearing these chaotic hippy neon sweatpants that were so ugly that they were tyna make hip. omg lmao

an absolute banger alfo

Cher Lloyd was definitely a product of her time, but she has definitely been reduced to “that annoying British rap girl”. Some of her more recent songs like Lost and Reactivated are actually some great listens.

To be fair no one calls Twitter “X” so I think the cultural significance of that line is just fine

I love how it feels like your videos are also getting slightly more unhinged LOL

don't think I've heard of her or this song or even the one that became a hit in the US, but was curious. Not sure how I missed this one as I was graduating high school

It's weird I have absolutely no memory of this song :o

I was around in 2011 and I never heard of this song, not even on the radio in the states.

This is my first time hearing Swagger Jagger, and it reminds me a lot Avril's Hello Kitty track.

I seriously have never heard this song until now.

I find it interesting to compare songs as over the top and as for its time as Swagger Jagger to songs from that same period that were just as, if not more over the top, but have aged so well and beautifully Im convinced they will sound this good forever. The one example Im thinking of is Get Got by Death Grips.

Everything in the 2010s felt sooo forced. I was avoiding trends like the plague but still, looking back, it all seems so unnatural (I'm obsessed with the 80s😂)

You blew my mind when you mentioned Swagger Jagger. I freaking forgot that song until rn wow.

swagger jagger sounds like noise pop from your description

I was obsessed with want u back when I was like 12 years old and even made my parents buy me the cd

I’m not gonna act like I enjoy swagger Jagger or even like I think it was better than we gave it credit for, but I feel really bad for Cher Lloyd. The whole system on which those big-name talent shows operates has a tendency for throwing out artists into the world of pop music long before they’re actually ready to be there, so they don’t really know how to handle everything that comes with that. It’s like this double edged sword where these people may not have had an opportunity to be successful otherwise, but with a few exceptions most of them are only successful for a short amount of time while the people who run the talent shows are still reaping all of their reward money.

Never heard of this song before, I know all the other songs mentioned. But I've also never seen an episode of The X Factor.

It was a very simple time when word "swag" is still a thing, Justin Bieber still rocking that bowl cut, and mosyly every pop song has a rapper verse in it.

you should do a video on your top 50 favorite albums

I liked this video until it was several hours later and swagger jagger was still stuck in my head

BRO THIS HAS GOTTA BE ONE OF YOUR FUNNIEST VIDEOS

Ive literally never heard this and it doesn't seem like something ill ever think about again

Oath by Cher Lloyd is a cute song tbh

I (an American) had never heard this song before. The chorus to the tune of "Clementine" is wild and in the video it really seems like they tried to make her look like Amy Winehouse, which is also...a decision a stylist can make...I guess.

Cher Lloyd/Jesus comparison was not on my 2023 bingo card

Hmm something is in the air regarding her bc I woke up singing Want U Back the other day She might just be preparing to shake up the zeitgeist again

I seriously thought you were gonna talk about Friday

If I had a nickel for every time you compared Cher Lloyd to Jesus, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Was it Ghostface the first to say "my swagger is Mick Jagger"?

I’ve never heard of her or this song. Glad I was spared of this back in 2011

Her song Sirens is her best though. (side note Swagger Jagger has 8+ songwriters)

Was not expecting the Cher Lloyd to Aespa pipeline

I seriously remember going to the library in 2011 with my shitty dollar store headphones to listen to this song on a loop on youtube. How times have changed

the way they pick hit songs never ceases to confound me

I just discovered this song 2 weeks ago what a weird coincidence

I’d love to see a scatman analysis

a nostalgic banger

Her second album was actually pretty good. Shame no one cared at that point.

Im going to sing Cher Lloyd-by Cher Lloyd-Oath... with Becky G, right. And dont forget all the trouble we got into. \*door opens*

I had to check today wasn’t April 1st with this video. “We rejected Cher like we rejected Jesus” wasn’t what I was expecting.

This is such a bop still

I have no idea who this artist is and have never heard any of her songs, but this video is compelling.