




M.I.A. "Bring the Noize"

Signature lyric: “Do you like my perfume? Made it at home with gasoline and 'shrooms!”

A mash-up of hip-hop, electro, dancehall, and grime, M.I.A. references Public Enemy’s militant 1987 anthem, “Bring the Noise,” and Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” line, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” in the fourth single off her upcoming album, Matangi. The beats and machine-gun-fire rapping are addictive, and M.I.A. makes revolution visually stunning with her fuchsia mane, electric-blue eyeshadow, and metallic gold fingernails that look like they were forged by Lil Wayne’s grill.

Miley Cyrus "We Can’t Stop"

Signature lyric: “Remember only God can judge ya; forget the haters!”

Like M.I.A.’s “Bring the Noize,” in “We Can’t Stop,” Cyrus is also clad entirely in white and invokes substantial snarl (and Cyrus sports an actual grill). But the comparisons end there: Cyrus is pure pop. Make no mistake, though: She is no pop princess, and this video continues to prove that her Hannah Montana days are long gone. While the song was originally written for Rihanna, it fits Cyrus perfectly. Her tone is similar to Sky Ferreira’s dark irony, her whiskey-throated warbling as smoky as a '40s screen siren. The video was directed by Diane Martel as a surreal (and twerk-centric) house party and broke VEVO’s record for the most views in 24 hours. Speaking of haters, you have to love a girl who’s unafraid to speak her mind: Cyrus had a few choice words for Joan Rivers during fashion week.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Despair"

Signature lyric: “Don’t despair, you’ve always been there, through all of my wasted years…it’s all in my head/There’s nothing to fear.”

The group's frontwoman Karen O (née Orzolek), whom Rolling Stone dubbed "the Lena Dunham of art punk,” is in some ways, the rightful successor to Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. Fresh off of the Coachella and Firefly festival circuit this spring, the NYC trio’s Texas-recorded, recently released album, Mosquito, includes the surprisingly upbeat single, “Despair.” In an interview on Noisey’s YouTube channel, the singer said, “You might think it’s heavy and it is, but actually it’s all about overcoming despair and the blues. From the titles on this album, you might think it’s dark, but there’s so much joy and yeah, fun. This is kind of what we did to cheer us up.” She often wears Christian Joy, and begins the “Despair” video in a sunny, signature mustard yellow embellished suit, which she later tops with a cobalt blue parka for the blustery shoot on the observatory deck of the Empire State Building. What could be more New York than the Empire State Building and the emotion of despair?