3 One-Hit Wonders From the 2010s With Super-Memorable Opening Lines

People love lyrics. There’s a reason that the vast majority of songs to hit the Billboard charts are not instrumental tunes. We love to hear humans sing, rap, or simply speak ideas over a melody and a beat. The better the lyrics, the better the song! Here below, we wanted to dive into that very dynamic. We wanted to explore three tracks that boast incredible lyrics—and not just that, they offer incredible opening lyrics, too. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders from the 2010s with super-memorable opening lines.

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“Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye ft. Kimbra from ‘Making Mirrors’ (2011)

Throughout the history of music, the most common subjects ever written about are love and the dissolution of it. And in 2011, Gotye and Kimbra continued the trend, with their smash hit song and music video for the track “Somebody That I Used To Know”. The tune opens with Gotye singing, “Now and then I think of when we were together / Like when you said you felt so happy you could die.” From the moment the words tumble from his lips, we are hooked. We want to know what happened. What caused these two star-crossed lovers to split? We’re ready to hear every single word from both parties.

“Whip My Hair” by Willow (Single, 2010)

Sometimes a song’s stellar opening is all about the clever word choice and sentence construction. But other times, it’s all about the performance by the artist. For an example of the latter, check out Willow and her breakout hit single “Whip My Hair”. While the opening line is simple and repeated several times over, it’s all about the delivery. Indeed, if you hear this song once, you’ll never ever forget it. That’s the power of Willow’s bold opening. Indeed, she sings, “I whip my hair back and forth / I whip my hair back and forth.”

“Baby Shark” by Pinkfong (Single, 2016)

Not all one-hit wonders are created equal. Some of them just barely break through the charts. But other songs break all-time records. Of course, “Baby Shark” is part of the latter category. The children’s song was the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views. That’s really something. Today, the link boasts nearly 17 billion views on YouTube alone. Parents know the power of this hypnotic song. And it all comes down to the simple repeated lyrics like, “Baby shark, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo / Baby shark, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.“

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