Music / DJ Earworm

I know you want pop, you want dance, you want rock and roll
You wanted boom boom? This year’s remix got symphonic soul
I got pop, I got dance, I got rockin’ electronic club beats
I got hip-hop music with the future flow

"United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)"

Jordan Roseman (born March 25, 1982), better known as DJ Earworm, is an American music producer, best known for his technically sophisticated music mashups, most of which take the lyrics of pop songs and rewrite them to form an entirely new cohesive song.

His most famous series is "United State of Pop", in which he mashes up 25 of the year's biggest hits, based on the Billboard Hot 100, which he's been doing every year since 2007. It includes his most well-known work, "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)", which popularized year-end mashups and codified this type of mashup, spawning multiple other artists doing year-end mashups in the same style.

From 2010 to 2012, he made mashups for the British mini-festival Summertime Ball, mixing up songs from the respective line-ups. In 2013, that series was replaced with another summer series called "Summermash", which he did all the way up to 2017 until interrupting it, though it has made returns in 2020 and 2022.

He's also done three mashups in the "Decade of Pop" series, with 100-song mashups for the 2010s, the 2000s and the 1990s.

In addition to those, he's done many one-offs, including mashups for specific artists, such as Sean Kingston, Annie Lennox, Nelly Furtado, One Direction, Carrie Underwood, Jessy Matador, Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, and Taylor Swift.

In November 2015, he released "Drone", his first non-mashup song.

He's also the author of the book Audio Mashup Construction Kit: ExtremeTech.

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DJ Earworm provides examples of:

• Animate Inanimate Object: "Drone", his only non-mashup song so far, personifies a drone.
• Aspect Ratio Switch:
  • Happens sometimes when his mashups use songs with music videos whose aspect ratio deviates from the standard 16:9 (such as the square "FourFiveSeconds" in "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)" and the 4:3 "Say So" in "United State of Pop 2020 (Something to Believe In)").
  • Defied in the 2011, 2013 and 2023 iterations: while they respectively use "Give Me Everything", "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "Flowers", which are originally in ultrawide, the clips used in the mashup are cropped to fit in the 16:9 format. Also defied in "Summermash '22" and "United State of Pop 2022 (I Want Music)", both of which adapt clips from the 4:3 "Running Up That Hill" to 16:9.
• Breaking Old Trends: "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" is the first iteration of the series not to strictly follow the top 25 songs of Billboard's year-end Hot 100 list, as well as the first one without "Pop" in the subtitle.
• Call-Back: "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" contains the line "I got pop, I got dance, I got that rock and roll", referencing the iconic chorus of "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)".
• The Cameo:
  • Sometimes artists make guest appearances in music videos of other artists, so they end up making cameos in DJ Earworm's mashup videos as well, such as Rebecca Black in "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" from "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", Troye Sivan in "United State of Pop 2018 (Turnin' It Up)" from "thank u, next", FINNEAS in "United State of Pop 2020 (Something to Believe In) from "everything i wanted", and Grimes in "United State of Pop 2021 (Strawberry Ice Cream)" from "Need to Know".
  • "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)" uses footage from "My Way" by Fetty Wap, even though the song itself is not used (though "Trap Queen" and "679" are).
• Darker and Edgier:
  • As pop music started to become gloomier, it reflected on DJ Earworm's mashups. After plenty of fun and upbeat installments, "United State of Pop 2013 (Living the Fantasy)" is a bit darker than the previous ones, as are the 2016 and 2020 installments (the latter reflecting the COVID-19 Pandemic).
  • Earworm's summer mashups naturally tend to be fun and up-tempo, but "Summermash '17" is so gloomy, both lyrically and sonically, you'd barely call it a summer song, other than the lyrics "unforgettable summer vacation". Even "Summermash '20" is more positive, despite being about spending the summer at home during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• Demoted to Extra: A recurring phenomenon in Earworm mashups is songs receiving the spotlight in summer mashups, but barely being used in USPOP afterwards:
  • "In My Head" by Jason Derulo was used significantly in "Like, OMG Baby", but was only used in one recurring line in "United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop)", which is barely listenable since it's overlapped with an identical line from "Replay" by Iyaz.
  • "Party On The Floor" prominently uses "On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez, to the point where it names the mashup, but its only uses in "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" are the word "go" to make the subtitle, as well as the word "dance" to form a Call-Back to USPOP 2009. The former also uses a lot of "Glad You Came" by The Wanted, which became a sleeper hit in the US and ended up in "United State of Pop 2012 (Shine Bright)", but it only gets one line there.
  • "Summermash '13" uses plenty of "Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky". In "United State of Pop 2013 (Living the Fantasy)", the former only gets one line, and the latter only gets a short instrumental riff and no lyrics.
  • "Summermash '15" uses "Talking Body" and "Bitch Better Have My Money" much more than in "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)".
  • "Congratulations" and "Unforgettable" dominate "Summermash '17", but each only gets one line in "United State of Pop 2017 (How We Do It)".
  • "First Class" is featured heavily in "Summermash '22", but only appears as brief pop-ups in "United State of Pop 2022 (I Want Music)".
• Early-Installment Weirdness: "United State of Pop 2007", the first installment of the series, is musically, but not lyrically cohesive. This contrasts with future mashups, where rearranging the component songs' lyrics to write an entire new song is a defining trait of his style.
• Easter Egg:
  • The video for "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" has many easter eggs, including Earworm's logo appearing on the orb from "E.T.", the phrase "Who the hell is Earworm?" being edited onto Adam Levine's shirt, the word "WORM" being tattooed on Rihanna's ass, and the title "world go boom" appearing on a store front.
  • In addition to Earworm's logos being edited onto the drums from "Say Something" and the sword from "Black Widow" in the beginning, Earworm's monkey logos appear on the snowy TV screens from "Am I Wrong". At the end, Earworm's name and the title of the mashup are edited onto a poster and you can see the monkeys and the picture of a boy sticking a fork into an outlet (another logo of his) on the frames on the wall from "Black Widow".
• Erotic Eating: The lyrics of "United State of Pop 2021 (Strawberry Ice Cream)" build a sexual innuendo out of the many food references from the sampled songs.
• Fight Fur Your Right to Party: In "United State of Pop 2013 (Living the Fantasy)", Earworm borrows from other songs that already use this trope, notably "We Can't Stop" and "Can't Hold Us".
  I figured it out, they watching us
  You were right, no more pretending, all eyes on us
  And we don't mind all the watchin'
  It's our party, we can do what we want to, let's go
  It's our song, sing this song and it goes like
  And we can't stop (trouble, trouble)
  This is my kingdom, this is my party, this is my kingdom
  This is our house, this is our rules
• Genre Mashup: As a natural consequence of the top pop songs of every year having multiple different genres, the genres themselves end up being mashed up along with the songs in Earworm's work.
• Heavy Meta:
  • The intro and the chorus of "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)" focus on the many different genres and music styles.
  • The aptly-titled "United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop)" is about having fun at a party with the dance-pop music that dominated the year.
  • The main theme of "United State of Pop 2022 (I Want Music)" is enjoying music, with the line "Hey, I've been mixing up the music" explicitly nodding to the fact that it's a mashup.
  • "Beautiful Mashup", the Sean Kingston mashup, uses lyrics from "Beautiful Girls" to make the lyrics about it being a mashup itself.
• Intercourse with You:
  • "United State of Pop 2008 (Viva la Pop)" uses songs like "Touch My Body", "Lollipop", "I Kissed a Girl", "Closer", "Love in the Club", and "Sexy Can I" to make the mashup (partially) about sex.
  • As expected from the title, "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)" has sexual undertones, since that was the most recurring theme in the used songs.
  • "United State of Pop 2021 (Strawberry Ice Cream)" samples many songs that already originally fit the trope, while also using several food metaphors to build a sexual innuendo.
• Ironic Echo: The beginning and chorus of "United State of Pop 2023 (Cut The Flowers)" contain several lyrics from "Favorite Song", "Under the Influence", "Something in the Orange", "Sure Thing" and "Flowers" (the latter having the line "I can love me better than you can" changed to "No one can love me better than you can", courtesy of a "no one" from "Kill Bill") that initially appear to be sweet and romantic. However, the ending suggests such lines are actually meant to be ironic: each one of them is contrasted with a heartbroken line from the chorus of "Flowers", and the "love me better" line is restored to its original sense:
  You want somebody to come bring you flowers (I can buy myself flowers)
  Make you tattoo my name on it (write my name in the sand)
  You want someone to talk to for hours (talk to myself for hours)
  Make you cry like a baby (say things you don't understand)
  Take me back to us dancing (I can take myself dancing)
  Put your pretty, little hand in mine (and I can hold my own hand)
  Yeah, I can love me better than you can
• Listing Cities: "United State of Pop 2017 (How We Do It)" lists many location names mentioned in the sampled songs.
  This is how we do it down in Puerto Rico
  This is how we do it all the time
  Down in Vegas, in Miami
  Down in Paris, in Manhattan
  In Havana, down in L.A.
• Lyrical Dissonance:
  • Subverted in "Summermash '17". The mashup starts with the lyrics "unforgettable summer vacation" over slow and gloomy instrumentals, but soon the lyrics themselves get depressing as well, despite it being a summer mashup.
  • Played straight in "Summermash '20". It was made during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the lyrics are mostly about spending the summer locked indoors, but it still sounds summery and upbeat.
  • Despite its heartbroken lyrics, "United State of Pop 2023 (Cut The Flowers)" sounds simultaneously chill and upbeat.
• Never Say "Die": In "United State of Pop 2012 (Shine Bright)", Earworm rearranges the lyrics of Kesha's "Die Young" to avoid the mention of death:
  Let's make the most of the night
  Dancing to the beat of the drums
• Non-Appearing Title: "United State of Pop 2008 (Viva la Pop)", "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)" and "United State of Pop 2023 (Cut The Flowers)" have the only subtitles in the series that are not present in the lyrics. "Viva la Vida" comes from Coldplay's "Viva la Vida", which itself has a Non-Appearing Title. In "Cut the Flowers", while the word "flowers" is used (from Miley Cyrus' "Flowers", and Toosii's "Favorite Song"), the title does not appear in full.
• Nostalgia Filter: Downplayed with the "Decade of Pop" series (especially the 2000s and 1990s versions, so far the only Earworm mashups made retroactively about a certain period instead of during it), in which the lyrics are arranged in a nostalgic perspective, though they don't inferiorize music from subsequent decades.
• No Title: Downplayed with "United State of Pop 2007", the only USPOP without a subtitle.
• Odd Name Out:
  • "United State of Pop 2007" is the only mashup in the series without a subtitle.
  • Subverted with "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)". It's the first mashup in the series where the subtitle doesn't end with "pop", but that became the norm from that mashup onwards.
• Prequel: The 1990s installment of "Decade of Pop" was released after the 2000s one, which was released after the one for the 2010s.
• Quote Mine: As Earworm mentions in Audio Mashup Construction Kit: ExtremeTech, it's possible to take a song lyric and recontextualize it entirely in a mashup, sometimes reversing its meaning.
  • In "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)", he takes the line "With a big smile on my face / And it never feels out of place" from "Gives You Hell" and incorporates it to the overall positive message of the mashup, but in the original song it's an expression of schadenfreude.
  • "Price Tag" is a Capitalism Is Bad song, but Earworm uses the "cha-ching cha-ching" line celebrating money in "Party On The Floor".
  • "See You Again" is a tribute song to the late Paul Walker, but in "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)" the lyrics from both Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth are mixed in with the rest of the song, which is about love and sex. It also recontextualizes lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" and "Bad Blood" to fit in with the theme, when the former is a self-parody song about how she's portrayed as a "psycho girlfriend" in the media, and the latter is a diss track to Katy Perry.
  • In "United State of Pop 2019 (Run Away)", by removing the "we'd always" from "we'd always go into it blindly", Earworm transforms the melancholic lyric from "Lose You To Love Me" to make it sound encouraging, fitting with the "escape" theme of mashup.
  • "United State of Pop 2020 (Something to Believe In)" takes the line "give him something to believe in" from "WAP" and makes it sound profound, even naming the mashup after it. In the original song, it's about oral sex.
• Surreal Music Video:
  • Through a combination of music videos of multiple different aesthetics, the final product of "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" ends up feeling surrealistic itself. The ones that contribute the most to the effect are "E.T.", "Rolling in the Deep", "Raise Your Glass", "Super Bass", "We Found Love", "Born This Way", and "Till The World Ends".
  • Thanks to "Lucid Dreams", "Mine", "SICKO MODE", and, to a lesser extent, "no tears left to cry", the video of "United State of Pop 2018 (Turnin' It Up)" has many strange and otherworldy moments.
• Title Drop:
  • One lyric of "United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop)" drops the titles of some of the used songs:
    I know a place
    Where we can dance, dance, dance, dance
    To "I Like It", "Rude Boy", "Dynamite", and "Bad Romance"
  • In "United State of Pop 2013 (Living the Fantasy)", Earworm rearranges the lyrics of "Applause" to spell out "U-S-P-O-P" at the end of the mashup. He does something similar in "United State of Pop 2019 (Run Away)", forming "U.S. POP" out of "Without Me", "Sunflower", and "No Guidance".
• While Rome Burns: "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" is about throwing a party and not caring about anything during an apocalypse.
• A Wild Rapper Appears!: Most of the time, Earworm mixes the used hip-hop songs along with the others, but he occasionally reserves a specific part of the mashup for some of them, such as in "Like, OMG Baby" and "United State of Pop 2015 (50 Shades of Pop)". In "United State of Pop 2012 (Shine Bright)", there's a rap bridge featuring the three used Flo Rida songs (and "Gangnam Style").

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