Born Erica Wright, Badu reached fame in the ’90s. She’s not your regular female R&B singer, she has a very distinctive vocal style that shines brightly. Erykah combines melodic R&B with jazz, funk, rock and blues in such an appropriate way that the resulting product is neo-soul perfection. This woman is seriously talented and has become a gem in music history.

On May 10, 1999, the UK house music duo of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe published their widely acclaimed and unbelievable album entitled: Remedy, this opened the door to a new decade in sound. By turning funk, soul, catchy bass lines, Latin beats, hip-hop, sampled guitars, R&B and pop into powerful house music, they’ve created some of the most danceable music of these ten years, even if you are not into electronic house music, you will probably find appeal in the small details of their amazing discography.

Daughter of two members of the folk group Surberina, singer, songwriter and actress María Nieves Rebolledo Vila (a.k.a. Bebe) was born in the magnificent city of Valencia, Spain. With very honest and direct lyrics, Bebe nicely builds pop tunes that describe the complex images of the female nature, using flamenco, ska, rock with some electronic touches. She’s simply a woman with a strong personality who gave us two of the best recordings of this decade.

Combining elements of indie folk with electronic sounds, Beirut, a band that started as one person sounding like ten, is the musical solo venture of Zach Condon which later became an actual band. The project has developed a particular style and sound, packed with serious inventiveness and intimacy, taking inspiration from where Condon stands geographically, like Eastern European folk, French chanson or even Oaxacan funerary music and thus creating a genderless and timeless expression.

This is one of the unavoidable artists of this decade. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles, the super sexy lead singer of Destiny’s Child, decides to go solo in 2001, starting one of the most successful careers in music history. Albeit her music is absolutely commercial, we admit that Beyoncé has a privileged voice that combined with: delightful dance moves, a voluptuous body, and recordings which are impeccably produced; makes her one of the best mainstream urban R&B singers of this decade and probably of years to come. The part where she is a top-grossing musician, we couldn’t care less.

Often criticized for getting too commercial and lame throughout the decade, let’s just say two things: The Black Eyed Peas make really effective pop music, and Will.i.am is a great and smart producer. For us, there is nothing wrong on writing not-so-strong lyrics as long as you back them up with enjoyable and powerful melodies that are hugely suitable for dancing or making you feel good, and this is exactly what this hip-hop outfit did during these ten years. Not everything in your music stock should be super intelligent, have some fun once in a while.

The famous experimental baroque pop collective from Toronto, Broken Social Scene, has a list of members that would easily fill the space assigned for this text. Their unusual song structures, their complexity and their brilliant dynamic made them one of the best projects of this decennium. The musicians affiliated to this proposal came from so many different indie backgrounds and this is reflected in very large, chaotic but astonishing orchestrations. Just perfect pop-rock to start this millenium.

This prolific Japanese electronic duo are making music since both were 17 and they certainly know how to sell their image. By introducing their concept of music as a lifestyle accessory, they mix bossa nova, lounge and breakbeats and borrow more from electro than from Shibuya-kei to materialize a remarkably catchy sound that has been upgrading from album to album.

What happens when you combine a half of Motorbass with Boombass? For the fans of French electronica the answer is simple: you get Cassius. A duo formed by two of the most experienced producers, Philippe Zdar (one half of Motorbass, the other being Étienne de Crécy) and Hubert Blanc-Francart (a.k.a. Boombass). Despite the fact that they made their breakthrough debut in the last year of the ’90s, their style reflects more of this decade than of the previous one. With that sound, a sort of subversive abstract funk with electronica, they gave us two of the best classic house albums in the past ten years.

Leaving behind the remarkable ethno-punk project, Mano Negra, José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao, continues to deliver music across many styles and geographic boundaries. A multilingual and multicultural artist that incorporates minimalistic and acoustic sounds of the Caribbean, rock and music from the Middle East, without leaving aside some experimentation, resulting in very intimate and original expression. His influence over the music of this decade is colossal, just like the track by Guatemalan, Radio Zumbido, adequately affirms: Everybody Wants To Be Manu Chao These Days.