This month, I've been going back to my roots and listening to a lot of songs that a girly girl like me would listen to, as well as new singles which have been topping the music charts.

This question originally appeared on Quora. Answer by Aaron Ellis, Former Music Critic with Artist Farm Macklemore & Ryan Lewis follow a formu...

No offense to any of these artists (besides Flo-Rida, I fully mean to offend you), but these songs definitely need to be punished and shown to the gates of Hades, where they will have ample time to think about what they've done.

This year was rife with some great and relatively diverse popular music, and it's time we give some artistic cred not just to the capital-A Artistes who care not for the embrace of the masses but to the hit makers who have probably shaped the future of wedding receptions for decades to come.

Do artists have a responsibility to push their fans into new and exciting territories? Is there anything wrong with giving your public exactly what they know they want, if it remains true to who you are? Does embracing mass popular culture somehow harm your credibility as an artist?

In his boisterous directorial debut, "That Thing You Do!", Tom Hanks's record-executive character Mr. White makes the following request: "I want something peppy, something happy, something up-tempo. I want something snappy." Mr. White would have loved the Wellingtons.

With sincere apologies to Marilyn McCoo, Solid Gold is not just synonymous with an afro-infused flashy top 40 countdown dance show anymore.