Hey everyone! This is Dj Tica from the Hammock. I hope you’re all having a fantastically amazing summer, whether it’s spent staying inside marathoning shows on Netflix, or going on some exciting journeys! Nothing’s better in the summer than listening to some sweet tunes, weather you’re from Georgia, to California, even to Puerto Rico or Switzerland! And what screams good summer more than pop music?! Everything!
It’s currently 2:42 am, and instead of sleeping, I’m being terrorized: A pop song has taken refuge in my memory and is most certainly not welcome. The popularity of pop music isn’t the reason why this hatred is so fiery, but rather because it’s a genre that hinders its own potential with predictable garbage.
I don’t even know where to begin with how wrong pop music is, so I’ll just dive in.
Pop music is inconsistent. Yes, all music changes with the times, but I swear pop music is the girl who changes 20 times before going out. This isn’t how it’s always been: Pop music was the groove to move to back in the early 2000’s. But my god! Today, pop music makes me call out to the heavens for patience.
Is it even music? It seems like today’s pop music consists more of synthesizers and electronic sounds rather than real instruments with actual chords and voices. Everything is done digitally; it’s to the point where we lose the authenticity that we crave from our musicians.
The most we get from our musicians nowadays is poor diction and closed vowel sounds. It seems the presence of auto tune has allowed people to grow cocky. Becoming famous has become as easy as going on social media and saying you want to be famous. If you can’t sing, you just try to imitate a proper note, and that works for people now.
“Hey kid, wanna be a star?”
“I don’t even sing!”
“That’s alright, just sing something remotely close to these three notes, and you’re set!”
The most upsetting part is that to someone who does take music seriously, this feels like a slap to the face. Songs are supposed to be sung in a way so audience can understand the music and feel meaning behind it. Pop music lost the emotion behind the singer.
But it doesn’t stop there: Pop has begun to claim whatever tune they can get their hands on. They’ve been known to take songs from alternative,
indie, and other alternative genres and remixed them to be “pop” standards and appeal the masses.
A current example of this would be James Bay’s “Let It Go”. I first heard this song years ago, and it was love at first note. The intimacy of the song made it feel that one could really understand the musician just by closing their eyes and listening.
Few years later, this song was played on the radio. The sweet sound of the guitar chimed through the speakers, but it wasn’t the same. This “Let It Go” by James Bay had upbeat drums pasted into the background.
This beautiful song, sung with so much sincerity and sentiment, was turned into a meaningless pop song, just with one simple instrument. The song wasn’t meant to be upbeat, and just like many other things that have come out lately: the original is better.
But even the original is now tainted by the memory of the remix. This isn’t the first time the enjoyment of a song gets ruined by its predecessor. Other examples include anything by the band Fun and the obvious: Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”.
I loved this song. Or, you used loved this song. I wouldn’t be surprised if your old gym teacher did too because this song was everywhere! The “F*ck you” tone to Gotye’s voice made the song feel raw, complimented by the myriad of instruments it had. But that all got washed away with one set of wretched. upbeat. percussions. WHY MUST YOU RUIN SONGS THAT WERE ALREADY GOOD?!
I don’t know what’s worse: producers changing the songs, or the fact that there are people out there who will never get to hear the original because of Pop-radio standards.
And worst of all? There are musicians out there that work hard and search the deepest parts of themselves to come up with lyrics made to touch our souls with the sweet, sweet sounds of outrageous repetition.
Honestly, it would be a groundbreaking discovery to find a splinter of creativity in the pop industry. It looks like Rihanna didn’t “work work work work work” so hard to come up with her lyrics (She may not actually be pop, but that pun was necessary).
Here’s a rule of thumb: if you like pop music, but only have 5 minutes to listen to your favorite songs: listen to the first 30 seconds of a song, and then you’ll know the lyrics for the rest. You could even stop listening there because the rest of the album probably sounds like that too. If you’ve heard one pop song, you heard them all.
There are countless times where the radio will end up playing the same
song on multiple stations. But there are even more occasions where people think the same song is playing, when in reality it’s a different song with the same instruments, rhythms, voices, and basically everything else. With so many variations of notes, chords, and accompaniment, you’d think there’d be more diverse creativity.
My opinion isn’t law. This is quite obviously bias and it’s your choice to agree or not. But one thing isn’t debatable: Music is subjective, as is all art. Who knows, maybe you love pop music (bless your heart), or maybe you don’t. I am aware there are a select few pop artists out there who are genuine musicians and very talented making their music. Every genre has their issues; don’t even mention Dubstep or this article will double in size at record speeds. Though at the end of the day, Pop music will be always one of my least favorite genres. Consider it an honor.
This has been DJ Tica, bringing you her thoughts with the burning passion of a thousand suns.
