Pop music has always been a bit of an experimental proving ground for musicians. Where things generally considered too wide for a certain genre's margin can be picked up on and loved by many. It's a popular concept, which has seen MANY musical innovations. From Elvis' incorporation of Black soul and Southern country into rock and roll, to Pink Floyd and Rush becoming virtuosos in the field of progressive rock, to Sonic Youth's ultra unique sound and rap's overall influence on everything from the late 80's to today, music has seen many an innovation. However, lately it appears as if all innovations have stopped. Suddenly, if you have a $20 T-shirt from Hot Topic, skinny jeans, flashy ass neon sneakers, a Roland TR-808, a vocoder and a MySpace page, congratulations, you're a "pop musician". And Ke$ha is the WORST case scenario of it all.
Ke$ha, rose to prominence in 2008 with a guest spot on a Flo-Rida song, (another less than superior talent, but I'll be damned if he doesn't make danceable songs) it was less than memorable, but hey she had the right look, so they signed her anyway. Fast forward to Autumn 2009, a synthesizer melody plays on my radio. This ensues.
And soon. Teenage girls everywhere had found their new anthem. I had found the bane of my existence. I as a musician was astounded as to how easy people had taken to this song, granted it had a very catchy beat and eye grabbing lyrics, but when analyzed by a musician's eye, it's baffling. I look at someone with legitimate musical talent like a Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon who has spent YEARS and ALBUMS learning how to capture a room with his voice, and finally make it to the top, and then hear a woman like Ke$ha TALK over a crappy electronic beat and easily surpass Kings of Leon in the Billboard charts within 3 months. But that's not even the half of it.
"Musicians" like Ke$ha, know they aren't musicians, so they use the umbrella term of "artist." Implying that their pure crap is an artistic expression. I know art is supposed to be subjective. But, this CANNOT be art. It makes no strides to be different. It yields no innovations. There is little to no emotion in this. This is cookie cutter crap. It's insulting to art.
However, what's really depressing, is it's looking more and more likely that original music will quite possibly become an afterthought. All roads wind through pop music. And this one road is being clogged with unoriginality and soullessness. And no one's listening to the music on the way to it's demise. They're looking at it.
I'm Na!m, and I hate pop music. I used to love it though.
(P.S. More this, less Ke$ha.) Tweet
Best thing I've read this whole entire week & I agree with everything you wrote. My favorite part "But, this CANNOT be art. It makes no strides to be different. It yields no innovations. There is little to no emotion in this. This is cookie cutter crap. It's insulting to art."
ReplyDeleteReally good points, Naim. The defining characteristic of pop(ular) music is that it's always changing. I remember, way back when, when I was in high school/undergrad house/techno music was the furthest thing from "pop." Now, I feel as though I can't listen to a Contemporary Hits Radio (CHR) station without hearing a synthesizer used or base rattling the windows of my car. I'm crossing my fingers that pop will become something you can enjoy again... one day.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I feel like I need to defend Ke$ha. As a musician and DJ myself, I see nothing wrong with her "art" as you put it. She embraces the fact that she is what we as society would call "trash". What's wrong with that? Her songs help me do my job. They make people dance. Why is it that in-depth music is automatically better than a simple, fun-to-dance-to song that makes you escape from an otherwise routine life? I feel as if people bash it because it is hip to try to be counter-culture nowadays. Her album (yes, I bought it) is remarkably good and edgy in some of the lyrics she wrote. She's different in my eyes. I rather listen to her than Lady Gaga, who clearly is attention starved.
ReplyDeleteAs a musician as well, I see everything wrong with her "art." I've spent years learning how to properly sing and play a guitar, and suddenly, without effort this woman and many others come out of a cookie cutter "hit factory" and make money for absolute bullshit. So, what? My hard work means diddly squat? I'm not bashing it, because it's counter culture. It's far from it. It IS this culture. And to be frank aside from the numerous technological advances, there's nothing special about it. Much like Ke$ha's music. Simple isn't special. In depth IS.
ReplyDeleteBut your argument is counter culture. "She is pop therefor she sucks." There is nothing wrong about being simplistic. I think her music is in depth to be honest. Her album isn't just "Tik Tok" and "Blah Blah Blah" which are still good songs in my opinion. She is the daughter of a singer/song writer. She constructs her songs in a linear manner. It is a matter of taste. You clearly prefer the "indie" scene. Probably hated when Liz Phair went pop. If every indie band blew up over night, they would become the cookie cutter and you'd be making the argument about them most likely.
ReplyDeleteI do like indie. I also like UK grime, dubstep, trip hop, delta blues, pop (shocking, I know) and a myriad of things. In fact, I'd say my tastes are very eclectic. I didn't hate it when Liz Phair went pop, in fact, it made a lot of her stuff go down smoother. But, when she went pop, nothing really changed. All that happened was she glossed up her usual finished product. It was really the same ol' Liz Phair. Just less rough.
ReplyDeleteMy argument isn't she's pop therefore she sucks. It's she's not an actual musician therefore she sucks. And the trend of not being an actual musician is what's cookie cutter.
If every "indie" band as it were did bow up, they would be cookie cutter...in the sense, that they're all different.
Indie bands, are largely incomparable to each other, because you can rarely take another indie band and compare it to another, and say, "hey, that sounds like this." But, I can take any two pop artists hold them up side by side, and not really know a difference.
So Lacuna Coil and Evanescence aren't to be compared? Even though only one band blew up and became popular and the other is known by only a handful of people? I'm not a fan of that analogy.
ReplyDeleteKesha is talented in my opinion because she embraces what she is and sings about it. Yea, half of her album is auto-tuned but it's not the clear cut "Cher" effect auto-tune. It's the distorted one which is done for style, not fixing.
I've been singing and writing my own songs for countless years now, and I find it so bothersome that people with absolutely no musical talent become the royal leaders of today's musical kingdom. I admit that even though I don't agree that Ke$ha is talented, I still am drawn to her music simply because of the fact that it is catchy and easy to dance to. Although I cannot fully seem to appreciate her as an "artist," I undeniably applaud Ke$ha for owning who she is and singing about it. That is the predominant reason why people cling to her in the first place: not for her talent, which is clearly lacking, but for what she represents. Instead of yearning for true musical culture that actually holds some meaning behind it, society has become so watered down and interested in the fantastical lifestyle that Ke$ha sings about. It is irrefutable that her songs, just like those of any other "artist" like her, are very catchy and fun to sing, but that does not necessarily make them good. Almost every song on the popular radio stations, like Z100 or BLI, showcase "musicians" with auto-tuned voices singing meaningless lyrics. It urges me to question, "Where has the appreciation for REAL talent withered away to?" The scariest part is that my six year old cousin walks around singing about how she brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack, and still, she sounds ten times better than Ke$ha singing it.
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ReplyDeleteCaroline gets it.
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