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
