Great timing...
Check out THIS ARTICLE from The Atlantic.
This is the article for which I would like you to add your thoughts as a comment below.
Check out THIS ARTICLE from The Atlantic.
This is the article for which I would like you to add your thoughts as a comment below.
The part that stood out to me the most out of anything was actually the ending when it was speculating about why certain people are pop stars and others are not. I think they didn't dive deep enough but that it's highly probable that of all that they mentioned, there is not just one answer; there is a compilation of them. However, the part about escaping definitely stuck out to me: it was a concept I had never really considered before and it definitely explained why pop stars dont necessarily have to be very talented: just good looking and wanting to get out.
ReplyDeleteThis article basically pointed out why I (in general) don't like the idea of pop music. However, I think the author was even more cynical than me, saying: "It is a synthetic, mechanical sound 'more captivating than the virtuosity of the musicians.' This is a metaphor, of course—there are no musicians anymore, at least not human ones." While this is, to a certain extent, true, I was offended on behalf of the millions of other singers and instrumentalists who don't belong to the corporate-run pop industry. They are the true artists here, and the artists who do receive an important amount of recognition by the day-to-day person. I was also depressed by the quote where synthesized music was essentially being called better than real music. I strongly believe that the ART of creating music is important. Music is most poignant when it's written personally and with intention to bring forth original concepts. The original intention of music was to express raw emotion- not attempt to evoke false reactions in potential "buyers". In general, I agreed with the horrified author of this piece and, like Sarah, found the ending to be very interesting in the same ways.
ReplyDeleteAs a musician and songwriter, the idea of having a select group of people writing all the most popular songs is appalling. These popular "artists" get praise and adoration from fans who aren't even listening to original music. I personally think of many pop artists as cover bands, because a real band would write their own music. I can understand if one real artist has a specific sound, and you can tell right away that X song is by X artist because of specific elements. However, when one style of writing is recycled to fit an entire genre, I start to have problems. How can people even listen to the radio and tell these pop songs apart? I personally try to avoid the V-C-V-Cx2-B-C form because it is just so overdone. Music used to be about writing and instrumental skill, but it has shifted to be more about "who looks appealing and has a voice we can auto-tune to sound the best." "Artists" are more like spokespeople, while the real artist goes unnoticed and unappreciated, and I think that is a serious problem for the industry.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how the article portrays songwriters as these conniving figures out to destroy music, and artists are helpless pretty faces who want the stardom bad enough and are in the right place at the right time. Making statements like that is over simplifying. Yes, changing the chorus of a song and calling it new is kind of the worst, but a lot of times, I don't think the songwriters are nearly as malicious as they're made out to be. However, the indisputable fact is the brilliance of both the songwriters and the artists. They've learned to treat the artist as a brand, and are savvy in how they market and sell that brand.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article. I wasn't really surprised to hear about all the "behind the scenes action" that occurs in the music industry. Although it is sad to see that our musicians of our time are extremely less talented than those of the 70's and 80's, music has changed whether we like it or not. It seems as if music is performed for the sole purpose of making money, rather than for the love of it. The nonrecognition of these writers though is what upsets me the most. Although they master in brainwashing listeners, they are still, in my eyes, far more successful than any singer that takes their work.
ReplyDeleteWhat really stood out to me was the part about pop stars not having the time two write their own hits. He says being a celebrity is a "full-time job" and there is too much on the line. To me, I interpreted this as almost ironic because they are famous because they sing and (people think) they write these hits, meanwhile the fame is apparently too time consuming to produce more. I enjoyed the Will Smith writing the next Independance Day analogy, because from an outside perspective, one could easily expect The Weeknd or Maroon 5 to write another good song, but in reality it would seem almost ridiculous to the celebrities for them to actually write more hits.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that music is really starting to pull away from being all about the music scares me. The fact that the artists are not the ones writing their material and people like Karl Martin are ruling music is a dangerous path. Even the great ones like Michael Jackson or the Beatles could not do it. Is music about how someone looks or can be presented? If it is that is sickening. Great music comes with fame and future at this time period but people should have to deal with fame and fortune based off of their undeniable talent. The quote: “Without having heard a note of music, I was sure that Katy was indeed destined for stardom” is a scary quote to me. How much about music is really about well...music?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how the last paragraph talks about how artist use music to escape and therefore have meaning and substance to their music, but in the end never really write the songs to reflect that because there not even writing the songs to begin with. The music industry, as it seems in this article is all run by music writers and music producers.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was unbelievable that this many songs can be written by these few people. These select few practically have monopoly on writing popular music. Most people never come to realize how much goes on behind the scenes of music production. It is also amazing that our generation keeps on going back to the same chord progressions. The songwriters of the generations before us were so much more advanced because they wrote their own music, and they were using much more complex chords and melody lines especially those in jazz and blues.
ReplyDelete