Rap and electronic music are very popular genres; however even if a rap song were to reach number 1 on the charts, it still wouldn't fall into the pop category. Pop has a distinct sound, very accessible, non-experimental, high energy music, a genre so hard to pinpoint as it typically takes ideas from other genres that are trendy at the time. Rap and electronic music influences can be heard in many "Pop" tracks today but with the aforementioned elements which really give it that pop feel. However, go back to the 90s and early 2000s and punk and R&B influences can be found in many pop songs; showing how pop music is constantly changing in sound.
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| Artists such as Green Day were huge on the charts despite not being typically pop sounding music |
One reason may just be because people like listening to this kind of music and so want to make more of it, however, a more industry-driven reason is how good pop is for commercial success. Absolute conventional pop music is made to appeal to the widest audience possible, to spread the most popular message, to present the most popular artist and influence many aspects of modern pop culture. It is common for people to say "it all sounds the same" which though not necessarily true, makes sense. It is a perfect way for music executives to make money as it's a proven formula that when all of these things are put together people will come out in droves to stream the songs, buy the album, attend the concerts and wear the merch.
The struggle for modern artists and labels isn't whether or not these pop conventions will prove popular with audiences, it's the question of how to use these conventions but repackage them in a way that audiences are not completely tired of seeing.
Some major pop artists include Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Charlie XCX and Ed Sheeran. These artists represent the genre so well because the music they make falls exactly in line with the pop music sound as well as their songs all being extremely popular. Artists like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift may have started out as typical guitar playing or country singing artists but have definitely developed the pop sound as they have become more and more popular.
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| This Taylor Swift song from 2009 listed as "Country Pop" |
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| This Taylor Swift song 10 years later listed as "Synth-pop", with no mention of country |
This can come off as an artist losing their musical integrity in order to sell more records, going from personal acoustic songs to heavily produced music with vague messages. This growth is something artists and labels again, have to make sure to get right, don't change too much to annoy old fans, but change enough to not alienate the masses. These artists also all fall into the typical pop artist look, young, attractive and fashionable; the music alone isn't enough to build a star persona, the artist must sell their entire lifestyle to the audience, that is what makes an artist aspirational to the typical viewer.
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| The typical pop star look shown by 4 major faces of the industry |
The pop genre most heavily influenced my song choice, with my song Express Yourself containing the exact kind of genre hybridity that is so prevalent in modern pop music. The song contains influences from electronic music for the main chorus, but clear funk influences in the baseline that follows the entire track; even mild jazz elements can be heard at the end with the smooth, very much improvised guitar. This, combined with the songs upbeat sound, typical structure and cheesy lyrics make it the perfect song to represent the pop genre.
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| My song falling into both Electro-funk and R&B genres |
The video was also inspired by the pop music genre, with the use of dancing, performance, bright colours and a narrative that is definitely based on the lyrics. The video doesn't try too hard to be abstract or especially thought-provoking, it presents the message of the song without directly translating the lyrics to video, a video that anyone can understand and enjoy without having to decode a deeper meaning. Though there are many pop music videos that have unique or unconventional concepts, I wanted to make sure my video was unmistakably pop and so went for a more uncomplicated approach.
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| Sia is an example of a successful experimental pop artist |
My website also presents the pop genre and shows what my artist stands for; fun, energy and authenticity. There will be plenty of photos of the artist all over the website showing his outgoing character, my planned yellow and blue colour scheme helps make the website as a whole look exciting and positive and there will be behind the scenes videos to connect the audience to my pop star, allowing him to seem more genuine by showing his faults. These are things that labels would want on an artist like mines website, it taps into the audiences desire to escape from the doom and gloom of everyday life by making the website look fun and making the artist look happy all the time. This makes users on the site want to buy the merch and listen to the music as they subconsciously think that maybe by doing so it will too make them happy.
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