Poll: Is pop music the best it’s ever been?

[Chojin]

Heard that Kylie song the other day and thought her voice sounded like an alien. Production values might be high but that doesn't make a song. At least her older songs sounded like Kylie.

The 90s were a great time for chart music with a wide variety of genres to listen to - mainstream rock, dance, hip hop, country etc. I remember when Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You was number 1 for weeks. You just wouldn't get a song like that topping the charts these days.

 

[Darujhistan]

Heard that Kylie song the other day and thought her voice sounded like an alien. Production values might be high but that doesn't make a song. At least her older songs sounded like Kylie.

The 90s were a great time for chart music with a wide variety of genres to listen to - mainstream rock, dance, hip hop, country etc. I remember when Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You was number 1 for weeks. You just wouldn't get a song like that topping the charts these days.

Kylie is the brand, the music and voice are immaterial. It's a lot like modern TV for example, it's not Tolkien but hey we have the branding...

That song could be virtually any female vocalist because all it is, is that grating autotune and "reverb" (for want of a better term, i'm not a sound engineer) we've heard a billion times before.

You're absolutely right, the vocal on CGYOOMH is unmistakably Kylie.

 

[RobDogDog]

I'm convinced that the emergence of streaming services have lowered peoples expectations to quality of music. Probably film too - how many paint by numbers superhero crap do we get these days?

 

[Junglist]

I'm convinced that the emergence of streaming services have lowered peoples expectations to quality of music. Probably film too - how many paint by numbers superhero crap do we get these days?

And significantly shorter tracks too. Gotta' get those streams up.

I don't really listen to 'pop' music so I don't have any feelings either way. I'm not above it by any stretch and I expect I probably have some favourites that are pop, I just don't tend to listen to Radio and when I do chose to listen to it, 1xtra is my flavour of choice.

 

[mid_gen]

I think you need to separate chart music from 'pop' music.

There's some great pop around at the moment, away from the top10 stuff.

Caroline Polachek is a great example of someone making ace pop music today, catchy tunes, great songwriting and melodies. Her latest album is great.

 

[krooton]

I think you need to separate chart music from 'pop' music.

There's some great pop around at the moment, away from the top10 stuff.

Caroline Polachek is a great example of someone making ace pop music today, catchy tunes, great songwriting and melodies. Her latest album is great.

Oh man, REALLY like that!

However for me, this video really sums up when modern pop peaked for me:

 

[ArcticHeron]

I'm convinced that the emergence of streaming services have lowered peoples expectations to quality of music. Probably film too - how many paint by numbers superhero crap do we get these days?

It's just part of getting older. Every generation needs to favor the sights and sounds of their own youth and disparage everything more recent as they grow older.

 

[smilertoo]

The new Kylie song sounds like it was written by AI, there's just something sterile about it.

 

[Nitefly]

I think you need to separate chart music from 'pop' music.

There's some great pop around at the moment, away from the top10 stuff.

Caroline Polachek is a great example of someone making ace pop music today, catchy tunes, great songwriting and melodies. Her latest album is great.

Great example!!

Yes, you’ve hit on something which I hadn’t properly articulated.

I’m not talking about ‘the best songs from an era vs another’ but really just the ‘general landscape’ of pop.

As mentioned, I don’t really lean towards pop at first instance as a genre, but I tend to find it’s pretty interesting today.

The new Kylie song sounds like it was written by AI, there's just something sterile about it.

I think I like how layered / engineered it sounds - the contrast between ambient, echo-y sounds and staccato (trimmed) percussion. There’s a certain attention to detail with that which appeals to me.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Recently I've been on a bit of K-pop, but really only a diet of Blackpink.

 

[jaybee]

Pop music as a term I think doesn't mean what it used to mean, so I don't think the question can be answered. Define pop music now today, when we have streaming services and an infinite library of music on tap to a lot of people? We don't have to watch top of the pops or listen to the radio, care about the charts or only buy a select number of CDs that we can afford. We consume exactly what music we want generally. What even is pop music today? The ones that generate the most money to the artist? It's not what is listened to the most because that contains genres that aren't pop?

 

[Darujhistan]

I'm convinced that the emergence of streaming services have lowered peoples expectations to quality of music. Probably film too - how many paint by numbers superhero crap do we get these days?

Definitely has, the standards are so low now. Marvel/DC, Star Wars, the absolute garbage that Disney puts out in general in fact.

If that Caroline Polacheck song is considered to be peak music, then I don't know what to say. Bloody awful.

I think the general decline in "bands" has a lot to do with the decline in music, what we have now is an endless stream of mid at best solo artists, who are easy to market, promote, and manage as they are all so utterly bland, corporate, and vanilla and all instantly forgettable.

 

[Chojin]

Kylie is the brand, the music and voice are immaterial. It's a lot like modern TV for example, it's not Tolkien but hey we have the branding...

That song could be virtually any female vocalist because all it is, is that grating autotune and "reverb" (for want of a better term, i'm not a sound engineer) we've heard a billion times before.

I get a posthumous vibe with the new song as if the brand and artist have become detached. Ironically an AI generated song would sound more like Kylie.

Reverb is definitely a cliche in modern songs. Done to death by the likes of Adele, Florence and the Machine et al, and also that Caroline Polachek song above. It's a cheap trick. You can send flatulence down a Strymon BigSky and it will sound "high quality" by today's standards.

 

[Nitefly]

Pop music as a term I think doesn't mean what it used to mean, so I don't think the question can be answered. Define pop music now today, when we have streaming services and an infinite library of music on tap to a lot of people? We don't have to watch top of the pops or listen to the radio, care about the charts or only buy a select number of CDs that we can afford. We consume exactly what music we want generally. What even is pop music today? The ones that generate the most money to the artist? It's not what is listened to the most because that contains genres that aren't pop?

Good questions.

I guess for leading the assessment you have to dumb it down to its most obvious meaning of ‘popular music’; music that is ‘mass consumed’ relative to other forms of music.

Obviously, that’s not just what pop is though, as you infer. ‘Pop’ as a genre infers its style is ‘readily consumable’ and not overly demanding. Not necessarily a ‘disposable snack’ but definitely not a ‘gormet meal’ that you need guiding through, or anything that’s a particularly acquired taste.

 

[Junglist]

Pop music as a term I think doesn't mean what it used to mean, so I don't think the question can be answered. Define pop music now today, when we have streaming services and an infinite library of music on tap to a lot of people? We don't have to watch top of the pops or listen to the radio, care about the charts or only buy a select number of CDs that we can afford. We consume exactly what music we want generally. What even is pop music today? The ones that generate the most money to the artist? It's not what is listened to the most because that contains genres that aren't pop?

That's actually a really good point. Does something popular become Pop or is it pop by design?
When I look through my recently added albums the only one that pops out to having a chance of being classed as pop would be 'An Evening with Silk Sonic' but I don't class it as pop, just a bloody good album

 

[mid_gen]

Pop music and popular music are different really.

The charts are full of the same sort of dross that the charts were full of back in the 80s and 90s......you may remember all the good music with rose-tinted specs, but actually go and look at the historical charts and the vast majority of the stuff getting airtime was dire.

Pop music to me is just upbeat, melodic tunes with a good pace, generally positive vibe, and covers all sort of genres.

This is one of the best pop tunes of recent years, but has never been anywhere near the charts!

 

[krooton]

If that Caroline Polacheck song is considered to be peak music, then I don't know what to say. Bloody awful.

He said peak POP music, which is generally accepted as not being as musically/lyrically complex as more specialised genres.

You can have good pop music and bad pop music, just like you can have good fast food and bad fast food.

 

[james.miller]

Yeah pop music has never been a distinct genre, it's a fusion of many. I've always thought of pop as something that continuously evolves and is enjoyed by the widest audiences.

 

[Darujhistan]

He said peak POP music, which is generally accepted as not being as musically/lyrically complex as more specialised genres.

You can have good pop music and bad pop music, just like you can have good fast food and bad fast food.

Peak music, peak pop music it doesn't matter it's still bloody awful!

 

[Darujhistan]

I get a posthumous vibe with the new song as if the brand and artist have become detached. Ironically an AI generated song would sound more like Kylie.

Reverb is definitely a cliche in modern songs. Done to death by the likes of Adele, Florence and the Machine et al, and also that Caroline Polachek song above. It's a cheap trick. You can send flatulence down a Strymon BigSky and it will sound "high quality" by today's standards.

Absolutely spot on.

It's been around for years. and maybe the absolutely dire "I've got a feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas was what really popularised it and it's never gone away. That song is the epitome of absolute paint by numbers cringe, a song made for adverts.

It is truly dreadful and I think it is at least some responsible for the state of modern music. A song so sickenly saccharine and blatantly cynical made with zero creativity whatseover. Product pop at its worst, we're pre AI in 2010 but this is definitely something AI would produce.