The same thing has happened to country. 'ceptin' it mostly sounds like Pop these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1Vrur_ewM
All pop music since at least 2000 sounds exactly the same. This article proves it with data. So I'm not just an old grouch.
Yes, they should be more diverse. Most recent pop songs are pretty boring, even given the style they us
Most of today's songs do sound the same, recording companies want hits to recoup their money spent on artists who are not established as of yet and are money makers for them. They are afraid of taking risks on new ones and allowing them to develop as they once did. I try to listen to the new songs and artists of today but very few pass into my list into my iPod, yes I actually still have one of those. I enjoy music from Swing bands, the 50's, 60's, 70, 80's and going into the 90's. I have a subscription to a satellite radio so I can listen to my 80's, 80's new wave, what would be considered classic rock, heavy metal and other decades that I follow. Like Bob Seger said, Today's music ain't got the same soul, I like that old time rock and roll.
I’ve said for years the songs all sounded the same. This proof is enlightening. My listening is mostly limited to the 70s and 80s.
This story confirm my opinions (prejudices?) about contemporary music in that - with some exceptions - the songs are no longer spontaneous. Inspiration is missing. Melody is dead. Songs are formulas (note the guy who has "written" 22 hits) and the joy has been replaced by calculation.
1
Yes, Pop music should be more diverse. The whole genre of "pop" music in general is supposed to be wide open to whatever the most popular, most widely liked music of the time is - no matter the genre. Popular music can be anything and the doors of creativity should be opened but this article does prove that within our modern population there is a current tendency for our ears to like the "ear candy" tunes that hit our top charts with that same rounded song fingerprint. I didn't know about the song fingerprint strategy and recognition technology before this article which is interesting that that's how Spotify chooses the alike songs in their radio or song suggesting system. great article. I hope pop music expands and includes other types of song fingerprints more to the liking of 1988 style charts. great article. really cool layout I hope more articles become online interactive like this one - the sound and images were a real plus for me as a student
Very nice article. I would love to cross this information with the network of producers over time. As pointed out, the same person hit more than 20 songs. The proximity of those writers (I am assuming the music industry has a certain physical place that concentrates them) and network of people that will also produce the song sharing techniques must have an influence. I would love to see the network probably having many distant nodes weekly connected in the beginning and shrinking to few nodes that are very tight together (memetic network could probably explain the effect). Outsiders will come and eventually form new clusters and bring new effects/trends.
Of course. Where are the Alt category titles we associate with Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Beck, Wilco, etc.? I know: they're all up in years, associated with Gen X, Y, but still...all active, great tour bands, and still producing great studio material. And of course Alt-country os missing as well,.Eric Church, Keith Urban, etc. now in the space once occupied by Dwight Yokum, Ryan Adams et al.
Yes, preferably.
Good article, but the comments section needs counterbalancing. First, I was a summer camp counselor this summer, and I can tell you that the kids love the music that's on the radio. If you turn off Zedd's "The Middle" to play the Beatles instead, they will scream at you. As has always been the case, they don't care what the NYT comments section thinks about their music. That said, old music is not lost on them. We listened to plenty of Beatles, Johnny Cash, and "Stand By Me" in my group. Second, as a music fan, it is my general assumption that during any time period, all of the most popular musical groups are trying to copy each other. Try listening to an early Beatles album, followed by an early Stones album, followed my an early Monkeys album, etc. You will get bored, fast. I do believe the argument and data in this article that homogeneity has increased over time. But homogeneity has always been an attribute of the pop charts. It has also always been the case that weird, surprising stuff pokes through fairly often. Think Lorde's "Royals" or Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." I'd argue that Camila Cabello's "Havana" fits the bill here. Finally, if your comment is mentioning autotune, it's been about ten years since autotune was all over the charts (as a stylistic choice, I'm sure it's still used as an editing tool).
1
The pop music charts should be whatever people want to hear! These days, we're lucky that we can find music in other ways than what's in the Top 40 that week.
I was 13 in 1988. it seemed like, back then, each year had its anthem. I can hear a song even today that takes me right back to that time.
I had thought that pop music was all starting to sound the same, but I blamed that on getting older. Maybe it's not just aging.
It's hard to bend the music hits business, I'm not interested anymore in the popularity of any song or how much it is played. A thing I can say is that today everyone can choose listening to a huge amount of artists whose albums are not overproduced or played on radio stations, so let's them give more attention rather than the standardized music hits industry.
This excellent piece makes long-overdue observations about the decline of popular music in the last few years. We disagree, however, that the music has recently begun to improve. To this ear, it has only gotten worse. Regardless of gender and ethnicity, most of the singers sound alike — we've identified three or four basic voices. One particular pet peeve: Male singers on all sides of the ethnic spectrum sound flaccid and weak. There are no melodies either. How many of today's songs will be covered several years from now? We're betting that, with a few exceptions, there will be precious few.
id personallu love to see more musical diversity, i love a good upbeat, cheery summer hit as much as the next person, but i also appreciate a good sad summer song too. i have an ecclectic taste, so i hope we start seeing more diversity in the music industry
I didnt see one Metal Song or Group represented, so the algorithyms are WRONG!
Pop music being more diverse? That really depends on the audience. You just switching out one kind of Rhythmic Music for another. Hard Rock/Metal is getting to be niched like Jazz regardless of what Jazz style. Same goes for roots rock or styles that have melody but not the mass appeal.
The audience needs to demand the diversity, and not just another beat focused gene.
I'd like to see where Coldplay's summer anthem of 2008: Viva La Vida sits on the chart. I remember that summer well because of that song, and I'd be curious of that was an outliner or not.
It would be really cool to have a site where you could plug in any particular song & see its characteristics compared to the top hits from that year.
Billboards Top 100 is remarkably one flavor. There was an Eric Clapton docu on and they splashed the Top 100 when Layla was a hit. There was Gospel, Funk, Rock, Soul, Pop, Folk, Dance, it was all there. I don't agree with everything in the article, but I'd like to see more diversity. The uniformity of the present Top 100 is what it is, this is what's popular. People don't want diverse music anymore? I don't know what to think except this is where we are now. Most recent Top 10 had three artists. It's a little better this month, Top 6 has two artists... just saying, you see where we are now.
Maybe it's important that pop music moves in waves, sometimes more diverse, sometimes less. It would be a more efficient cultural bellwether that way, if such a thing were possible or even necessary. But isn't it part of the cultural category of pop music that we don't to read too much into it, but let go of all that cultural uptightness and go with the summertime flow? God knows, the autumn's closing in.
Diversity in all forms of art is proof of individual's freedom to express themselves. Diversity is a plus.
In short, yes it should be more diverse. However I don't think the current chart toppers sound particularly better, or that infusing hip-hop in the chart-topping-hits will make "hits" sound more diverse. Take Drake for instance, all his songs, including so-called ballads (ie God's Plan) sound exactly the same, no exception!.. Besides with due respect to the science used behind this and as much as I trust it, I think the danceability category is arguable. Many of the songs (1980s AND 2010s) that were referred to as danceable sounded too slow, unless by that you mean they have any kind of bass/rhythm to them.
It's interesting to look at "indie-pop" versus "pop" music. The songs of the summer all sound the same, but i'm not sure if my age group (19-22) are invested in this sound. It seems hip-hop is definitely hitting home, but with Blood Orange, Clairo, and Mitski changing the idea of pop music in a sub-genre, those have very different sounds, and genres within their "indie" space.
I want to read the article on my lunch hour. I don't want the music unless I choose to listen. The two goals are, seemingly, incompatible.
YES. Music is an art form and we need to put more emphasis on the art and less on how well it sells. It's exciting to hear a fun or beautiful song that sounds different than anything I've heard before; it inspires me and inspires new music makers.
Radios choose to create hits - there is diversity into artists composers etc
Cause of internet companies are loosing money cause the rights go straight to Artist - also PlayStation games create new taste into music taste sounds - new generations ears don’t need complicated interesting emotional sound - don’t recognize it -
They are connected to vision - iPhone - screens what ever - they are not pure listeners any more
It’s a new generation
1
While diverse pop charts sounds like what we need, homogeneousness appeals to the chart-loving audience. Music algorithms reflect listener behaviour or lack thereof. Conversely, manual listener-feedback produces more diverse, taste-based selections. Since 40% of Spotify listeners never choose any music themselves (think traditional radio), and 30% choose about half their music - with Spotify adding the rest, just 30% of listeners are passionately making song choices. The former 70% are happy with Pop, RnB and Rock (3 of 1500+ genres) and whatever makes you happy right? Contemporary audio production techniques are rooted in the top three genres and represent a handful of tastemakers (think Quincy Jones then, Drake now) in any given decade. So for artists who want to make charting-songs, lack of diversity is implicit. Charting-song's display a degree of novelty within their realm.
10
I loves the outcome of the graphics. It is very well made.
As a comment to the homogenity of pop musicians 'work, I think it's something that the genre in some way determines ... but it's the artists' challenge to get out of the boxes, right? haha
1
Yes, pop music charts should be more diverse as it would indicate a greater particpation in the world which would give rsie to more diverseness in creativity in music production.
1
My intuition did group recent American songs as bland and all the same.
HAH I KNEW IT!
Also, these songs are missing something.. Needs a bit more... Eurovision!
Lets compare Europe to American and see the differences in music. That would be interesting!
2
I Like It Like That was already a summer hit in 1967.
1
More Marty Robbins, that's all I want.
Nice article. Another factor for music becoming more homogeneous in the mid 90's is the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It allowed a handful of large companies to buy tons of radio stations. This means those companies can manufacture what gets played on the radio rather than go out and try to find that "next new sound." It's less expensive and less risky for them to just control the hits, and the data bears out that people will listen to whatever you play for them, so the whole industry has done away with the need for competition among stations and sounds. But this explains why we haven't had a Nirvana or a Led Zeppelin or other breakthrough band to change the game since then. Pop has remained fairly static since about 1996-2000, especially compared to how it had evolved in prior decades. In the 19 years from 1999 to now, we've gone from Brittney Spears to Ariana Grande. Not much difference. In the 19 years from 1980 to 1999, we went from Diana Ross to Ricky Martin. Big difference.
I think that perhaps the advent and spread of online radio alternatives might improve song diversity again, because the radio conglomerates aren't proscribing the direction of new music through those new media. Instead, these algorithms can feed you music based on your actual tastes. However, like we saw with the recent ad campaign for Drake's new album, where Drake's face was on literally every single playlist Spotify made, entities like Spotify are susceptible to pushing certain sounds, too.
3
Fascinating visual data journalism & interactive music piece with interesting theories. I would not have expected that the similarity of summer hits became much more pronounced when Billboard changed how they tracked sales. Thank goodness there’s evidence we’re moving back toward more diverse sounds (thanks to the ever innovative hip hop!) - and that I’m open to hearing them because of my 12 year old. #MusicMoves
I entirely agree that music is becoming more diversified. As a new driver, my new favorite hobby is driving around listening to music. If you listen to NY's hit music station, Z100, for an extended amount of time, the different styles of all today's hits becomes apparent. I find myself singing along to slower songs such as "Psycho" by Post Malone (as mentioned here) and then, within seconds, jamming to faster songs such as "FEFE" by the controversial 6ix9ine. Both songs are rap, but extremely unalike. I appreciate the music industry branching out and popularizing varying styles. But, I can understand why, in the summer of 2010, Americans enjoyed songs that sounded very similar. If I am driving and decide to connect my phone and play songs I have selected instead of listening to the radio, I tend to pick more upbeat, happy songs. I relish EDM and Pop music in my carefree and stress-free summers. Then, as we are experiencing our harsh NY winters, I am more inclined to listen to slower rap and country as I sit indoors and work on schoolwork. In conclusion, I am elated to see that this summer has seen all different types of music on the top charts while I also see why people tend to go for certain styles in certain seasons. Music truly does define your mood.
1
The pop of the 2000s was stronger than we imagined. I think what Max Martin did with Britney was something very innovative at the time, a kind of bubble gum pop that often worked. However, it went beyond all limits and it was a rule that artists followed. I hope this actually changes.
I believe that the pop music charts are naturally becoming more diverse. As a person who loves to listen to and create music, I study the in and outs of different forms of music. In the 80 90's era, there were many different genres forming and striving during that time. For instance, as stated previously in the article, rock, R&B, and rap were all molding into their own unique sound at that time. When the early 00's came, there was sort of a generic sound in pop which was getting to its peak at that time. Although there were other genres at that time, pop was becoming popular with majority of the people. As we get into recent years, the popular genre which was then pop, is now rap. If you are not a fan of rap, then you probably do not realize that within rap itself, there are different forms of its genre. That is why the analytics showed a difference between, "Nice for What" by Drake & "I like it" by Cardi B. Even though they are both rappers they have a different style which shows the diversity between them. So to say that "Pop" music charts should be more diverse is deceiving when the top music charts are "rap" music charts. In recent years, pop is nothing like it used to be before and I think there are sub levels of pop but in total, pop is dying and only Taylor swift can save all the innocent, clueless, uncultured teenagers from transitioning to rap.
1
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/09/opinion/do-songs-of-the-s... @[email protected]
This week in the New York Times, the article and videos about summer music interested me because music is a big thing in the summer. Listening to music outside in nice weather and being with your friends in the summer is just different than listening to music during the winter when it's cold out. According to this article, the best songs of the summer in the past decade have been in the genre of pop music. For example, a pop song called "California Girls", by Katy Perry was on the top charts in 2010. The characteristics of this song include having a high loudness, high energy, meaning that it is fast paced and has a lot of noises, and the ability to dance to this song is high because of how loud it is and because of all of the energy that it gives off. So, over the past decade in the summer, the top charts have been filled with songs like this. This leads to the conclusion that people like loud, fast, and dance-able music in the summer more than in the winter. But, this summer the song "Psycho"' by Post Malone was on the top charts and "Psycho" is a completely different song than "California Girls." Malone's song is slower, not as loud, and not as dance-able as Perry's song. This shows that music is changing and becoming more diverse. More diverse music is better than the same type of music all of the time.
I sincerely believe that pop music charts should continue to diversify, even more so than is happening at this moment. Popular is the non-abbreviated originator of the "pop" used to describe this genre of music today! As America becomes more diverse, the popular songs amongst its diverse population will reflect that. Music is a structural component of our culture. We can see that in how highly influential music artists – extremely popular music artists, in particular – are for the general public. Music helps weave us together and being exposed to a genre of music that is different than ones that come from a formulaic, oversaturated music industry is definitely a change we should welcome.
1
Yes. Unfortunately the continued growth of consumerism and its cultural dominance has devalued music. This started long before the internet. There was a time humans had to go to performances to hear music. Even when records came along someone had to make a significant investment, with a player and speakers etc. If you're paying money or going out of your way to find music you give it more attention. You educate yourself, not with theory or aural training necessarily but with a feeling for the sounds. You conceivably even sat down and listened to music. Nowadays music is generally wallpaper, something to help us through our daily commute, to fill the awkward silences in pubs and clubs. It is to many ways a utilitarian entertainment not art. Artists and listeners take less risks and the blandness proliferates. A belief that the art is there to entertain you has taken hold rather than something you spend time with and tease out. Explore the nooks and crannies of a symphony or the arcs of a jazz improvisation. Now major live shows are expected to have dazzling lights and dancers - Ed Sheeran - is a notable exception. We should try to expand our tastes and remember to really listen.
1
Should pop charts be more diverse? If the pop charts are based on mathematical calculations, then I'm not sure how that can be manipulated. Just because they now include a majority of hip-hop does not mean that they are diverse. They are, actually, quite monolithic and non-diverse. Now, it is only hip hop, so it is in a way the opposite of diverse. Hip hop does not equal diverse. I don't know or have any answers, but diverse would be ten completely different genres, and perhaps languages, in the top ten. But at the moment, that is far from the case. It's not the Katy Perry or Britney Spears pop from ten years ago, but it's the Drake and Post Malone non-melodic drudge of today. I'm not quite sure which is better. Where are the melodies? Or, perhaps, like the radio star, they died long ago...
1
I have always thought that it's really important to avoid chart music as much as possible because it is constantly played by everyone around me. Diversity is key, and so is talent. If formula is used to define success, then it's ok for a while, but If things become homogeneous to the point where it's all a grey cardboard or emulsion then I would rather avoid it. This article is really compelling and thoroughly enjoyable to take part in or to read. It's because it is very different to the other articles around it, and therefore a great distinction is formed, which we all welcome. Music should be the same.
1
I listen to Spotify's playlist "Todays Top Hits" which is a mix of 50 popular songs. The article "Why Songs of the Summer Sound the Same" claims that most pop songs of today sound the same. I disagree because each song has a different beat and melody, if the songs sounded similar I would like every song on this playlist. Every song has their own story and lyrics which shapes the song. Each artist has their own vocal range and vocal techniques that are unique to their songs and themselves. I'll compare two very popular artists and summer pop songs that I like. Drake's hip-hop song "In My Feelings" is about Drake's crushes. He names multiple females that he has either liked or has been rumored to be with. Ariana Grande's "No Tears Left to Cry" is about Ariana's emotional bounce back after the terrorist attack during her Machester concert in the Dangerous Woman Tour. These songs are both popular right now and they sound completely different. "In My Feelings" is more of the hip-hop genre because of the beat and Drake rap style. "No Tears Left to Cry" showcases Ariana's vocal range which is different than Drake's. Ariana is singing and hitting high notes with vibrato, a singing technique that has to form from training. She even hits a G5 in the climax, which is a pretty high note. Drake's voice is much lower and he is rapping. Yes I understand that they are different genders and only a few men can hit high notes, but this just proves that all pop songs do not sound the same.
My children and I listen to the "Future Hits" playlist on Apple Music in the car, and I stop each song after a verse & chorus to ask if they like it. More often than not the songs start out in the same tuneless way, with someone shouting unintelligible words, and we skip it even before the verse ends. There are notable exceptions - Janelle Monáe's "Way You Make Me Feel" just blew us away - but the sameness of each song and lack of any melodic hooks has gotten very frustrating.
1
This slide show interred me because Im really inserted into music. I think pop music is diverse enough so everyone can have there sound. Many people think it should be but I personally think its fine. Yet me not going to college for music and no taking any personal class for music I think its fine. Also feel like a lot of kids can relate to the pop songs and understand the beats. Sometimes the beats can be to complicated and some people can't really rock with the beat. I think most important thing about the song is the words and the beat so if the people really can't understand it then the song really can't get the chart.
I think it's also important to remember that younger people aren't as tethered to the top 40, as some of us old farts were. No longer reliant on what the radio stations choose to broadcast, they find music on Spotify, youtube, and other platforms I'm sure I don't know about. It allows them to find and listen to a wide variety of music outside the pop charts. My teenager will play songs from her phone, as we're driving around. I hear a bit of everything including Radiohead, Nirvana, My Chemical Romance, 21 Pilots, K-pop, Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Foo Fighters, Rage Against the Machine, The Temper Trap, Muse, and many more I can't remember off the top of my head. They are also no longer bound by time. They are listening to music that spans the decades and not just what is peaking the charts at the moment. I think it is very difficult to quantify and analyze because everyone is listening to their own thing. I could be wrong, but I think that the kids these days are listening to an even more diverse selection of music than we were as kids in 1988.
1
Summer songs sound the same? All songs sound the same. It's called Auto-Tune where no one misses a note. It’s a tsunami of production tools that can give your voice an alien-like vocal effect - or allow the bass to be recorded in LA on Tuesday, the vocals in London on Thursday, the lead guitar in New Orleans on Friday, and add computer-generated drums in-studio when software splices all the parts together into a seamless, perfect product. Boring.
We listen to robots now, not humans. Imagine one Everly Brother using overdubbing software to create their famous familial harmony. Slight imperfections in instrumentation or vocals once made the music real, a reflection of who we are, including our limitations. It was the challenge of creativity and inspiration versus the limitations of the human instrument. The music bled; it wasn't a digitalized super-hero with a huge cache of invincible special effects who always won and walked away unscathed.
Call me old-school (I am) but I want to hear emotion, say a Ray Charles or Aretha, rather than the sterile, cold perfection of a Perry, Kiesha, or Gaga.
But it’s not just the music that suffers. Technology is putting layers of filters between humans and the real world. We “talk” in our Facebook bubbles rather than read the face of people we talk to; use GPS rather than a map until our spatial muscles atrophy. Technology is altering our brains.
Welcome to 2018: fake news, fake reviews, fake hits, fake YouTube views – fake music.
5
I attended a wedding yesterday and commented "Oh, another 21st century song" because, Yes, they all have the same sound!
This article and the analyses are great! Thank you!
2
I loved this format and found the piece informative and entertaining. I was annoyed however that it wouldn't work on my iPhone 6-plus, and it might have been nice if there had been some attempt to make me aware that viewing it there wouldn't give me the optimal experience (instead I just got frustrated and pretty quickly gave up). But I'm glad I went back and checked it out on my laptop. One thing that would have added to it for me: when the piece mentioned the top-10 hits from a particular summer (with the corresponding graphic) it would have been nice to see the entire list of all 10. Seems like it would have been easy to include and would have made the story more informative still, as well as providing a nice walk down memory lane for those of us who are old enough (like me) to remember what was playing on the radio those summers past. Still, a great and innovative web presentation from the NY Times. Keep features like this coming!
1
Love the analysis. I think if you did the took a look at periods in the 40s, 50s and 60s you'd find the same thing - a time when all the songs sound alike. Then people get tired of that sound and new styles break through. This period has just lasted a long time. Number one used to be easy to define. Now the media is spread out and it's harder to see the trends.
2
What about "Summer in the City"?
The talent isn't there. That is why they all sound alike.
Mungo Jerry: In the Summertime.....never gets old and nothing much like it since.
https://ca.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t&p=mungo+jerr...
1
Al time FAVE!
Hmm, why is there no mention of the homogenizing influence of the Internet on creativity?
1
Algorithms and autotune and digital audio work stations . . .
it results in music that's like chrome: smooth, hard, shiny and gives you a distorted reflection of yourself.
Coming of age in the 60s I find most of today's music deadly. The human factor has been processed out. We get super produced, canned songs. Singers are promoted for their market value not their talent, and the women for their looks and sex appeal. Aretha at 18 was never sexy, but she could really sing and still does. With a few exceptions what passes for music today sounds like it comes from robots. This is true in every genre including rap, pop, music theater, and classical music. It is as if the musical world is stuck. How would things be if artists could make money selling albums (they can't), and if the music industry was controlled by women and not men?
Many individual artists are making terrific music. If they were able to perform where they could be seen (not on YouTube but live) and get paid a reasonable amount of money, maybe they could become well known. That's a pipe dream. How many people attend live performances that are not in a big stadium?
Opera is stuck in the same place that's it's been in for 60 years. How about asking John Williams to write an opera? People might actually come back to the art form. How about asking composers who do not use a "formula" to write anything? Broadway is hardly better. You can substitute one composer's music (and words) for another without much loss.
Money. Money is in charge. Uneducated composers and producers aiming at an even more uneducated public. Mass appeal isn't always a good thing. Profits over creativity. Yuk.
2
This article quantifies and articulates what my (bored) ears have suspected for years
Thank you!
2
Linda Ronstadt wept...
NFE
1
This was a great, erh, article? Interactive media piece? Informative, educational and easy to absorb.
I personally stopped listening to “popular music” radio years ago, with the exact reason that it all sounded similar, and was of a variety that just didn’t please my otherwise pretty eclectic taste. But this year I have actually Shazam’d several songs I heard while driving - that being the only time I occasionally listen to current hits, simply because I’m really bad at toggling the radio while driving, and I prefer listening to something hideous for a while as opposed to crashing - so there may be something to it?
1
Thanks for scientifically proving that this century’s hit songs are boring and repetitive. But you could have just asked me.
5
I've always loved a good melody and a good beat. I don't care what song is popular during the summer (or anytime of year) but when a song gets my ear, I'm hooked. It is, as they say, ear candy. Not something I want to subsist on -- give me bands like Blue Rodeo and The Sorentinos, and artists like Mark Knopfler and Jackie Greene for that -- but a real treat (like those Sno-Cones I had at the Miinnesota State Fair as a kid.)
Not sure if these were summer songs or not, but some pop songs that really got my ear: "I Want It That Way" (Backstreet Boys), "Bad Romance" (Lady Gaga), "Save A Horse [Ride A Cowboy]" (Big & Rich), "What Is Love" (Haddaway), "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (Plastic Bertrand), "Wake Me Up" (Aloe Blacc), "Get Lucky" (Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams), "Night Changes" (One Direction), "Good Feeling" (Flo Rida), "Walk Like An Egyptian" (The Bangles), and, perhaps my favorite pop song ever, "I've Been Thinking About You" (Londonbeat).
1
yes.
Corporate music for corporate rubes.
Perfect together.
Yesssssss!!!!
1
It seems to me that all the music algorithms just give you more songs that sound like what you have already listened to. Guess what! They all sound exactly alike! Notice that the the latest, "more diverse", songs all have synthesized vocals, and the same heavy production? Pop songs these days are the product of computer programs, not art, or craft.
3
The most depressing aspect of modern music is the lack of melody- that assemblage of notes that makes a song memorable e.g. Yesterday by the Beatles or You've Got a Friend by Carole King. Most modern country songs are a mind-numbing repetition of one or two notes in the verse leading to a forgettable chorus, e.g. You Make it Easy by Jason Aldean. Hip Hop is largely word art not music, i.e. variable musical notes. Not surprisingly, when an "ear worm" comes along it's a hit e.g. Shake it Off by Taylor Swift. Of course, very few composers can write lasting songs like the Beatles which is why they're the Beatles. But, modern writers are either not very good or too lazy to write anything people will remember and hum along to. No wonder so many of us listen to songs from the 60's 70's and 80's.
4
Hey ya know I don't think this is definitive in terms of scope. There was a group devoted entirely to celebrating beach life and singing the sound of summer - The Beach Boys. And lets not forget Margaritaville - The Girl From Ipanema - Chris Rea's On The Beach - In The Summertime - Beach Baby - It's Almost Summer - and then there were the end of summer songs (but still qualify as summer songs) The Summer Wind - The Honey Wind Blows - Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows (check the end of the movie Ski Party before you shred me) Even further back Gershwin captured summer in Summertime (and the livin' is easy). Spotify skews the results because it's based on choices made by an audience unfamiliar with music pre-dating the introduction of the Internet - Sampling - and reticulated chording software.
1
Each year people are getting more their music from streaming services, and less from terrestrial radio or cable. The algorithms that streaming companies use to determine what music gets exposure give a bit more of a chance to less-known artists. These artists and their producers aren't quite so concerned about sounding like whatever was a hit last week. That loosens up the whole system a little.
1
Agreed. Growing up in the 80s, tastes were hedged by Top-40 radio, with about 20-30 songs on heavy airplay at any given time. My teenaged boys are more likely to listen to classics (60s-80s) than pop or hip-hop with Spotify giving them broader choices, if not a definitive Summer Hit.
1
You betcha. It's like we all moved into a city that has agreed that all buildings painted in the same base and trim Pantone colors, for nearly 2 decades.
I'm a performing and recording musician, working with several different bands. The homogeneity has made learning new material almost an oxymoron. The result, as a listener, is that all of the music becomes background noise - with no variance, there isn't much reason to tune in to any particular song, unless I prefer Taylor Swift's pout to Katy Perry's. But - that's the video...I don't even need the sound on to appreciate the visual.
That homogeneity is probably the biggest reason I gave up on pleasure listening to current pop stations over the last 10 years or so.
Please - let us hear something different, worth getting excited about! Something that I can't play with 95%+ accuracy after hearing it one time! Give me a good reason to spend less time listening to great music that is 25-50 years old, and listen to something new because it's interesting.
5
There is a lot of great music out there, but it's not usually what is popular. Most people are somewhat cowed toward songs that are strictly commercial. I enjoy many genres but usually just specific artists within the various genres. I am not sure I care enough about the pop music charts to answer the question. Besides, I never know if they are asking us what we like or telling us what we like. It seems contrived.
I vote for the katydids on the deck. They perform well late in the summer every year.
3
It’s 2018 and happily my song of the summer is Come On To Me by Paul McCartney. That’s right, Paul McCartney. Beatles forever.
I hope this is true. I gave up on pop music in 2009. I thought it was because I turned 40 and no longer had any use for the kids' music. But if diversity and novelty are coming back. Maybe I will to.
Here's hoping 2019 is when music comes back to life.
2
Journalists trying to prove their mettle by crowning the Official Song of Summer are wasting their time. A true summer song is one that you heard while you were doing something you enjoyed, and the strong association between the two made it one of your favorite songs, regardless of what the top hits were.
As I type this, I'm listening to "Calling America" by Electric Light Orchestra from 1986, and it reminds me of a pleasant ride I had with my father and my brother and the song on the radio. Whether it was a top hit or not matters not to me; it evokes a fond memory, and that is enough.
Mark, I liked ELO, but not enough to buy any of their early albums. When I saw the cover of Balance of Power (1986), it really caught my eye, so I bought it, my first ELO album. There were some songs I wasn't crazy about, but I loved three songs: "Calling America", "So Serious" and "Getting To The Point" (that last song really shows Jeff Lynne's Beatlesque chops.) It's always cool when you have a memory associated with a particular song. I have that with a lot of songs. I don't have a memory of place with those three songs, but I do remember being hooked by them the first time I heard them.
Do you recall your father having an opinion on that song when you guys heard it? My father didn't like any rock or pop music. It was all "noise" to him. Big band music was his Elvis/Beatles/Simon & Garfunkel/Springsteen (he was born in 1919) and nothing else never could ever be as good.
1
Pop music has always been similar. It's peppy and meant to sound good in a car. But there's always good music out there. Having worked at labels for years, I can tell you Americans aren't the most adventurous music buyers. But, all that can change. Get Spotify (10$ a month) and start digging. Trust me, there's a ton of great new music and it needs your support!
7
What complicates all of this for me is the recognition that so much music I've always loved - pop from the 60s and 70s - was itself "manufactured" on an assembly line, whether by Phil Specter or Motown or the producers and writers behind the Monkees and the lesser bubblegum groups of the age (was Ron Dante the Max Martin of his era?).
True, the Max Martins have perfected the science, and, to my ears, drained the life away, but the impulse to crank out hits for the masses has always existed and somehow, miraculously, produced the odd classic here and there (and lots of junk too - we've forgotten what we've forgotten: read through the Billboard charts of any era and you might be surprised at how relatively few titles you remember or even recognize).
The greatest of any age, from Hendrix to Nirvana, make the most significant art by shunning the assembly line mentality (I'll leave it to others to fill in the post-Nirvana examples) but they can't all by Rolls Royce. I loved my cousin's old Dodge Dart. My Pinto not so much.
Martha and the Vandallas, There Will Be Dancing in the Streets, some 50 years ago. I still hear it in my head every summer.
3
Awesome interactive article.
There does seem to be fewer mega hit rock bands nowadays.
2
Nowadays for rock depending on your taste, turn on an "Active Rock" station for harder sounds or an "Adult Album Alternative" station for lighter sounds.
Theme From A Summer Place by Max Steiner, Percy Faith and his Orchestra! Unique and Timeless!!!
3
I don't worry about the lack of diversity. Some formulaic and minimalist songs are definitely creative despite their limitations. Even hiphop, which I hated just 7 years ago, I would consider now as experimental and very progressive.
1
I just figured that all the songs on pop hit charts were specifically engineered and developed to sound exactly alike. You go into a store, all the clothes are the same; go to the next store the clothes are the same. The colors are the same.
There are actresses and models I cannot tell apart because the make-up and hair are so similar, and so generic that it disguises the women completely in photos.
Hit movies follow formulas. Best sellers are formulaic, and so is TV. Why would we expect mass marketed music to be different?
Mass market appeal means appealing to the lowest common denominator. That's gonna be vanilla not pistachio.
3
While the dominance/monopoly of certain songwriters like Max Martin or Antonoff/Michaels certainly has played a significant role in the increasing similarity of pop sonics, let's also not forget that genres increasingly hybridized between, say, 2002 and now--i.e., the same time as which digital music players and streaming became the prominent mediums of distributing and listening to music; millennial interests and tastes followed. Inevitably, genres merged--hip hop stars did features on pop tracks; dance music producers condensed their form to fit pop music conventions--and a singular sound emerged: propulsive EDM or trap beats, sing-songy melodies, and often a dance-style breakdown as or after the chorus. Happy to hear we're moving out of what's now seemingly a 2006-2016 phase, but I don't think we need to be particularly worried: I mean, it's not Richard Marx.
1
I saw Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and the Comets and Jerry Lee Lewis on the same bill at War Memorial Auditorium in my hometown of Ft. Liquordale when I was 8.
That pretty much ruined any affinity for bubblegum (pop) rock I might have had in my life had I not seen real rock and roll in its infancy.
I certainly don’t begrudge the fact that so many folks have enjoyed the mediocrity of pop music over the decades. But the best of rock is art and one’s time on the planet is so short that time spent on listening to pap is time wasted to me.
To paraphrase the mighty Ray Davies in the Kinks “20th Century Man”:
You take all your smart modern writers, give me The Rolling Stones, the Clash, The Who, and the prebubblegum Fleetwood Mac of Peter Green.
1
I've been comparing radio hits since the early 1980s. This was outstanding. The visuals, the clips, and the context were all spot on. Nicely done.
7
Pop music charts should be more diverse for sure ! At least to mirror the diversity of cultures in the world. Summertime hits could bring some more African or Carribbean rythms for example. They are quite efficient too when it's about energy and danceability.
3
Amazing, isn't it, that "My Boy Lollipop" was such a big hit, along with "Classical Gas"."
Ska and strings for the first time. Can't beat it.
2
All pop of every decade sounds the same to me. Boring. Thank god for Punk and Grunge, Jazz and Blues, and artists like John Doe, Sarah Jarosz, Nina Hagen, Die Antwoord....
1
A couple of points: 1) There is really a lack of consensus because our media is splintered...streaming, Spotify,radio, Pandora, downloads, U Tube, brief attention spans all play a part and there's no way Billboard or anyone else can declare the hottest song out at any moment. It all moves too fast and the data is all scattered and EVERYTHING needs to be measured better.
2) There are a handful of huge artists (Drake, Ed Sheeran, maybe cardi b) but nothing in terms of other decades where there were dozens of superstar acts with diverse sounds and an actual catalogue of hits.
3) In the past, The acts had personality, swagger, creativity and musicianship. They sang live and the bands played live and most importantly, they weren't on a big money grab. The money came later. Now...it's money first, get that song to #1 so they can cash out and get endorsements...FAST so...
4) The producers specifically understand how to create the homogenized hit and it's basically an assembly line with a beat. I was in a studio on Santa Monica when Brittany Spears snuck in for exactly 20 minutes to record her vocals for the song Toxic. It didn't matter if it wasn't perfect... auto tune, editing and sampling is how you get a generic pop hit these days. Out in 20 minutes, as TMZ snaps away...
The art in artist is gone except a few creative people in hip hop and rockers who never get any respect because, their songs don't have beat!
2
I am still trying to figure out why the pop music of West Africa has not made more of an inroad into American pop music. A lot of it is in English, the rhythms are great - the music is danceable, and the singers all have good voices. So, why not?
4
Fascinating piece. Visually representing the sound algorithms is such a clever way to present and analyze these trends. A simply beautifully example of well executed data visualization. And, yes, pop music charts should be more diverse!
1
So intriguing! I've been so bored with mainstream pop for so many years now. Let's hope that indeed we're entering into more interesting times -- and diverse is always at the very least -- interesting.
2
Music consumers need to expand the scope of the music that they are listening too. Big music festivals are often over-shadowed by the lead acts (which sometimes fit into the 'similar' model noted), but I find the acts at the 'bottom' of the list to often be the most interesting. We all need to branch out of our comfort zone and listen to music that is 'different'.
Great piece. Thank you for creating this!
2
Loved the piece. In the new diversification of pop sound, two of your three examples are driven by samples: Lauryn Hill and Pete Rodriguez. I was left wondering if that is significant.
1
Incredible data visualization. Kudos to the authors.
10
Nice innovative way to tell a story! I think the reason for the similarity is that the same few people were producing all the hits. Hope we are entering a new period of diversity.
2
No one makes albums anymore, it's all about the single hit, or a ringtone for your phone. Short attention spans, youtube, instagram, and having the 'viral' hit and attention, is what it's all about. Be outrageous, or be the same, your songwriting choice. That's the musical sound of 2010+. No wonder the 80's are holding on strong, even among the 20 and 30 somethings!
3
Lana Del Rey's albums are very diverse and worth checking out.
Yes! I'm glad it's changing!
1
To the creators: I enjoyed this media formatting. I look forward to more content produced in this way, with the feeling of turning a page to a new song.
1
Where does Despacito fit in?
2
Thaat's right "It's been all down hill since the advent of air conditioning." What's that? 1967/1970? Well, at least for summertime sounds. Summer In the City, Summertime Blues, Dancin' in the Streets! Wow. Maybe air conditioning has been the problem! I'm turni' mine off! Dang! I guess i better open some widows up. Pull out the vinyl. "Cause there ain't no cure fo the summertime blues!"
11
My favorite summer song? 1966, "Summer in the City." Maybe it was just because I was young. Oh to be young again.
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
But at night it's a different world
Go out and find a girl
Come-on come-on and dance all night
Despite the heat it'll be alright
And babe, don't you know it's a pity
That the days can't be like the nights
In the summer, in the city
In the summer, in the city
23
The greatest summer anthem of all-time, Peter Frampton's "Do You Feel Like We Do,?" sounds nothing like the mass-produced pop of today. And it's great fun to listen to even now.
3
On the supply side, dwindling number of hit making machines: studios, radio outlet, concert venues, streaming apps, etc leads to narrowing choices, all contribute to make the hit songs sound alike. The counter forces could be on the internet and social media, where some obscure new sound could be discovered and gain popularity. Still a long shot.
On the demand side is the demographics of the listeners. Baby boomers can't stand the loud noises anymore, or their hearing is going going gone. Long gone. It's up to the next wave of hormonal driven kids what they put on their playlist.
The third angle is individual taste. Most people really do not have very diverse taste in music. They tend to stay with a certain strain for a period of time before migrating to another. Finally, "There is no accounting for taste."
Gone are the days of 1960's top 40 radio, with the Beatles (pop/rock), Frank Sinatra (traditional crooning), Donovan (psychedelia), Peter Paul and Mary (folk), Dylan (Dylan), etc. Very diverse, and all very good.
The delivery channels of music have changed. First, many channels developed, each focusing on a tight-knit, narrowly defined genre. Then came streaming services, which use algorithms to focus more narrowly over time the music that comes up. It drives this listener who grew up with 60's diverse top 40 radio crazy to be pigeon holed into a, "You like that. Then that's what we'll feed you" machine.
It seems to create a feedback loop. Limited diversity of music heard, limits the diversity of the songs written and recorded.
6
This is a pretty incredible piece. Great information and creatively presented. Great job!
Listening to this song at night with the wrong man in town. in the summertime, always made me smile.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM
1
I really haven't ever heard another summertime song to compare to the Who's Live At Leads Summertime Blues! Actually the previous versions of Summertime Blues were all good too. Alas! I'm afraid it has been all down hill since the advent of air conditioning. "There ain't no cure for those summertime blues."
3
More diversity in the latest music - are you kidding me????? What is so diverse about repetitious, simple thumping bass patterns over vocalists who primarily speak?
18
Rap has been around for as long as people have been dismissing it as a genre of music. It's here to stay, so I think we can all benefit and find a lot to appreciate when we open our minds to diversity.
1
The Music Gods are undoubtedly rolling their eyes in total disbelief after reading this piece in The Times.
Really, no mention of The Lovin Spoonful's Summer in the City?
John Sebastian nailed it, capturing a New York City summer experience 'par excellence.' Par excellence, par excellence, par excellence!!!!!!
And if you've never experienced the genius of John Sebastian, well, here's your opportunity. Give it a try on youtube. Then check out his credentials on Wikipedia-hardly a one-hit wonder.
10
If only there were more jukebox hero hits composed by various pop musicians. How does billboard collaborate their judges to rank the hits?
Oh, so that's why all those songs sound the same. Increased connectivity and cultural diversity against a remarkably dull music background.
3
i'm a singer-songwriter, playing with my band in Brooklyn mostly. if you asked any of my friends, who do what i do, they woulden't know or care about the charts. we just play music.
11
Bring back the Beach Boys. Please!!
8
Their songs were recorded. You can listen to them anytime.
You lost me after "Old Cape Cod." Maybe this isn't my story.
1
Ah yes, the sound of 2010. I had just graduated from college and was ready to begin my first job in the public schools of Columbus...
Pretty much gave up on the radio that summer.
But this was a great article! Loved the upswing at the end. Boomers are so convinced that pop musical ingenuity is a thing of the past. But there are a lot of truly creative, interesting, and distinct artists-- many of them women, and people of color-- making music for the masses. You just can't let a piece of ubiquitous garbage like "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran dictate your entire outlook. I'll take a true rhythmic experimenter like Cardi B over a faceless "melodic" singing group like the Eagles ANY DAY
3
The takeaway is that pop music has grown formulaic, and is basically bad? This is news, why? It's just like the movies- all about sales and conformity. One long sequel.
3
Well done with this but take me back to Summer in the City by the Lovin Spoonful or more recently The Boys of Summer by Don Henley. The summer song that revives my engines most was Donna Summer's Love to Love You Baby. Wow, was that ever hot and steamy. She was THE diva, still is in my mind.
5
"Do Songs of the Summer Sound the Same?" or in other words... The algorithms of pink slime extract of summer music songs...
When I saw the title of the article and before reading it, my first thought was, "It's because they are all written by Max Martin." Funny that that turned out to be the thesis of the authors. I'm not crazy about many of his songs but I have to admit he is sort of a genius.
10
I think a big reason for the uniformity in sound is also the boom in music technology post-2000. Producers are all using the same sorts of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) that lock in songs to similar tempos and grooves, with similar sorts of drum sounds and plugins (instrument sounds, effects, etc.).
The irony is that now more than ever before, any musician or producer has more sounds available at their fingerprints, and yet the technology makes everything so easy to make it also easily eliminates creativity and makes everything sound the same.
8
Perhaps this is a bad thing, but I have little expectation that pop music be original. Simply defined, it is "popular music". There's lots of reasons why it isn't original, including things like labels not necessarily wanting to take risks,
or having successful songwriters who transitioned into the artists themselves. Sia and Julia Michaels have written songs for a fair number of people over the years and only recently have they gotten name recognition for it. Love Yourself by Justin Bieber sounds like an Ed Sheeran song because he wrote it. You can even hear Ed singing the harmonies in the background.
I listen to pop music because it keeps me relevant and I'll always know the songs at a party or be able to talk with someone about it. I don't necessarily need it to be diverse - I look for that elsewhere. To those bemoaning the unoriginality of music these days, I don't think that's true. The landscape of popular music changes in subtle ways - as evidenced by this interactive. Katy Perry and Kesha were truly at the top of their game 10 years ago. Maybe it's more accessible to us because of the internet now, but that music is very different from what is popular today. I wish that the authors had looked at the electronic genre as well - they've been very mainstream in recent years and has definitely changed the way songs sound now. Good artists copy, great artists steal and are inspired by what they hear. That's how it's always been.
1
Great article!
I think all almost all of these songs are masterpieces in their own way.
Since rock and roll bands with traditional instrumentation (people playing their own guitars, bass, drums) is not big in the mainstream/top 10 anymore, the odds of getting a low valence and low dancability song like Smashing Pumpkins' 'Today' seems pretty unlikely anytime soon.
Also, even with increasing diversity, I think most new stuff is keeping with high loudness and high dancability.
Need more variation in valence, loudness, and energy (and melody, not included here!); keep the dancability high - trad rock bands now often have really boring, straight-ahead 4/4 drumming on the downbeat, unlike way funkier drumming of earlier era.
2
Pop music is the music of the people. No individual person or culture gets to decide what pop music is; it is determined by the aggregate listening behavior of us all. Quite democratic and beautiful, if you ask me.
2
That's a bit idealistic. Nowadays most people only get to listen to what the producers and corporate shills decide is worth marketing. Therefore anything new and revolutionary never get thru their filters. Pop music is only the music of the "people" that the corporations and the style makers have decided to pass on to them. The "people" only get to choose from a narrow selection of what is really out there.
1
Nail on head, R.F. The market used to be lead by consumers and now consumers are lead by the market.
People like to say, "Hey, it's called pop music because that's what's popular. That's what people like." Not really. The record companies and radio stations pour their resources into a relative handful of artists and sounds. Very little else gets through to the vast majority of people.
3
Great point, I agree there's pop music that simply gets forced on us. I'd argue though, how much time do you think "the people" have to spend listening to random mixtapes?
Also, in modern times, websites like Soundcloud allow new artists, such as Kygo, to go from zero to hero in minutes. Obviously once an artists breaks through there is significant overhaul to their product via the studio and other creatives, but that doesn't change the fact that their vision, and the publics appreciation of it over all the other fish in the sea, opened that door in the first place.
2
Without a doubt the pop music charts should be diverse. As someone who listens to Rock and Alternative, I would love to see a Weezer or Red Hot Chili Peppers song on a pop music chart. I have always hated that Katy Perry/Taylor Swift sound and I would really like it to be just removed from the music industry all together and honestly I think it will be. This new Rap sound is taking over and is becoming the new "Pop." Either Katy Perry is gonna have to change some of her song mechanics, or she is done for.
Weezer was on the popular charts, they just aren't now. Such is the ebb and flow of pop music. What is popular changes and now we see more hip hop and less of the rock and alternative - I think it's refreshing. It goes in cycles - we'll probably see a rise in what you want eventually. It's like fashion.
1
I don't understand. Why would you love to see a particular song on a particular chart? Why not just listen to what you want to hear? I'm not being snarky - I truly don't understand why anyone, in this day and age, would allow their listening habits to be dictated by a chart? Any song you want is available at the touch of a screen.
Having heard a large number of teenagers and millennials preferring music prior to 2000 over their "own" time, I can understand why. I am so sick of hearing the music I grew up on being played everywhere. But its still more diverse and interesting than much of the past decade. Streaming music is about finding stuff that should be on the radio but never gets the air time.
3
Not that many years ago, I took my daughter to a Dylan concert. As we walked out she said, "The music was so much better when you were my age." I felt vindicated at first, but then I felt a bit sad. Everyone should think the music of their late teens and early 20's is the best of all time.
4
Wake me up when this out-of-control autotune disaster stops being a thing. Until then I’ll stay clear of current top hits.
16
Actually, autotune has largely been replaced by Melodyne, which is much more subtle.
Has anyone noticed how much the musical "hit similarity vs time" graph resembles the plots of global warming over time with which we are now so familiar? I think there is even a hockey stick buried in there.
Perhaps the explanation for the music trend is that the industry is increasingly dominated by hot air.
13
In addition to all that has been said, the melodic range has also been severely limited. Many of these songs have melodies with a span of around a perfect fourth. We are being bombarded by boring songs.
32
And with no melody, you don't need singers - just personalities. And compare auto tune to the bare vocal vulnerability of something like Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."
2
yet another consequence of taking music education out of public schools.
21
Almost all modern popular songs sound the same.
4
Thank you for not forgetting about rap & hip-hop. Kanye West notoriously produces a distinctive and different sound for every album he drops. Travis Scott just released ASTROWORLD, a phenomenally complex and layered album. And let's not forget about Gambino's "This is America." Pop may all sound the same, and it's certainly the catchiest, but there is immense creativity and innovative work being done -- even if it's not selling the most. The music industry is alive and well.
2
Call me old, but hit songs today sound manufactured more than they sound created. For me, the greatest summer song of all time was "Honky Tonk Woman" by the Rolling Stones. Why??? Because it was playing in August of 1969 on the radio I had bolted under the dash of my old man's 57 Chevy. He had just given it to me and I was cruising across the GW Bridge - well above the speed limit - on my way to Boston to hang out with my best friends from college for the last two weeks before school started again. Next week I'll be headed off to the Adirondacks to hang out with many of these same people. I may drive a Volvo now, but I'll still play Honky Tonk Woman as I head out of town. Some things change. Some things don't!
22
Having heard a few radio stories about how pop "hits" are made, "manufactured" is exactly the word for it. There's basically a template for how to write, record, produce, mix, and edit a "hit". If all these "summer anthems" sound the same, that's basically they pretty much are. Unfortunately, you can't manufacture art. It's pretty easy to manufacture garbage though.
4
Interesting article, cool digital journalism, and worthwhile topic, but here's what still bugged me once I finished reading/listening: If the main graphic for this audio-article shows Childish Gambino, Ariana Grande, and Drake, I expect to hear those artists or learn how their hits "score" at some point.
Drake came up at the end, but otherwise I learned more about Katy Perry, 80s summer hits, and pop music songwriting (all of which were largely dominated by white artists, so that contributed to the bait-and-switch element for me) than any of those three. Why not use pics of Post Malone, Cardi B, Ty Dollar Sign, or whoever else if you wanted modern artists for the story graphic, since they were the examples of current summer hits at the end anyway? Or select pics of artists that were relevant to the actual content of the article?
If you're going to use certain artists' faces to attract readers, you should feature them in the story, otherwise you're engaging in what we all know as "clickbait" and disappointing readers who, understandably, wanted to read about the artists attached to the headline.
Cool article, but the bait-and-switch feeling was what I was left with.
6
Songs these days are heavily engineered, studio productions. In terms of originality and variety they cannot compete with the summer hits of the sixties:
Rolling Stones "Satisfaction"
Chubby Checker "The Twist"
The Supremes "You Can't Hurry Love"
The Doors "Light My Fire"
The Beach Boys "I Get Around"
The Box Tops "The Letter"
Elvis Presley: It's Now or Never"
and so on. Each voice and group instantly recognizable. These day I can scarcely tell the difference between songs by Sia and Rihanna, Jesse J, Kate Perry and Beyonce. Too much engineering, not enough original lyrics, melody and vocals.
Bring back the Sixties .... Especially The King!
45
Being able to recognize voices and groups from a decade says more about what decade you started listening to music. Do you think teens today would be able to instantly recognize the R&B and rock & Roll acts of the 50 & 60's which honestly sounded very similar to one another? Originality was not a feature of the majority of artists back then. Many groups were trying to emulate hits and the sounds from Little Richard and Elvis.
8
and auto-tune makes me want to scratch my ears out, not that I listen to any radio anymore anyway. No originality in music for decades now, I stick with my MP3 player - no commercials, no annoying DJs, and I always like the songs, lol.
4
Hamid is correct, sorry Nick, but did you read and listen to the article? Ageist remarks are not helpful. Max Martin was behind an astonishing number of these songs, which are engineered to sound the same. Back in the '60s, '70s. '80s, there were those with an ear who helped bands to reach their peak of creativity, not stifled them to all conform to a mathematical formula. That's why their culture is still vibrant and influential today.
PS~Hamid, you forgot the Beatles, the essence of many different sounds.
10
I thought it was just me that thought all these songs sounded the same..
19
Is there 'open access' to the analysis used in this article - in other words, can anyone submit a song and see how it scores?
17
Very well produced article. It's interesting (and refreshing) to see the ebb and floe of popular music but without the "emotional" attachment that so often clouds discussions about music between generational gaps. I would love to see them graph music back to 1958 when the Hot 100 was created or perhaps earlier when Billboard was using three separate charts to track popular music: jukebox plays, DJ plays and sales. I would imagine more similarities up to the early Sixties and a wider range of styles moving through toward the Seventies
17
This was a really interesting way to look at music. Great article!
37
I just thought the older you got, the more it all sounded the same.
60
Hahaha!
Thanks, Jonathan. You just made me laugh out loud!
8
NO, like everything, movies, art, music is also completely inconsequential and irrelevant. Just so many people trying to extract money with no sense of anything beyond that. Culture is exhausted just like everything else. Now it is just mindless manipulation and cynical strategizing to maximize the market, leverage it and franchise it. Nothing remotely interesting about it.
5