Pop music today

[Hygro]

If you could post one song that you feel is representative of the thrust of today's pop music, which one would it be? What contemporary radio choons really capture the zeitgeist?

 

[Quackers]

Are we using "pop" to just mean popular chart music? I think it can be used as a genre too.

 

[Hygro]

Are we using "pop" to just mean popular chart music? I think it can be used as a genre too.

Like, if it was the early 90s, I would feel Smells Like Teen Spirit would be included because that song was specifically structured as a pop song, mastered for the radio, marketed to a pop audience. Not just New Kids on the Block and Milli Vanilli stuff. So I guess my answer would be a cross between both and either, but it's up to you to define it how you want

 

[bhsup]

I just came in here to post to say that I have no authority to post in this thread as I haven't the faintest clue about today's pop music. That is all.

 

[Hygro]

bhsup, you are granted the chartered sole exception of posting a retro banger, so long as its relevant to what you think captures the pulse of the times.

 

[Borachio]

Don't know nothing about any dumb zeitgeist. Isn't that some kind of liquid soap?


Link to video.

 

[Mise]

Not sure if it's recent enough but Call Me Maybe would be mine. When I think of modern pop music, that's the sort of song I think of. The structure, the aesthetic, the lyrical content, the music video, even the name "Carly Rae Jepsen" -- they all just scream "pop music zeitgeist".

 

[Farm Boy]

Link to video.

Sorry, linked the wrong song first. Don't actually listen to as much radio music as I used to. NPR too interesting.

 

[warpus]

I don't keep up with pop culture for the most part either, but I'd imagine that the pop song that embodies pop music today would have to contain these elements:

- Blonde girl in revealing clothing singing the main vocals
- Everything is autotuned to annoying extremes
- Every once in a while an African American gentleman jumps in and says "Yeahh" and other words
- Steady beat, nothing complicated
- Catchy repetitive & incredibly simple melody
- Repetitive nonsensical lyrics, seemingly written by a toddler ("I got my money, let's spend it up.." etc.)
- The song has to be feat. several big names, some of them containing a $ or Z in place of an S.

I think I pretty much just described 90% of all pop music out there, but that's okay.

 

[Traitorfish]

When you say "capture the zeitgeist", do you mean a song which is typical of contemporary pop music, or which represents what is vital in contemporary pop music? I don't have a good answer to either, but I'm curious to know if you're asking for one or the other, or leaving it up to the posters.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I'm not sure that you could find a song that could define the entire music genre permanently as you could in the 90s. It's impossible now, what's with the Internet and it's random desire to watch a billion times a song about Friday or Korea.

 

[Traitorfish]

The trick with mainstream pop, I think, is that it's not a genre, not in the same sense that hip-hop or heavy metal are genres, it's a sort of consensus among journalists, radio and television produces, and their audiences about what is Big And Important right now, and that sort of consensus is always going to have certain thematic threads running through it.

 

[Borachio]

Pop music is... popular. Seems obvious to me.


Link to video.

Strangely, a lot of people will hate something simply because it is popular.

 

[Harv]

I just came in here to post to say that I have no authority to post in this thread as I haven't the faintest clue about today's pop music. That is all.

Do you believe the Peak Oil Theory applies to music?

EDIT: Found a link.

 

[Borachio]

Link to video.

 

[Tahuti]

1970s:

Stayin' Alive, watch out for the doomsday button!

Link to video.

1980s:

Reaganomics, Thatcherism, Gold!

Link to video.

1990s:

What Hygro said,

Link to video.

2000s:

The world always revolved around California, but now we know it for sure!

Link to video.

2010s:

Because it is the most fancy era to date, possibly...

Link to video.

 

[Borachio]

Link to video.

 

[Hygro]

Shoot, nice idea there Kaiserguard. If y'all wanna do it that way, go for it. I'll get back to reply to some other posts a bit later!

 

[SoupJuice]

...even the name "Carly Rae Jepsen" -- they all just scream "pop music zeitgeist".

Her name IS marketing.

Sure, it might be her full name, but in the beginning she was just simple "Carly Jepsen" when auditioning for Canadian Idol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V458He7UYSM

 

[Zack]

Not sure if it's recent enough but Call Me Maybe would be mine. When I think of modern pop music, that's the sort of song I think of. The structure, the aesthetic, the lyrical content, the music video, even the name "Carly Rae Jepsen" -- they all just scream "pop music zeitgeist".

Yeah, that's definitely a good one.

edit: I'd probably include something by Coldplay too