Shit, I don’t know. Yet, this is the most-asked question from friends, acquaintances, and curious strangers. The easiest answer is “Pop,” an umbrella of negative-connotation that I hate to seek shelter beneath. To me, pop music is the ear-raping, factory-generated insult to my sanity that they wear out on KIIS FM and the like. More in-depth examination, however, reveals that some of my favorite artists of all time have been labeled with that same three-letter word. Basically, if it has two verses, a bridge, and a memorable chorus weaved throughout, it’s considered Pop…regardless of whether the lyrics have substance or not.
Cat Stevens*, for instance, injected a depth into his songs that pretty much anyone in the world could connect and identify with. Unlike some of the rambling, whiny singer-songwriters out there, however, his choruses were clearly structured and instantly stuck in one’s head (hence the term “hook”), making him an attractive commodity for radio play. More than merely being “music for the times,” his songs are still played decades later, which makes them timeless. When examined in that light, writing “popular music” doesn’t seem like such a bad thing!
Be that as it may, the stigma attached to Pop is still an unattractive one, no thanks to Britney Spears, T-Pain, and (god help me) Ke$ha. I try to come up with names for my particular style that suit me without sounding vomitously pretentious, such as “Sultry Songs With Soul” or “Lyrical, Progressive Electronica”…which feels like a mouthful of bullshit that still doesn’t add up to the sum of my parts.
“What kind of music do you play?”
“What’s your style?”
“What genre would you say your music fits into?”
And there it is. They want to know where I fit in, how they can label me in a way that’s easy to understand. Are we really that lazy? I have my own voice, my own style of writing, and musical arrangements that evolve sonically based on who I work with. I am an old soul with a young spirit and an ageless dream…and that’s precisely what my music sounds like.
“Pop,” I reply, at a loss, “but not like that shit they’re playing on the radio.”
*For a quick lesson in Cat Stevens 101, rent ‘Harold And Maude,’ a brilliant film that found the perfect soundtrack.
Author: Britt Warner
Comments
You’re such a great writer.
In the movie High Fidelity (which is based on a book by Nick Hornsby, a British author), John Cusack’s character refers to “pop music” as an entirely different beast than what we think of when talk about pop today. Which probably has to do with the British author. But he uses it to mean Bruce Springsteen, Marvin Gaye, the Clash, etc. The kind of pop I can get behind.
Thanks, L-Par. Nick Hornsby was dead-on. (And I love that movie – I love anything John Cusack’s in, really). I wish Pop hadn’t been turned into such a dirty word by label execs who wouldn’t know good music if it mugged them at the ATM.
You could just say you’re Brittish, that will really confuse ‘em!!!!
think about it.. pop music is what’s popular. brahms played in saloons and brothels and cafes…he could be considered the “pop” music of his time!
Sony – funny girl!
Liv – That’s part of the problem. Since my music isn’t mainstream quite yet, I feel like even more of a dipshit for alluding to its popularity. The conundrum thickens!
love the cat stevens reference…harold & maude is a classic. people do go label-crazy, which is why i often like to make up genres of my own for what I listen to
First rule of marketing is the keep it simple stupid principle. The simple answer to give one who asks “what kind of music do you play” is
“Good”
Hugs,
Naz