Pop music, like its little sister ‘pop-rock’, is a genre which is hard to define as it is incredibly broad and far-reaching. In general terms ‘pop’ is meant to describe all music which is ‘popular’, or which has been written with the express intention of gaining a profit. In other words, pop music is stereotyped as ‘fake’ or ‘unrealistic’ because the groups or artists which fall into the genre are believed to be manufactured or record-company puppets. Although not always true, this has unfortunately proven to be the case with some of the boy and girl bands of the nineties and the reality TV musicians of the early twenty-first century (American Idol and Pop Idol being just two of the many shows all over the world which churn out manufactured artists).
Pop music is characterised by its catchy melodies, easy to remember lyrics, and formulaic verse-chorus-verse pattern. The lyrics are discredited by many in the industry as being soft and lacking substance, whilst the music itself may be generated by computers or technicians who are not actually in the band or credited by the artist. Pop music can literally be made by one singer with no instrumental skills – and the singer may have had the song and accompanying lyrics written for them. Artists such as Britney Spears have come to epitomise this style of pop music.
In recent years the genre of ‘pop’ has changed to incorporate aspects of R&B and Hip-Hop which may previously have been considered to different stylistically to fall into the ‘pop’ classification. The success of artists like Fergie and Mariah Carey has bridged the differences between the two genres.
Pop music is characterised by its catchy melodies, easy to remember lyrics, and formulaic verse-chorus-verse pattern. The lyrics are discredited by many in the industry as being soft and lacking substance, whilst the music itself may be generated by computers or technicians who are not actually in the band or credited by the artist. Pop music can literally be made by one singer with no instrumental skills – and the singer may have had the song and accompanying lyrics written for them. Artists such as Britney Spears have come to epitomise this style of pop music.
In recent years the genre of ‘pop’ has changed to incorporate aspects of R&B and Hip-Hop which may previously have been considered to different stylistically to fall into the ‘pop’ classification. The success of artists like Fergie and Mariah Carey has bridged the differences between the two genres.