Pop music is bland, simple in technique, hollow in intention, and infectious. It's what many people want to hear because (most commonly) the message behind it is so broad, that almost everyone can relate to it on a basic level. Often times the musicality of pop music is also far from complexity and artistic craftsmanship; many pop artists do not compose their own music or lyrics. Because of these reasons it would seem that Pop music, as an art, is somewhat soulless. Is this breed of simple minded music slowly killing deep, musically rich songs and bands?
In your first sentence you don't want to have "and intention" followed by "and infectious", the double use of and is unnecessary and unattractive. I would request you fact check the popularity of pop music because I don't buy that is is the most popular genre. Your final sentence is looking at the issue entirely wrong, music is meant to enrich the world, every piece and ever note, even popular music has something to bring to the table. Looking at pop music as completely useless is very narrow minded. – alexpaulsen9 years ago
I feel like this might be more band/artist specific. I can find plenty of examples of non pop stars that have simple music. I will give you that a lot of pop stars don't really write their own music, but I won't give you that there is no soul behind it. Plenty of popstars have songs that really hit home for them and you can see it in their faces when they sing them. I'd actually argue that other types of music kill my soul. Pop music lifts it up, makes me happy, makes me want to dance. Some other types make me angry, make me depressed, or make me thoughtful. I don't think any music is bad. I think maybe we as people need to stay away from thinking like "if it's popular it's not cool/good/etc." and "being different is the coolest, no one should want to be the same." Maybe things are popular, because they are good and its what the general public likes. That said. Your topic can still be fine. Focus maybe not so much on it killing our souls but the differences that go into them. Or maybe just focus on their complexities. For example pop music uses a less broad singing range thus making it simple (I'd expect this to be the opposite honestly, but give example of what makes it simple.) Pop music uses computers instead of instruments. I wouldn't consider this simple. Honestly, I could probably learn a guitar quicker than I could learn to mix beats on a computer that are new and sound good. But you get the picture. Focus on the differences and not on one being better than the other. – Tatijana9 years ago
It would also be worth touching on how pop has changed over the years and who the forerunners were. As much as I prefer rock and metal, there are some legitimately talented pop artists who go beyond the simplistic rules. Perhaps tie the article into reality shows like X-Factor too? – mattdoylemedia9 years ago
One thing to look at for this topic could be harmonic simplicity, bad (and often damaging) vocal technique, simplicity in general, and auto-tuning (and the subsequent lack of the "natural" voice). However, it could be worth looking at the good qualities of pop music. Why is it popular in spite of this? I agree; perhaps the lyrics are simplistic enough to relate to many people. Perhaps it portrays certain societal ideals. Does it make people "feel good"? Do they feel better about themselves listening to it because many people would be capable of producing music of that quality? Also, perhaps they use other musical techniques that appeal. For example, the drummer of the Beatles focused on creating different timbres by hitting the cymbal in different places. Maybe the repetition is appealing because we get to know the song more intimately. I'm not a fan of pop music in general myself, but I think there are good reasons that people are. It could be worth exploring those. – Laura Jones9 years ago
Cliffhangers can be frustrating, but often times they engage the reader's creativity in thinking of a new ending for the story. Other times, the author plans to write a sequel or continuation to the story, and he/she hopes that the reader is frustrated by the cliffhanger enough to buy the continuation. When I was in seventh grade, we were given an assignment: to write an ending for the story "The Lady or The Tiger." The original story was great, and the cliffhanger was extremely frustrating, especially since we wanted to see what the protagonist would choose for her lover's fate! – AdeleLai9 years ago
