In January of 2010, Kesha Sebert, known as ‘Ke$ha’ debuted at number one on Billboard with her album, Animal. Her style is electro pop-y dance music: she alternates between rapping and singing, the choruses of her songs are typically melodic party hooks that bore deep into your brain: “Your love, your love, your love, is my drug!” And at times, her voice is so heavily processed that it sounds like a cross between a girl and a synthesizer. Much of her sound is due to the pitch correction software, Auto-Tune.
Sebert, whose label did not respond to a request for an interview, has built a persona as a badass wastoid, who told Rolling Stone that all male visitors to her tour bus had to submit to being photographed with their pants down. Even the bus drivers.
Yet this past November on the Today Show, the 25-year old Sebert looked vulnerable, standing awkwardly in her skimpy purple, gold, and green unitard. She was there to promote her new album, Warrior, which was supposed to reveal the authentic her.
- The History of Auto-Tune. Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio software program that alters pitch. The program was released by Antares Audio Technologies in 1997 and until recently has played an integral, but discreet, role in music sales.
- The History of Auto-Tune. Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio software program that alters pitch. The program was released by Antares Audio Technologies in 1997 and until recently has played an integral, but discreet, role in music sales.
- Auto-Tune — one of modern history’s most reviled inventions — was an act of mathematical genius. The pitch correction software, which automatically calibrates out-of-tune singing to perfection, has been used on nearly every chart-topping album for the past 20 years.
Mar 26, 2019 Young rappers who aren't even singing notes will request auto-tune because they want that slick, modern, artificial sound. Other guys who.do. sing, will deliberately want you to leave the pitchy doubled vocals untouched, to get that old-school, 'hard' or retro sound. Soul/R&B singers especially tend to regard autotune as an aesthetic choice. Nov 04, 2013 The use of auto-tune in “plastic” modern pop music by singers like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry is cheating, the choir leader Gareth Malone has claimed. Feb 27, 2013 Auto-Tune certainly isn’t the only robot voice effect to have wormed its way into pop music. In the ‘70s and early ‘80s, voice synthesizer effects units became popular with a lot of bands. Feb 18, 2018 For this list, we’ll be taking a look at singers and rappers like T Pain, Future, Kesha, Daft Punk, will i am, Cher, Migos, Bon Iver and more, to decide who has mastered this modern marvel of.
“Was it really important to let your voice to be heard?” asked the host, Savannah Guthrie.
“Absolutely,” Sebert said, gripping the mic nervously in her fingerless black gloves.
“People think they’ve heard the Auto-Tune, they’ve heard the dance hits, but you really have a great voice, too,” said Guthrie, helpfully.
“No, I got, like, bummed out when I heard that,” said Sebert, sadly. “Because I really can sing. It’s one of the few things I can do.”
Warrior starts with a shredding electrical static noise, then comes her voice, sounding like what the Guardian called “a robo squawk devoid of all emotion.”
“That’s pitch correction software for sure,” wrote Drew Waters, Head of Studio Operations at Capitol Records, in an email. “She may be able to sing, but she or the producer chose to put her voice through Auto-Tune or a similar plug-in as an aesthetic choice.”
So much for showing the world the authentic Ke$ha.
Since rising to fame as the weird techno-warble effect in the chorus of Cher’s 1998 song, “Believe,” Auto-Tune has become bitchy shorthand for saying somebody can’t sing. But the diss isn’t fair, because everybody’s using it.
For every T-Pain — the R&B artist who uses Auto-Tune as an over-the-top aesthetic choice — there are 100 artists who are Auto-Tuned in subtler ways. Fix a little backing harmony here, bump a flat note up to diva-worthy heights there: smooth everything over so that it’s perfect. You can even use Auto-Tune live, so an artist can sing totally out of tune in concert and be corrected before their flaws ever reach the ears of an audience. (On season 7 of the UK X-Factor, it was used so excessively on contestants’ auditions that viewers got wise, and protested.)
Indeed, finding out that all the singers we listen to have been Auto-Tuned does feel like someone’s messing with us. As humans, we crave connection, not perfection. But we’re not the ones pulling the levers. What happens when an entire industry decides it’s safer to bet on the robot? Will we start to hate the sound of our own voices?
They’re all zombies!They’re all zombies!
Auto-Tune has now become bitchy shorthand for saying somebody can’t sing
Cher’s late ‘90s comeback and makeover as a gay icon can entirely be attributed to Auto-Tune, though the song's producers claimed for years that it was a Digitech Talker vocoder pedal effect. In 1998, she released the single, “Believe,” which featured a strange, robotic vocal effect on the chorus that felt fresh. It was created with Auto-Tune.
The technology, which debuted in 1997 as a plug-in for Pro Tools (the industry standard recording software), works like this: you select the key the song is in, and then Auto-Tune analyzes the singer’s vocal line, moving “wrong” notes up or down to what it guesses is the intended pitch. You can control the time it takes for the program to move the pitch: slower is more natural, faster makes the jump sudden and inhuman sounding. Cher’s producers chose the fastest possible setting, the so-called “zero” setting, for maximum pop.
“Believe” was a huge hit, but among music nerds, it was polarizing. Indie rock producer Steve Albini, who’s recorded bands like the Pixies and Nirvana, has said he thought the song was mind-numbingly awful, and was aghast to see people he respected seduced by Auto-Tune.
“One by one, I could see that my friends had gone zombie. This horrible piece of music with this ugly soon-to-be cliché was now being discussed as something that was awesome. It made my heart fall,” he told the Onion AV Club in November of 2012.
The Auto-Tune effect spread like a slow burn through the industry, especially within the R&B and dance music communities. T-Pain began Cher-style Auto-Tuning all his vocals, and a decade later, he’s still doing it.
“It’s makin’ me money, so I ain’t about to stop!” T-Pain told DJ Skee in 2008.
“It’s makin’ me money, so I ain’t about to stop!”
Kanye West did an album with it. Lady Gaga uses it. Madonna, too. Maroon 5. Even the artistically high-minded Bon Iver has dabbled. A YouTube series where TV news clips were Auto-Tuned, “Auto-Tune the News”, went viral. The glitchy Auto-Tune mode seems destined to be remembered as the “sound” of the 2000s, the way the gated snare (that dense, big, reverb-y drum sound on, say, Phil Collinssongs) is now remembered as the sound of the ‘80s.
Auto-Tune certainly isn’t the only robot voice effect to have wormed its way into pop music. In the ‘70s and early ‘80s, voice synthesizer effects units became popular with a lot of bands. Most famous is the Vocoder, originally invented in the 1930s to send encoded Allied messages during WWII. Proto-techno groups like New Order and Kraftwerk (ie: “Computer World,”) embraced it. So did American early funk and hip hop groups like the Jonzun Crew.
‘70s rockers gravitated towards another effect, the talk box. Peter Frampton (listen for it on “Do you Feel Like We Do”) and Joe Walsh (used it on “Rocky Mountain Way”) liked its similar-to-a-vocoder sound. The talk box was easier to rig up than the Vocoder — you operate it via a rubber mouth tube when applying it to vocals. But it produces massive amounts of slobber. In Dave Tompkins’ book, How to Wreck a Nice Beach, about the history of synthesized speech machines in the music industry, he writes that Frampton’s roadies sanitized his talk box in Remy Martin Cognac between gigs.
The use of showy effects usually have a backlash. And in the case of the Auto-Tune warble, Jay-Z struck back with the 2009 single, D.O.A., or “Death of Auto-Tune.”
I know we facing a recession
But the music y'all making going make it the great depression
All y'all lack aggression
Put your skirt back down, grow a set man
Nigga this shit violent
This is death of Auto-Tune, moment of silence
That same year, the band Death Cab for Cutie showed up at the Grammys wearing blue ribbons to raise awareness, they told MTV, about “rampant Auto-Tune abuse.”
The protests came too late, though. The lid to Pandora’s box had been lifted. Music producers everywhere were installing the software.
Everybody uses it
Everybody uses it
“I’ll be in a studio and hear a singer down the hall and she’s clearly out of tune, and she’ll do one take,” says Drew Waters of Capitol Records. That’s all she needs. Because they can fix it later, in Auto-Tune.
There is much speculation online about who does — or doesn’t — use Auto-Tune. Taylor Swift is a key target, as her terribly off-key duet with Stevie Nicks at the 2010 Grammys suggests she’s tone deaf. (Label reps said at the time something was wrong with her earpiece.) But such speculation is naïve, say the producers I talked to. “Everybody uses it,” says Filip Nikolic, singer in the LA-based band, Poolside, and a freelance music producer and studio engineer. “It saves a ton of time.”
On one end of the spectrum are people who dial up Auto-Tune to the max, a la Cher / T-Pain. On the other end are people who use it occasionally and sparingly. You can use Auto-Tune not only to pitch correct vocals, but other instruments too, and light users will tweak a note here and there if a guitar is, say, rubbing up against a vocal in a weird way.
“I’ll massage a note every once in a while, and often I won’t even tell the artist,” says Eric Drew Feldman, a San Francisco-based musician and producer who’s worked with The Polyphonic Spree and Frank Black.
But between those two extremes, you have the synthetic middle, where Auto-Tune is used to correct nearly every note, as one integral brick in a thick wall of digitally processed sound. From Justin Bieber to One Direction, from The Weeknd to Chris Brown, most pop music produced today has a slick, synth-y tone that’s partly a result of pitch correction.
However, good luck getting anybody to cop to it. Big producers like Max Martin and Dr. Luke, responsible for mega hits from artists like Ke$ha, Pink, and Kelly Clarkson, either turned me down or didn’t respond to interview requests. And you can’t really blame them.
“Do you want to talk about that effect you probably use that people equate with your client being talentless?”
Um, no thanks.
In 2009, an online petition went around protesting the overuse of Auto-Tune on the show Glee. Those producers turned down an interview, too.
The artists and producers who would talk were conflicted. One indie band, The Stepkids, had long eschewed Auto-Tune and most other modern recording technologies to make what they call “experimental soul music.” But the band recently did an about face, and Auto-Tuned their vocal harmonies on their forthcoming single, “Fading Star.”
Were they using Auto-Tune ironically or seriously? Co-frontman Jeff Gitelman said,
“Both.”
“For a long time we fought it, and we still are to a certain degree,” said Gitelman. “But attention spans are a certain way, and that’s how it is…we just wanted it to have a clean, modern sound.”
Hanging above the toilet in San Francisco’s Different Fur recording studios — where artists like the Alabama Shakes and Bobby Brown have recorded — is a clipping from Tape Op magazine that reads: “Don’t admit to Auto-Tune use or editing of drums, unless asked directly. Then admit to half as much as you really did.”
Different Fur’s producer / engineer / owner, Patrick Brown, who hung the clipping there, has recorded acts like the Morning Benders, and says many indie rock bands “come in, and first thing they say is, ‘We don’t tune anything,’” he says.
Brown is up for ditching Auto-Tune if the client really wants to, but he says most of the time, they don’t really want to. “Let’s face it, most bands are not genius.” He’ll feel them out by saying, with a wink-wink-nod-nod: “Man, that note’s really out of tune, but that was a great take.” And a lot of times they’ll tell him, go ahead, Auto-Tune it.
Marc Griffin is in the RCA-signed band 2AM Club, which has both an emcee and a singer (Griffin’s the singer.) He first got Auto-Tuned in 2008, when he recorded a demo with producer Jerry Harrison, the former keyboardist and guitarist for the Talking Heads.
“I sang the lead, then we were in the control room with the engineer, and he put ‘tune on it. Just a little. And I had perfect pitch vocals. It sounded amazing. Then we started stacking vocals on top of it, and that sounded amazing,” says Griffin.
Now, Griffin sometimes records with Auto-Tune on in real time, rather than having it applied to his vocals in post-production, a trend producers say is not unusual. This means that the artist hears the tuned version of his or her voice coming out of the monitors while singing.
“Every time you sing a note that’s not perfect, you can hear the frequencies battle with each other,” Griffin says, which sounds kind of awful, but he insists it “helps you hear what it will really sound like.”
Singer / songwriter Neko Case kvetched about these developments in an interview with online music magazine, Pitchfork. “I'm not a perfect note hitter either but I'm not going to cover it up with auto tune. Everybody uses it, too. I once asked a studio guy in Toronto, ‘How many people don't use Auto-Tune?’ and he said, ‘You and Nelly Furtado are the only two people who've never used it in here.’ Even though I'm not into Nelly Furtado, it kind of made me respect her. It's cool that she has some integrity.”
That was 2006. This past September, Nelly Furtado released the album, The Spirit Indestructible. Its lead single is doused in massive levels of Auto-Tune.
Dr. EvilDr. Evil
Somebody once wrote on an online message board that the guy who created Auto-Tune must “hate music.” That could not be further from the truth. Its creator, Dr. Andy Hildebrand, AKA Dr. Andy, is a classically trained flautist who spent most of his youth playing professionally, in orchestras. Despite the fact that the 66-year old only recently lopped off a long, gray ponytail, he’s no hippie. He never listened to rock music of his generation.
“I was too busy practicing,” he says. “It warped me.”
The only post-Debussy artist he’s ever gotten into is Patsy Cline.
Hildebrand’s company — Antares — nestled in an anonymous looking office park in the mountains between Silicon Valley and the Pacific Coast, has only ten employees. Hildebrand invents all the products (Antares recently came out with Auto-Tune for Guitar). His wife is the CFO.
Hildebrand started his career as a geophysicist, programming digital signal processing software which helped oil companies find drilling spots. After going back to school for music composition at age 40, he discovered he could use those same algorithms for the seamless looping of digital music samples, and later for pitch correction. Auto-Tune, and Antares, were born.
Watch Diamond Factory, Anthrax Investigation, Auto-Tune, Luis... on PBS. See more from NOVA scienceNOW.
Auto-Tune isn’t the only pitch correction software, of course. Its closest competitor, Melodyne, is reputed to be more “natural” sounding. But Auto-Tune is, in the words of one producer, “the go-to if you just want to set-it-and-forget-it.”
In interviews, Hildebrand handles the question of “is Auto-Tune evil?” with characteristic dry wit. His stock answer is, “My wife wears makeup, does that make her evil?” But on the day I asked him, he answered, “I just make the car. I don’t drive it down the wrong side of the road.”
“I just make the car. I don’t drive it down the wrong side of the road.”
The T-Pains and Chers of the world are the crazy drivers, in Hildebrand’s analogy. The artists that tune with subtlety are like his wife, tasteful people looking to put their best foot forward.
Another way you could answer the question: recorded music is, by definition, artificial. The band is not singing live in your living room. Microphones project sound. Mixing, overdubbing, and multi-tracking allow instruments and voices to be recorded, edited, and manipulated separately. There are multitudes of effects, like compression, which brings down loud sounds and amplifies quiet ones, so you can hear an artist taking a breath in between words. Reverb and delay create echo effects, which can make vocals sound fuller and rounder.
When recording went from tape to digital, there were even more opportunities for effects and manipulation, and Auto-Tune is just one of many of the new tools available. Nonetheless, there are some who feel it’s a different thing. At best, unnecessary. At worst, pernicious.
“The thing is, reverb and delay always existed in the real world, by placing the artist in unique environments, so [those effects are] just mimicking reality,” says Larry Crane, the editor of music recording magazine, Tape Op, and a producer who’s recorded Elliott Smith and The Decemberists. If you sang in a cave, or some other really echo-y chamber, you’d sound like early Elvis, too. “There is nothing in the natural world that Auto-Tune is mimicking, therefore any use of it should be carefully considered.”
“I’d rather just turn the reverb up on the Fender Twin in the troubling place,” says Arizona indie rock pioneer Howe Gelb, of the band Giant Sand. He describes Auto-Tune and other correction plug-ins as “foul” in a way he can’t quite put his finger on. ”There’s something embedded in the track that tends to push my ear away.”
Lee Alexander, one time boyfriend of Norah Jones and bass player and producer for her country side project, The Little Willies, used no Auto-Tune on their two records, and says he doesn’t even own the program.
“Stuff is out of tune everywhere…that to me is the beauty of music,” he wrote in an email.
In 2000, Matt Kadane of the band The New Year, and his brother, Bubba covered Cher’s “Believe”, complete with Auto-Tune. They did it in their former Texas Slo-Core band, Bedhead. Kadane told me hated the original “Believe,” and had to be talked into covering it, but had surprisingly found that putting Auto-Tune on his vocals “added emotional weight.” He hasn’t, however, used Auto-Tune since.
“It’s one thing to make a statement with hollow, disaffected vocals, but it’s another if this is the way we’re communicating with each other,” he says.
For some people, I said, it seems that Auto-Tune is a lot like dudes and fake boobs. Some dudes see fake boobs, they know they’re fake, but they get an erection anyway. They can’t help themselves. Kadane agreed that it “can serve that function.”
“But at some point you’d say ‘that’s fucked up that I have an erection from fake boobs!’” he says. “And in the midst of experiencing that, I think ideally you have a moment that reminds you that authenticity is still possible. And thank God not everything in the world is Auto-Tuned.”
The Beatles actually suckThe Beatles actually suck
Does your brain get rewired to expect perfect pitch?
The concept of pitch needing to be “correct” is a somewhat recent construct. Cue up the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., and listen to what Mick Jagger does on “Sweet Virginia.” There are a lot of flat and sharp notes, because, well, that’s characteristic of blues singing, which is at the roots of rock and roll.
“When a (blues) singer is ‘flat’ it’s not because he’s doing it because he doesn’t know any better. It’s for inflection!” says Victor Coelho, Professor of Music at Boston University.
Blues singers have traditionally played with pitch to express feelings like longing or yearning, to punch up a nastier lyric, or make it feel dirty, he says. “The music is not just about hitting the pitch.”
Of course that style of vocal wouldn’t fly in Auto-Tune. It would get corrected. Neil Young, Bob Dylan, many of the classic artists whose voices are less than pitch perfect – they probably would be pitch corrected if they started out today.
John Parish, the UK-based producer who’s worked with PJ Harvey and Sparklehorse, says that though he uses Auto-Tune on rare occasions, he is no fan. Many of the singers he works with, Harvey in particular, have eccentric vocal styles -- he describes them as “character singers.” Using pitch correction software on them would be like trying to get Jackson Pollock to stay inside the lines.
“I can listen to something that can be really quite out of tune, and enjoy it,” says Parish. But is he a dying breed?
“That’s the kind of music that takes five listens to get really into,” says Nikolic, of Poolside. “That’s not really an option if you want to make it in pop music today. You find a really catchy hook and a production that is in no way challenging, and you just gear it up!”
If you’re of the generation raised on technology-enabled perfect pitch, does your brain get rewired to expect it? So-called “supertasters” are people who are genetically more sensitive to bitter flavors than the rest of us, and therefore can’t appreciate delicious bitter things like IPAs and arugula. Is the Auto-Tune generation likewise more sensitive to off key-ness, and thus less able to appreciate it? Some troubling signs point to ‘yes.’
“I was listening to some young people in a studio a few years ago, and they were like, ‘I don’t think The Beatles were so good,’” says producer Eric Drew Feldman. They were discussing the song “Paperback Writer.” “They’re going, ‘They were so sloppy! The harmonies are so flat!”
Just make me sound goodJust make me sound good
John Lennon famously hated his singing voice. He thought it sounded too thin, and was constantly futzing with vocal effects, like the overdriven sound on “I Am the Walrus.” I can relate. I love to sing, and in my head, I hear a soulful, husky, alto. What comes out, however, is a cross between a child in the musical Annie, and Gretchen Wilson: nasal, reedy, about as soulful as a mosquito. I’m in a band and I write all the songs, but I’m not the singer: I wouldn’t subject people to that.
Producer and Editor Larry Crane says he thinks lots of artists are basically insecure about their voices, and use Auto-Tune as a kind of protective shield.
“I’ve had people come in and say I want Auto-Tune, and I say, ‘Let’s spend some time, let’s do five vocal takes and compile the best take. Let’s put down a piano guide track. There’s a million ways to coach a vocal. Let’s try those things first,’” he says.
Recently, I went over to a couple-friend’s house with my husband, to play with Auto-Tune. The husband of the couple, Mike, had the software on his home computer – he dabbles in music production – and the idea was that we’d record a song together, then Auto-Tune it.
We looked for something with four-part harmony, so we could all sing, and for a song where the backing instrumental was available online. We settled on Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road.” One by one we went into the bedroom to record our parts, with a mix of shame and titillation not unlike taking turns with a prostitute.
When we were finished, Mike played back the finished piece, without Auto-Tune. It was nerve wracking to listen to, I felt like my entire body was cringing. Although I hit the notes OK, there was something tentative and childlike about my delivery. Thank God these are my good friends, I thought. Of course they were probably all thinking the same thing about their performances, too, but in my mind, my voice was the most annoying of all, so wheedling and prissy sounding.
Then Mike Auto-Tuned two versions of our Boys II Men song: one with Cher / T-Pain style glitchy Auto-Tune, the other with “natural” sounding Auto-Tune. The exaggerated one was hilariously awesome – it sounded just like a generic R&B song.
But the second one shocked me. It sounded like us, for sure. But an idealized version of us. My husband’s gritty vocal attack was still there, but he was singing on key. And something about fine-tuning my vocals had made them sound more confident, like smoothing out a tremble in one’s speech.
The Auto-Tune or not Auto-Tune debate always seems to turn into a moralistic one, like somehow you have more integrity if you don’t use it, or only use it occasionally. But seeing how really innocuous-yet-lovely it could be, made me rethink. If I were a professional musician, would I reject the opportunity to sound, what I consider to be, “my best,” out of principle?
The answer to that is probably no. But then it gets you wondering. How many insecure artists with “annoying” voices will retune themselves before you ever have a chance to fall in love?
Video stills from:
TiK ToK by Ke$ha
Animal by Ke$ha
Believe by Cher
In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Buy U A Drink by T-Pain
Hung Up in Glee
Big Hoops by Nelly Furtado
Piano Fire by Sparklehorse and P.J. Harvey
Imagine by John Lennon
If i were a professional musician, would I reject the opportunity to sound 'my best,' out of principal?
And here I wanna list the top reasons why I think its awful
I mostly listen Punkrock, hardrock and metal, and with metal I mean everything in this huge genre what is good, from Melodic metal to trash and progressive metal to metalcore and numetal.
The Top Ten Reasons Why Pop Music Is Awful
1'Singers' need AutoTuneMan I seriously hope that AutoTune gets banned or something. You can sing without it, it won't hurt your lungs or anything. - NuMetalManiak
If autotune was banned, Kanye's songs would get a whole lot less emotional. - WonkeyDude98
Crappy singers everywhere, from Chris Brown to Taylor Swift. Flops, show-offs, nothing more than to feed their ego and falsely show off their technical vocal 'skills', and worse, do it all under the name of capitalism at its greediest: music companies that demand lots of $$$, as more crap, stale, lame, bland, generic, and repetitive music videos are released, further pushing the music industry's greedy and selfish agenda, forcing them to demand more generic auto-tuned 'singers', and then feeding the 'singers' ego and pockets, but also subliminally draining out their self-esteem and values. The deadly cycle goes on and on, and auto tune is definitely one of the biggest factors to that modern-day music industry cycle.
If your gonna sing, at least try! If your so afraid of messing up that you need to use a computer to make everything perfect, perhaps you shouldn't even be singing or making 'music' in the first place!
This is true for many singers (Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna etc.) but there are many Pop Singers who are very talented without autotune, the main example being Lady GaGa.
Other examples being Demi Lovato, Beyonce and obvious examples like ADELE, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith
I would like to elaborate that it's not necessarily that there aren't any instruments being played, it's that there is no longer any creativity, or any attempt at making anything other than overly simplistic, market-driven formula drivel. A computer can be an instrument too, it's all in how you use it. Unfortunately, especially varied or creative instrumentals in music doesn't really sell to the lowest common denominator, resulting in the constant generic spiel emanating from your typical Top 40 radio station.
Agreed. An instrument is a tool. A synthesizer is also a tool. It al depends on how you use it. - MChkflaguard_Yt
Pop songs mostly have no instruments played at all. A single boring beat, and the same 5 same computerized notes played over and over. There is simply no soul left in today's music, and anyone who hasn't lost their taste in culture or enlightenment can agree with my claim, while brainwashed sheep follow and listen to whatever they're told because they can't comprehend that the computerized garbage they relish in consists of no instrumental soul, emotional movement, or varying sound.
Drum Machine, and vocals. I understand that over half of pop songs use samples from other instruments, but real drum just sound better (just my opinion).
I think the more important thing is that they just play a recording behind them when they play live
3Almost always about loveI find it that most pop music I hear is always about love and stuff. I don't like that type of music focus.
I understand that love is influential to many people, but broadening your music might make it better.
Love isn't everything, there's other things to talk about as well.
Can you make songs that aren't about love? Nope, because REAL music sings about more topics than the same boring thing over and over.
4Songs are overplayedRadio stations should play a wider variety of music. It's probably been like this for decades.
Remember when Justin Bieber's song named 'baby' come out? god dammit this song was overplayed everywhere.
That's just radio music in general. The fact that people hate on songs based on how often they're played is just questioning my faith in intelligence. - DCfnaf
Yeah it's probably because you're listening to a station that only plays rap or pop. Just change the radio station or somethih - Luckys
5Stupid lyrics and messagesDon't get me wrong but I think this website takes rock too far. I mean it's okay to like it but you're just making every other good genre invisible. What about Jazz? You guys just shame pop because of its stupid songs even though certain songs are stupid and repetitive but really you going to diss long time classics like Janet Jackson over rock? Are you serious? I mean rock is good but you just make everything else invisible. You know that some of the crappy pop songs could have meanings and I don't mean messages like get a new boyfriend or get over your heartbreak but messages that really stand out but you just compare that to rock. It doesn't make any sense. Fine, thumb down my comment I don't care I'm making a point here. Attack me all you want, it's a shame and you just hate people that don't like rock. Seriously. - JaysTop10List
Jazz music sounds great, while pop music on the other hand is turning your brain into a useless rotting clump. - IAmNotARobot
You all know what I mean there... 'I came in like a wracking ball'
Like your kidding me? And the messages which does stupid lyrics deliver... I didn't had that much party yet in my life but I already know that it isn't that much fun to 'party all the night'
And none of the pop songs really is about the real problems in the world. Did you ever heard a pop song even just say the simple message 'War is bad'. No because they suck and they don't care for the real problems and nobody wanna hear about real problems... Sad world
If you like Beyonce, she actually the first artist to sing this song but was disapproved by herself and later was given to Miley. - BeaM456
Wow! Before people start agreeing with this, let me just say, PAY ATTENTION TO THE LYRICS FIRST! People who say Shake It Off is bad probably say that because they DID NOT take time to pay attention to the lyrics! The song could help you in life if you ACTUALLY paid attention to the lyrics! The song was created for a REASON! So before you go saying some song is meaningless, MAKE SURE IT ACTUALLY IS!
Some of the worst lyrics in my opinion :
- 'I was busy think about boys, boys, boys'
Who tf cares if you were busy thinking about boys? It's like some stranger walk to you and suddenly say 'Hey you know, I was busy thinking about boys! ' What you would do? I guess you would keep walking, pretend you don't listen, walk away, listen but then angrily say 'I don't care! ' or 'You're wasting my time! ' or something similar
- 'Till I find someone I love, kissing strangers'
The songwriter is 100% abnormal. Normal person will never kiss strangers. Can you imagine disgust reaction from strangers when you suddenly kiss them? I can guarantee they'll think you're a crazy person. I never tried this but I use my logical thinking.
This really annoys me, every singer has talent. People just enjoy pointing out mistakes. For instance I thought that Katy Perry was an untalented pop artist who couldn't play an instrument if you paid her. Then I suddenly found myself on YouTube bawling my eyes out at one of the most emotionally deep and vocally impressive performances I have ever seen. (Funny, huh? ) Anyways Justin Bieber has a much different problem, he doesn't quite have ENOUGH talent. There are plenty of boys that sound just like him and are hardly recognized. Not to mention all the trouble he has gotten into, but you still can't say he is untalented. And by the way, I think it's ridiculous how people constantly say that pop music isn't REALLY music and that it's all horrible. That's your opinion and you need to label it that way. For instance, I don't like Adele that much, this is how I should point this out, 'I think Adele is a really good singer, but I personally don't like her music,' and here is how ...more
This is the greatest comment written in the history of the Internet. And finally, an Adele hater who IS NOT BIASED. - DCfnaf
I don't say that pop music is all that bad, but it is way too overrated. The singers of this genre don't even need to make a song that sounds good and it becomes a hit instantly and gains hundreds of millions of views. Compare Justin Bieber to sum 41 or Green Day. While the last two pit their talent into their songs along with their music all Justin has to do is try to sound sexy and all his fans go crazy. People have their own preferences but it isn't coincidence that everyone likes only pop. To all the pop fans out there, give some time to listen to other genres like pop punk, alternative rock, soft rock, hard rock, post hardcore, etc.
All singers have talent. Maybe some like Jacob Sartorious (I dunno if I spelled his name right) don't, but others do, Ariana Grande can hit notes without autotune that are quite hard to hit, Taylor Swift is actually quite creative when writing her songs, and Adele has a beautiful voice. Most talent in pop is stuff you're born with. Talent in rock is stuff that takes time to learn. There are different types of talent. And there are more talents then just singing. Drawing, Dancing? Anyone forget those? You can't just go around saying folks have no talent.
All you need to do is to sign to a record label, and fake your voice and instruments. You also a small amount of talent.
7You hear it everywhere you goSo true, especially if you work in a public place like a popular restaurant or amusement park, you're subject to hearing this crap and have no liberty to prevent it from reaching your eardrums. - NuMetalManiak
It's like hearing hell! It's always on the radio, grocery store, public places in general, school it's unavoidable! My god I like Rock music, but at least Rock music isn't played non stop, every 2 seconds you're in public. Honestly I'm just glad to be a rock teen.
That's what's so hellish about it.
This is what angers me the most. Fine, wanna listen to pop? None of my business. But why do you play it literally everywhere? Toss some variety into it!
8It's corporateIt's a legitimate way to make a lot of money, nothing wrong with that at all, it actually shows the ease of doing business in the region - styLIShT
It's completely processed. Made with a team of audio engineers to clip the sound and beat-correct the instruments. There's no musical talent, and no musical effort shown.
Those sound engineers make me feel ashamed to be one. (I have never used autotune.) - MChkflaguard_Yt
It's made to sell, not to express any feelings
Most of the pop music nowadays is literally made by the same 2 people, and just made to sell.
9Lack of creativityJust look back at music in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Each musician had their own style and each song was different. The melodies, the harmonies, and the layers of instruments and vocals all fit together like a giant puzzle and created something extraordinary and unique. Now in pop music, there is no more creativity. Every song feels the same with barely anything changing. It's truly sad.
Bobby Womack once said: 'In my day, everybody wanted to sound different, individual. Nowadays, seems like everybody wants to sound like everybody else.' Creativity uses influences, but is more than just copying what you admire.
Psychedelic rock is the most creative. Tame Impala deserves to be more famous - Lsdjesus
Anyone in 21st century can 'sing' and use auto tune, back when music was good they had a very specific style, now it looks and sounds the same
I don't even know how to use auto tune or editing stuff. I guess I can be seen as lucky. I don't do singing, that's probably why. - LemonComputer
10Most of the modern Pop songs talk about Drugs, Partying, Sex, and WeedThis is why I don't listen to pop music
I definitely think this needs to be #1. The songs today are still talking about it.
That is basically all of them. Go listen to The Veronicas and compare it to one of the modern songs about only adult themes.
Music is no longer family friendly except for the songs that are exclusive to family friendly movies an example being Run Like The River by Meghan Trainor from Playmobil The Movie.
The Contenders
11It's too simpleAs a music reviewer, I pick apart the songs and analize them. I can get everything there is out of a pop song with my first listen. So why would I want to listen to something with the simplicity of a baby's lullaby when I can listen to less commercial music, perhaps prog rock/metal which you can get so much more out of. This also causes the songs to get old FAST!
The main reason why I prefer Rock over Pop when it comes to mainstream music.
I like Rock, Classical Music, Folk, and probably everything except Hip Hop and Pop. - Kiteretsunu
True. I am looking for a more overall experience, and pop is an utter disappointment to me. - MChkflaguard_Yt
This is a problem to me. I want new experiences! Hard, spicy stuff for music. - LightningStrike
12Only thing that plays on the radioI agree. I wish I could find a radio station that didn't play pop music, which these days, are always love songs. This is why I listen to the soundtrack I got from iTunes on my phone, or I go to YouTube and find a good song, and even if it's mainstream, it's never a love song, usually like a night core version of Can't Hold Us by Macklemore.
I hear a lot of new wave on the radio, but maybe that's 'cause my dad's in charge of choosing the stations we listen to. lol - Misfire
I dreamed about having a orchestra radio and dubstep radio 24/7! It would be much much better than the cancerous same pop song played over the radio! - InfernoTopTenners
Totally agreed.Remember when Justin Bieber released 'baby'? it was overplaying on the radio.
13Hard sexual themesTrue, its hard to find music on the radio that is really appropriate for kids. Not that they completely focus on the lyrics, but they may repeat words they hear
Nicki Minaj, go eat a cactus. - MChkflaguard_Yt
To be honest most of them sing with this theme and just to correct you Ed Sheeran, Adele and Michael Jackson all sing about sexual themes (But not mostly)
Good luck turning on the radio and have it child-friendly anymore.
14Auto-tuneThere is nothing wrong with autotune - when used in moderation as mean to add an specific atmosphere to a song. In pop, however, autotune is just used as a way to make mediocre singers sound acceptable. It's a waste of a potential tool...
Proves that pop singers can't sing for #$@!.
How it is used mostly its just a cancer.
Auto-tune is a tool, not meant to be used as a vocal effect. Period! Used sparingly, it can help correct difficult notes. My advice as a vocalist... If you have any, use your talent to fix the notes. If you can't, take vocal lessons.
15No variety whatsoeverYes , modern pop is all about love and beats are pretty repetitive, so boring. But some artistes like imagine dragons, twenty one pilots and blackbear are doing great job by adding lot more rock and rap vibes to pop make it much more fresh , energetic and cool.
Not to mention talented pop artistes r there like Halsey , ed Sheeran , Adele that r really talented and know how to make songs
I really hate how all the pop songs are above love, if not complete nonsense. - MChkflaguard_Yt
Dig a bit into the independent music scene. The artists listed on my 'homepage' button on my profile are a good starting point. - PetSounds
Every pop song that has ever existed is about relationships. Every pop song is either 'My girlfriend is mad at me and I want to make amends' or 'I love my girl'. It is the most unoriginal, exhausted, overused, unrelatable subject to write a song about and it needs to stop.
16Bad singersThere's lots of good pop singers too to be honest. Melanie Martinez is a really good pop artist, But like EVERY good pop artist she's ignored and no talents like Justin Beiber and Katy Perry are noticed.
Melanie Martinez is the worst! Katy Perry is good, I hate Justin Bieber. - marisolsanchez
Look at how many people hate Justing Bieber and Rebecca Black. You listen to their songs and then listen to Taylor Swift. You cannot tell me you don't see any similarities.
If you think Taylor Swift is one of the worst pop singers, I'd recommend listening to more of her music, especially her country music. - DCfnaf
Bad singers indeed, because they already know they sound horrible in front of a mic so they just use stupid autotune to make it sound even worse...
Anyone who needs a computer to 'sing' needs to take ACTUAL singing lessons. My sister might go into pop, but at least she can sing better than anyone else out there. - Metalhead1997
17Most modern pop artists are immatureBuddy, If I'd known you earlier, I'm certain we would've been best friends. Every single damn point of yours matches my reasons for hating Pop. You're so right.
This is so true! Let's all take a moment to thing about pop singers. We've got Taylor Swift... Check. Justin Beiber... I think I should stop.
And...this is why pop MUSIC is awful? Just goes to show you how little arguments Metalhead Elitists have. Adele is not immature, Pink isn't very immature (she's just honest really), Kelly Clarkson is not immature, Tyler Joseph is not immature... - DCfnaf
Did you forget about that time when Kelly Clarkson lost World Idol? I think that was sometime around 2004 or so. - allamassal
If you don't agree with this, watch either of Taylor Swift's appearances on New Year's Rocking Eve. You can't deny she's immature.
18No poetryWhy does music have to be poetry? If you hate pop music, just stop listening to it. You can't force people to listen to 'poetry' songs
Why does it need to be poetry?
You call Nickelback and Skrillex 'poetry' then? - DCfnaf
yep!
19No passionPassionless, heartless, emotionless. that's pop music right now. Its just there make money and that's not what music should be for. don't get me wrong I have nothing against when artists earn money and can live from their job. But that shouldn't be the main focus.
Pop music has no passion for the most part, and if they get some emotion in it then they mostly sing about stupid instead of important topics.
And there is no emotional depth, relaxation or great original tunes to compensate for the lack of passion! - MChkflaguard_Yt
I know right! Honestly they're all like, 'I loved you but it never lasted' seriously? is this a joke? don't they realise that some people are dying and in poverty and all you care about is your dumb boyfriend? They think they have it so hard. 'Oh look at me I'm a millionaire platinum singer! I live in a huge house in Beverly hills, everyone adores me life is so hard! '
Music is meant to be passionate. The reason many artists only compose, play and sing to one topic is because they feel a connection. A passion. They will sing with all their heart and lungs to get a message across. They will play an instument until their lungs are ready to burst and their fingers are sore. They will compose until day turns to night. Pop music, however, is not passionate. They only care about money, and even songs about that are rubbish. Ask pop music fans if they've ever cried to a piece of pop music. Their answer will most likely be 'No, but... I thought...' or 'Umm... Yeah... (lies)'.
Yeah, most of them just care about how much money they make. When they sing, they sound like robots: flat and emotionless. Now, not ALL of them are like that, I do know a couple of pop singers who put their heart and soul into the lyrics they belt out, and some older singers sing/play instruments emotionlessly. But majority of them don't really have passion in music and that sucks.
20It's repetitiveTo be honest I don't know if this is a fair reason... I mean early Beatles stuff (I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, etc.) are quite repetitive, and yet it's considered classic. I do dislike modern pop (with some exceptions), but I don't think repetition is really the problem.
Yes! The music is the most annoying music ever! They really Shame the legendary artists like MJ, Janet, Whitney and even people of other genres like The Beatles, Elvis, and many more.
Baby now we've got bad blood... yeah shut the hell up Taylor at least you have blood
So 'Can't Touch This' isn't repetitive? Or Barbie Girl by Aqua - BlueTopazIceVanilla
21Annoyingly always playingGo ahead and tell me how many times you've heard 'Take Me to Church' or 'Call Me Maybe' or even 'I Love It' or 'Anaconda' - you see my point?
Honestly, Take Me to Church was creative and I'd do anything to hear that playing over and over instead of the newer stuff. - Stormskies
I agree, I like listening to this one radio station and there was this one song. Oh what was it called? Oh, yes I remember it was called 'Welcome To The Black Parade.' I love this song, but the station just kept playing it. So now I can barely listen to it. Isn't that hard to believe, a ROCK/ALTERNATIVE song being overplayed. *sarcastic voice* Yeah, idiots it's all up to what station you listen to. So if you don't like the songs that keep being played, don't listen to that station. - RandomWeirdo
I always hear 'Blank Space' or 'Call me Maybe' on the radio. So annoying! - Pegasister12
Always in the radio they put on pop music. I remember going on a car trip before. I've heard 'Dessert' so many times!
22Some focus on the music video more than the actual songGreedy people made songs about women's butts a thing. Disgraceful as hell. - SirSarcasm
This is actually true. :/ - Misfire
Those K-pop videos with pornographic dancing and painfully catchy beats. Sigh. - MChkflaguard_Yt
23They are popular because of their looks, not talentAriana Grande is one of my fave singers, but I hate the way people sexualize her because she's pretty. - marisolsanchez
Sigh, again, Adele. Michael Jackson. Sia. Tori Kelly. Kelly Clarkson. Pink. - DCfnaf
Exactly! we should focus on the music, not the people making it!
So why do we focus on if Justin Bieber made a song? Seriously, he could make a song that surpasses Imagine by John Lennon, and no one would let him win. - WonkeyDude98
This should be top 5. I miss when people were famous because of their talent, not looks. RIP Good music: 1950s-2012
24It's more for the moneyThey Psychologically make popular songs sound good and the same so many people will buy it instead of a variety of music and creativity. - scoopoo
This is so true.Why is Nicki Minaj(The worst singer and rapper who just makes songs about how big her ass is) more well known than Immortal Technique(A highly underrated rapper who makes some meaningful and political songs) or why is One Direction(A bad band who might not be Blood On The Dance Floor level bad bit still a bad band and a band that is highly overrated) more well known than Rage Against The Machine(A band that combines Rap/Hip Hop,Heavy Metal and Alternative and they also have songs that speak out against bad stuff done by the government and by really big corporations),just why are bad musicians with either horrible lyrics or repetitive lyrics more well known than good musicians who have good lyrics that speak the truth? -DarkBoi-X
Warner Bros music legit rejected Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco just because it didn’t have the potential to be commercially successful. Money hungry idiots. - SmashedAvvo
25Most of the songs are about the artist themselvesIt really is. The artists, well most of them, don't give a damn about what their fans think, or them period. They don't sing from the heart, and that is the most important part. Now, I don't blame anyone who is attracted to the music, but in my opinion, and the only artists that I'm aware of that still sing from the heart, and not about sex is Adele, and Janet Jackson. That's pretty much it. The pop music today is the worst music in the history of...music!
I'm not a fan of pop music but I don't think this is true. Maybe I haven't heard of enough pop music? - Misfire
To the comment, 'Not Necessarily True, Artists like Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Sam Smith, and Adele.They always have messages in their songs and I can't name a song of any of those artists above that wrote a song about themselves in vain. Especially Michael Jackson ever heard of 'HEAL THE WORLD,'WE ARE THE WORLD,YOU ARE NOT ALONE. That's just stupid too say MOST of their songs are about themselves because that's not true. Stop being Narrow Headed and Close Minded and Dive into the lyrics and see what it means. Instead of hatting on a entire genre. Learn to appreciate what these POP artists have done for us' these artists you've mentioned have been around for quite awhile and have proven to be some of the greatest musicians of all time. This is talking about most mainstream people today like Nicki Minaj or Kanye West.
Not Necessarily True, Artists like Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Sam Smith, and Adele.They always have messages in their songs and I can't name a song of any of those artists above that wrote a song about themselves in vain. Especially Michael Jackson ever heard of 'HEAL THE WORLD,'WE ARE THE WORLD,YOU ARE NOT ALONE. That's just stupid too say MOST of their songs are about themselves because that's not true. Stop being Narrow Headed and Close Minded and Dive into the lyrics and see what it means. Instead of hatting on a entire genre. Learn to appreciate what these POP artists have done for us.
26Most pop stars are fakeFake boobs, fake butt, fake nose, fake everything...
Tell me. What's a fake singer? Anyone can sing. It just doesn't have to be talented and you'd have to get hate. - Ultron123
Katy Perry is one of the most fake singers ever. - DumbWays2DieFan
Especially K-pop. Ghost writers and plastic surgery everywhere... - MChkflaguard_Yt
27Some pop fans judge people who listen to other genresI love Metal to and everyone in my school thinks I'm satanic and they say Metal sucks and the most of them are pop fans - METABOLICA
Well, same! I listen to metal, dubstep, and orchestra classical music! They all call me satanic and demon possessed when I break dance and act mentally disabled! Well these genre took time and it's better than same boring pop music that brainwashes kids at my school to cuss and do drugs! - InfernoTopTenners
A classmate of mine gave me a weird look and told me not to play the song I was planning to play. That song was Bohemian Rhapsody. - Misfire
I love metal and rock and when someone asks me what type of music I like and I say that most of the time they instantly think that I'm some sort of satanic or something, and guess what, the ones that think that like pop. That really sucks
EXACTLY! I listen to electronic music, not like the bad trashy pop music Google calls electronic music, but stuff like dubstep or hardstyle (yes, I like hardstyle). I share what I like with my classmates, but they discriminate what I like, because they're basically brainwashed by that trashy pop music that they call is good music. Pop music is basically poison to their brains! But, fortunately, many of my classmates who listen to a lot of pop music lag behind in class. There are so many bad things about pop music, and this is one of them! Classical is healthier for your brain! (NOTE: The only way to cure the poison of pop music is to listen to good music, like NoCopyrightSounds)
28Idiots like itThat's a fact. Did you ever meet an idiot how doesn't listen to stupid rap or pop music? No? Doesn't suprise me anymore...
Doesn't mean that everyone who likes it is a idiot. Often smart people who don't listen to much music like pop music. But they do so just because they don't know better... at least that's what I hope
Intelligent people prefer classical most of the time, a word that has been forgotten for generations since today. - IAmNotARobot
Don't call people who listen to pop idiots. It just makes you seem ignorant and desperate for reasons. Don't slander pop fans just to make rock and metal look better. - BlueTopazIceVanilla
Not in all cases, but the reason 'pop' music is 'popular' is because it requires no thought to listen to. It is a dumbed down genre. It's quite obvious that it's sole purpose is to dance to in a club, or to use as background noise while performing a braindead, repetitive task. Most intelligent people prefer music that has depth and is going to provoke actual thought. Jazz, metal, and classical is music for the thinking man. Even some classic rock. Pop is for the average bonehead (mostly).
You people are missing the point. They're not saying everyone who likes it is an idiot, they're saying that there are more idiots who listen to pop music than any other genre.
29It's more famousThat's because modern people are too ignorant to look up some real, REAL music.
I never said they should listen to crappy songs. I'm just giving out my thoughts. If they want to listen to crap then fine. It's good enough for me.
Maybe I just didn't explain myself better. But you should probably worry about yourself anyway.
I personally hate pop, but 'it's more famous' is a stupid reason, seriously. - TheDarkReshiram
I think that 'It's more famous' is a bad reason. 'It's oversaturated' is the term I believe you were looking for - kaeger63
'It's more famous' may be a bit of a bad reason, sure but I think you might just be using the wrong term. Overrated would be a better way to put it, in my opinion.
30Modern popstars don't write any of their songs or play any instruments.There's like 6 people writing an unoriginal, overplayed song, And then there's a legend like Freddie Mercury who writes one of the most emotional, mysterious, and legendary songs ever written.
And thanks to auto tune they basically don't even sing is like all the music industry cares about is how they look
What I don't understand is why people hate artists who do not write their own songs. What if they can sing, but just not have the creative ability to write their own songs? That's like hating someone because they can bake really well but can't frost a cake good. (I know that a crappy example, but do you get me? ) Why should the artist be forced to waste their good voice on a terrible song they wrote themselves? - BlueTopazIceVanilla
Modern Pop Auto Tune Music
That's not true. However much I don't really like Taylor Swift, she DOES write her own music, so I can respect her for that. - Stormskies
31Most lyrics are written by ghostwritersGhostwriters cause pop songs to become repetitive; they follow a formula aimed at the masses.
No wonder why I cannot tell apart Katy Perry and One Direction... - MChkflaguard_Yt
Max Martin and Dr. Luke, along with 2 others, write like 90% of pop music.
32Real music isn't on the radioYeah, like I don't need to hear Fifth Harmony for the 80 billionth time. - Anonymousxcxc
Oh, of course! Because songs about a mother being there for her child, a father who abandoned his little girl at six years old, a four year old who died of cancer, and an abusive relationship between two psychopaths are clearly not real songs. Let's just put noise such as Cannibal Corpse, Skillet, Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit, and Nickelback on the radio instead because that makes complete sense! *Rolls Eyes* - DCfnaf
Because it's not real music. Most video game soundtracks are better than pop songs. Would rather listen to Mario kart Wii bowser's castle than shake it off. - DumbWays2DieFan
*crying* Play some Slayer! - Metalhead1997
I dunno, if you look hard enough you can find good stations. There's one in my town that plays only 90's and 80's music, I've found a lot of my favorites from it. - Stormskies
33Their lyrics feel rushed
Read the lyrics of Adele's music in '21' because they are amazing. Read the lyrics of Kelly Clarkson's 'Piece by Piece'. Read the lyrics of Bruno Mars' 'Grenade'. Not rushed. - DCfnaf
For me I think the lyrics in pop music feel a little to rushed
That is not true. The most legendary songs these days are not rushed
Read the lyrics in sia's chandelier or Miley Cyrus's twinkle song.
34Modern pop gives Michael Jackson a bad nameLol. That is true though! He was even in an interview around 08 talking about how kids like it, but it changed a lot, and how Ne-Yo was probably the only person he was proud of. They really did shame him.
Pop makes jackson get ashamed of his kingdom, he would probably die again if he hear what pop music has now become R.I.P mj
I find it funny that people hate on Justin Bieber for being mean to his fans but Michael Jackson was accused of pedophilia. Also, Adele, Rihanna, and Ed Sheeran are modern pop. - DCfnaf
Michael Jackson deserves respect - Gehenna
35No one has good taste in music anymoreKinda true if you think about it.-DarkBoi-X
I feel like I'm the only teen that likes old music. I love House and Trance music but anything today is trash. The only good songs nowadays are by the remaining artists from the 90s 80s and 70s.
I agree teens have such bad taste, let's compare lyrics
God show me the way because the Devil's tryin' to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me)
The only thing that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now (I want Jesus)
(Jesus Walks)
And I don't think there is nothing I can do now to right my wrongs
(Jesus Walks with me)
I want to talk to God, but I'm afraid because we ain't spoke in so long
(I want Jesus)
- Kanye West 'Jesus Walks' which was made in 2004 to
Oh baby, why don't you just meet me in the middle?
I'm losing my mind just a little
So why don't you just meet me in the middle?
In the middle
Baby, why don't you just meet me in the middle?
I'm losing my mind just a little
So why don't you just meet me in the middle?
In the middle, oh
- The Middle by Zedd and some dumb pop artist
These lyrics are so dumb
Kanye is alright considering the lyrics took a break from the usual love. Zedd's music makes me freak out and I sincerely hope him lose fame soon. - MChkflaguard_Yt
Me:
*insert chillstep with no lyrics, just pure chill*
Truth by Sappherios (2018)
Almost everyone else:
GUCCI GANG GUCCI GANG GUCCI GANG LIKEY LIKEY LIKEY - MChkflaguard_Yt
Disagree with this point. It's not that pop songs have horrible melodies, it's that they don't have melodies at all. Try playing today's most popular pop song on a piano or something. Notice anything? You're literally just pressing one key over and over again! Bland, boring, unoriginal, just pointless. Is it really that hard for someone to come up with an actual melody? Just look at India, Europe, really just any country other than Canada and the U.S. Full on, interesting, unpredictable sets of notes. Using the term 'real music' is cliche here, but that's really what it pop music isn't, undeniably.
It sounds 'Chinese' or like chanting. Same three or four notes. And that damned nasal autotuned voice. I hear it everywhere I go in Westchester County, NY, in the supermarkets - even doctor's offices. I never listen to radio anymore. Maybe there'd be a nicer variety of music outside of the New York Tri-State area, which I'll be escaping by June, thank God.
I may be old, but I remember when music on the radio had creativity and spirit.
Lady Gaga's songs are poetry. Disagree with this. - DCfnaf
You are so wrong!
37Least good singersHave you seen one of those unedited dubs they played at a concert for Beyonce? Whether you like it or not they are hilarious.
Pop Tunes Youtube
Taylor Swift is the worst. She makes Justin Beiber look like a star. - DumbWays2DieFan
There's good pop like Miley Cyrus
Then there's bad pop like Justin Bieber. His music is more like poop.
Pffft. It takes talent to sing in a metal band.
Yes, screaming into a microphone at the top of your lungs requires so much talent. - DCfnaf
38Stupid songs about relationshipsI'll take songs about relationships over Cannibal Corpse's horrible and disgusting topics and Mainstream Rap's constant discussion about sex, money, and drugs. - DCfnaf
'I'll always be there for you! My little girl' :punches radio: - DumbWays2DieFan
Are you metalheads serious? - Ultron123
It is an indisputable fact that a lot of modern songs are about relationships. This actually applies not only to pop, but also to rock (but to a lesser degree, I believe). - allamassal
Yes.
39Music videos are vulgarIt is the only reason why any man watches a video of a pop song isn't it? I like boobs and asses, sure I do. That doesn't mean I need it to be the main focus of a MUSIC video.
Like Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball video.
Please, she's made videos way worse, and at least the song is good - DCfnaf
Like Taylor Swift's Safe and Sound? Or Avril Lavigne's Nobody's Home? So vulgar. Totally believe you. - AnonymousChick
And that why the MUSIC sucks? So your logic is that 'Wrecking Ball' is an awful song because Miley was naked in the video? So your logic is that 'Stay' is an awful song because Rihanna is naked in a bathtub? Jeez, get a damn life. - DCfnaf
40Several pop stars treat fans like trashThat's why it says SEVERAL. Can you read? - ARandomPerson
SEVERAL. Not ALL. Thank god. I was gonna say 'Not Tori Kelly or Meghan Trainor' - DCfnaf
Cough cough Justin Bieber cough cough. - coolguy101
I mean, there are disrespectful people in any genre, so...
41Say one thing and people will try to convert youIf you say one thing about it to friends/family/people who like pop, they will start trying to get you to start listening to it, I always listen to a Pop Song and I think 'meh that was ok' but then I get sick of hearing, my friend came over when that horrid song Uptown Funk reached popularity and he started blaring it out of his phone, a few days later I started getting sick of hearing the song, my parents actually started blaring the stuff when they found out I hated Pop, so I was constantly having to block my ears but the worst Pop singer of all is: Taylor Swift, it all started when Shake It Off started coming on, if this is the so called 'best' the music industry can give us now, I shudder to find out what the future holds
This list in a nutshell. - DCfnaf
Then again, there is good and bad pop artists. More people here are trying to convert people who like pop artists here than the other way around.
Aren't you all trying to convert people from hating on pop to worshipping metal? - DCfnaf
Convert people from hating on pop to worshipping metal? I think you meant liking pop. - allamassal
42Pop singers are bad singers (for the most part)Most pop singers are very good actually. Metal artists are bad singers since they just shout, props for them for playing an instrument though. - Luckys
MY THEORY: That's why people scream at their concerts. They can't use auto tune in person, right? They can barely hear their voices and they like it that way cause they can't SING so they auto tune and then drown out their voice in person because of lack of auto tune
One of the concerts they go to should require the fans to be quiet. - Metalhead1997
They just can't SING. Its as simple as that. and that's of course the reason they use autotune so often.
Only except Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, The Beatles, Katy Perry (she used to be good with California Girls and Fireworks), and other good singers that made us getting through the beats. But with Nicki Minaj, Justin Beiber, modern Katy Perry, and others are bad.
43It's not artWell, first of all, the main problem with POP music or just modern music these days is that they lack meaning. Art is about expression oneself, it's not about being appealing to the audience. I mean if it is appealing, then that's good, but that should never be the whole point of why one creates art. Now, POP music these days, is the opposite of 'expressing oneself'. All the music talks about is love, sex, or 'oh I'm heart broken, cry cry cry'. There's nothing, absoluteing nothing at all in the lyrics which talks about themselves. Its okay to sing about love, sex or being cheated on, but, just don't make it plain! You have to be able to feel yourself in the music! So yeah, the nonsensical jumble of words in modern POP music is not art, because, in the end, it makes zero sense and has absolutely no passion in it.
44Ruins the career of some bandsFall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, and Twenty One Pilots are pop rock bands. Don't even use that argument. - DCfnaf
For example 30 seconds to mars, paramore, fall out boy and the perfect example of the decadency by the pop, Linkin Park
Except Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragon, and 21 Pilots. - Ultron123
If those 'bands' were so good, then they wouldn't be supressed by the popularity of pop music. I'm speaking the truth, hating will only prove my point, but do it if you want. - BlueTopazIceVanilla
But you don't realize that what keeps rock bands from being popular is the promotion of the biased music industry and the social stigma or rock bands.
45The songs are inappropriatePop music is supposed to be universal, yet nearly every pop song has an explicit version. Its really to bad because when a kid hears a cool song on the radio, they might want to listen to it again elsewhere. But unfortunately, it turns out that it has explicit lyrics. Explicit lyrics don't bother me, but pop stars should really try to keep it clean. Because, who else is gonna want to listen to modern pop besides the kids?
So what! I guess that means cannibal corpse is like nursery rhymes now.
Wouldn't that apply to almost every genre besides pop? Funk was built on making love. - Swellow
Take shape of you for an example. not for kiddies. NSFW
It was played at our school I mean can't they just be a little bit more careful about what they play to the elementary students? - XxembermasterxX
46Creepy lyricsI dare you to translate Despacito to English!
And Zayn Malik can't write two songs with using the F word!
All they songs about is how much they want to mingle with a random woman they see!
It's unrelatable to lots of the kids who are forced to listen to it.
Ummm, why mainstream music is always compared with metal/rock? There are lots of music genres (jazz, reggae, classical, etc) Maybe people who hate mainstream music only listen to rock/metal? Why you don't compare mainstream music with jazz, reggae, classical, etc. I won't compare mainstream music with those genres either because I don't really listen to those genres, I'm just wondering if a fan of those genres also hates mainstream music or is it just rock/metal fans being mean to mainstream music?
I do agree that when a song is overplayed, it becomes really annoying, but this is the same for every genre of music, not only pop. Pop music exists for a reason, it appeals to the mass audience and is relatable, although not to everyone. This is why it tends to be simple, but this is not always the case, there are many complex pop songs out there. People saying that metal or rock music is better, are very biased.
Metal often includes screaming and the cliché distorted guitars, quick drums/tempo, longer song duration, complex harmonics, which may be appealing to some people but to the general audience, sounds terrible and overdone, hence why I call people who state it is better, very hypocritical and biased. Rock on the other hand is very tied in with pop music, considering pop music is basically a watered down version of rock, and modern pop consisting of some electronic elements. Rock typically includes, repeated verses, hooks and the same set of instruments. Pop music tends ...more
You guys are seriously crazy. You don't know junk about music. Not all pop sounds exactly the same. Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Daya, Owl City, Nick Jonas, are the best. They are very distinctive. Give pop a chance.
48No sustainability over timeMichael Jackson is still standing the test of time. Adele will also stand the test of time, believe me. - DCfnaf
The point they are making is that repetitive dance crap is gonna sound corny in 20 years time but the Beatles, Michael Jackson, The Stones, lynyrd skynyrd, Creedence etc still sound good - SmashedAvvo
49The background is too loudThe background does all the singing, while the vocals are less heard and are very useless. We want to hear more vocals!
The production of 'Hello' by Adele allows you to focus on her voice instead of the background. Do I need to name several other examples? - DCfnaf
It's called production. And it really depends, like in any genre, some songs are well produced, and some aren't.
I mostly agreed with this, I'm just about to become a teenager, but that doesn't mean that I want to like these newer pop songs just because of my generation, there are some songs that I liked such as any Clean Bandit song, why? Because the instrumentals aren't covering the emotion and meaning brought to you by the lyrics, and the Instrumentals follow the type of meaning it's trying to give, songs such as Don't Let me down by The Chainsmokers are the ones I disliked, the instrumentals and vocals were good, if they were on their own.
But the song can't really make you focus on the lyrics, but only think about individual words rather than a whole sentence. - iHYPERATE
Agree! - waraypiso
50It's in glitter force endings!Like u can't just put cheap ass stuff in glitter force.yeah put it in Elmo.but Glitter Force?!?! not to good