Maybe its kinda hilarious and not a problem at all, but this is the year that I think I listened pop music the most, its not that I have anything against pop, I had seasons were I listened lots of Madonna, Prince, but this year in particular the current pop stars hit me hard. As far I remember I started in march listening lots of Dua Lipa, then in April Olivia Rodrigo, in may Charlie XCX's Brat come out, which it's an album that I still listen every week, then came Sabrina Carpenter, even Taylor Swift popped up then and then, and lately my daily sounds are full of Chappell Roan. Of course that's not everything I listened, I had ventures with the drum and bass revival with Sewersvlt and Machine Girl, also listened Kanye's My Dark Twisted Fantasy many times and discovered influential hip-hop, and liked a lot the Vampire Weekend new album, but those were brief moments instead the pop came and never left.

The thing is that i've never been this trendy in my life, on the contrary I usually identified myself as someone who was out of trend listening classic and obscure rock and alternative music of the xx century, kinda snob you can say but I cherished that harsh or noisy music, and still do, for example I love Suicide and of course I would never say that Sabrina Carpenter music is better than theirs, but somehow I keep listening to those caffeinated high-end ear candies, and the other music that I used to listen doesn't excites me as it used to.

Sometimes I think that is pure semiotics that keeps me in this pop loop, that is a more a technical than artistic thing that has grow in my taste, and that maybe getting into music production (like 4 years) influenced on that in way that makes more aware or interested In that high-end modern tunes. Maybe i'm just getting old (In 2025 I turn to 30) and i'm giving in to the pleasure being tired of gettin to brainy about music.

 

If you really enjoy listening that style of music then it's not a problem. Instead of worrying about it, you can learn about different genres, compare the new stuff you listen with your old favorites, production techniques and so on. And well, you could take a break from music for a few days and then decide what you want to listen

 

I don't think any genre of music, except black metal, got nothing wrong, or any advantage over other. This is just BS that people use to hide their foolness. Maybe because you're aging that kind of superflous values are just starting not to make sense anymore and you're just listening what you want to listen. Enjoy

 

pop music is a great genre to listen to as a music maker. There is a lot to be learned from successful pop songs, from chords, arrangement, songwriting and melodies, mixing etc etc etc. All of these things can be applied to the music making process, regardless of genre you aim to make. At heart, im a certified raver lol. I thrive in a dirty warehouse with disgusting techno, or at a fest with grimey bass music, all things electronic really. Yet, i grew up on punk, hardcore, metal etc, and in my late teens became obsessed with crate digging, all things vinyl, bossa nova, exotica, showtunes, folk, classical, EVERYTHING. In my twenties i entered my rave stage, and have been in and out of all of the niche sub genres since. Besides the classics ( Dione Warwick, Fleetwood Mac, Beatles etc etc) i never really clicked with Pop music, until Justin Timberlake's sexy back. From then on i became a pop fanatic. Shit, Britney Spears routinely shows up on my spotify wrapped. Taylor Swift?! freakin love her. ANYTHING done by Max Martin? in constant rotation.

Anyways, idk why you needed my life story, but i guess im trying to say its good to enjoy all sorts of music. There is so much music out there in the world, and we can learn from it all, and in turn use the knowledge gained and techniques borrowed to create more music, to hopefully help uplift the world and bring people joy and something to help them through hard times, or to celebrate the great ones.

 

Art is subjective and you should never have to justify or seek validation for your own personal taste. If those are the current artists that resonate with you and it's leading to even more exploration of music beyond your established preferences, that has the potential to enrich your perspective and understanding of life in general.

Props to you for being flexible and willing to explore beyond what you know.

 

Yeah let's be more fair with current pop music, many pop artist have developed an interesting songwritting, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, among others, have sometimes really clever lyrics; the scene have integrated genres like rock, electronics, folk, into their easylistening, I think that never before the pop universe was this diverse. Also of course the production is often top notch. So there's many things that one musician/producer could learn from those songs, I learn with them. (They got a budget that one only could dream of though)

However I feel that this genre is dangerously addictive sometimes, not only for the ear candy production, the pop universe is full of "image" and sometimes is even more image than music, that somehow has always have been the case with this genre, but in this social media world, that image component IMO has grow expontentially, and sometimes the pop unirvese looks a black hole trying to keep you hooked, well it's the music industry ittelf and they want to generate that.

 

So you like how it sounds/looks but don't like the ideological side of things?

 

"Heartbreak's one thing, my ego's another
I beg you don't embarrass me, motherfucker"
She won MTV song of the year with Espresso and -among a few others- thanked her dog and cat

Let's just say you are very far from getting old heheh.
I defined easily your problem, at least from what you wrote in this thread: You prefer style over substance.
See, i do remember Suicide very well. I saw them live in '88. 100% one of the weirdest, over the top, overkill and fucking amazing live shows i 've ever attended! They already had a name before they ever had any discography exactly for their live shows. Their iconic first album can be described as an avant garde ode to minimalism and a unique work of art but can also be described by purists as completely worthless trash musically. To me it's in a very perverted way both hahah. Probably that's the main reason what became later punk rock, or even later new wave and electro pop, these two guys pioneered it since the early 70s. Even Alan Vega's (RIP) first three albums have left a mark to anyone who became someone in the indie scene (and not only) later.
So what's the cure for popism? More pop hahah. But you gotta dig deeper mate than what's served as the most popular dish. There is much more to "pop" than the blandest ever Sabrina Carpenter man. Lemme propose something like this perhaps?

Cheers

 

Maybe I'm just getting old (I'll be 30 in 2025) and giving in to pleasure because I'm tired of being too involved with music.

You just have to listen to more music, until your brain decides I've had enough - I need something different.

There has never been as much music to listen to as there is today. You are 29 years young and have only lived 1/3 of your life and still have 2/3 to go. Most of the time, your taste in music changes all by itself.

It is actually a sign of creeping stupidity not to use the variety of music, to be amazed and to discover what there is, and also to pay attention to and discover the variety in nature.

 

Hahah maybe i'm not getting old, just passing through the beggining of another decade

There's little of that "ideological thing", but yeah I think that back in the day I was more anti-music industry. It's more about the addictive environment of pop music, probably I've been more lazy in searching new music, and the youtube algorithm's caught me unaware and its current dragged me more and more into pop media.

Yeah that should be the solution, diggin' depper, listening to more music. And don't get me wrong I know lot's of music, from the 60's to the 2010's I have good coverage, also I know classical, some jazz, even lots of latin music (cos I'm from Chile)... But yeah, I think i'm lacking on the current music, and that's surely cos my source for new music it's not working as it used to (Next time I will make a thread on new music sources)

 

Last edited: Dec 31, 2024 at 4:52 PM

based. 'Brina is low-key cringe.

 

Me when I hear 30 year old people saying they're old:

 

Yes, you have a very serious condition. Immediately go to the closest urgent care facility for a tetanus booster shot. Listening to that kind of music is the equivalent of driving a rusty nail into the sole of your foot. You'll probably be OK in the long run, but you should really take precautions like canceling your Spotify membership as well as not using Tik Tok for at least three months until you make a full recovery. Upon waking up listen to Kendrick Lamar for 10 minutes followed by AC/DC for another 10. Do this 4X a day until the urge to listen to Pop has fully dissappated. You'll be fine, don't worry about it.

 

Radio, video, boogie with a suitcase
You're living in a disco
Forget about the rat race
Let's do the milkshake
Sell it like a hot cake
Try some, buy some
Fe, fi, foe, fum

Talk about pop music

 

You are becoming one of them

 

It's funny you say that cause I have also learned to appreciate other genres and also pop music since delving further into the technical aspects of music and mixing. And when you watch some of these top producers in videos you realise, even if you don't like that style, that there's sooo much more work and technical expertise going into those songs than into any old club tune, it's not even close. So you do have to give the devil his due.

 

Come on, there are absolutely incredible black metal albums!

 

Do you have a minute to speak about Sabrina Carpenter?

 

I think that nowadays pop music is garbage, this is real talent and pop music. The older you get the more you can appreciate them and what they did. There was never a craze like anything that these guys generated in the 80s and 90s. Even nowadays girls who swooned for them in their teens and pre-teens still go crazy for them and they are 40s and 50s now. It's crazy that they are even better now, they harmonize better and they are all in their mid 50s. Pop music to me is these guys, Michael Jackson, and Prince etc. It's wild how every teen boy hated them because their girlfriends had thier posters and everything New Kids lol. I was 6 or 7 when Please Don't Go Girl come out, I was a fan then and had their posters and wanted to be just like them. We wore baggy clothes, pierced our ears, had the railroad track haircuts and rat tails too lol. I didn't realize in my boyhood/pre-teen years just how good they were and what I was actually hearing until I got older and I'm like wow these guys were talented. They got it honest too, these guys toured for a years at a time, they didn't have social media to promote them. They were on eveything too, girls had stickers, ear rings, posters, bedding, pillows, the had their own cartoon, it was EVERYTHING New Kids. These guys would show up at a venue for an interview, and there would be 1000s of girls outside screaming. When they did interviews in person with an audience they could barely even get to talk because how crazy the girls were from screaming for them. I once saw a video of Danny Wood outside the hotel and when they saw him 100s of girls come running, he had to run inside lol. They weren't just an American act either, these guys were international and every country they went was just like here in America when they showed up. Even today those same women still know who they are and they have the same infatuation/love they did as their teen counterparts in 80s. When their albums come out there would be a store filled with girls and it would sell out within minutes, their concert would sell out the same hour they were announced, it was crazy. They've sold over 100 million records and still sell out concerts. No kids these days will ever remember anything like this, pure nostalgia.

Joey Mcintyre was 12 years old when he sung this

Jordan Knight was 15 when the recorded this

they were 15-20 here

same ages here

this was this past year

Jordan Knight at 54 and he can still hit the falsetto, and he can still break dance too lol.

Joey Mcintyre now at 52 and he sounds like a much polished singer and entertainer

 

Last edited: Jan 1, 2025 at 6:17 AM