There seems to be an emerging trend with certain pop songs and bands. A new style of music, in terms of construction of rhythm and melody. It’s hard for me to put my finger on, but I find it utterly detestable. I’m wondering if anyone has had similar thoughts and has analysed it a bit more deeply.
By way of example, I’m specifically thinking of the chorus of the Coldplay song “Something just like this”; or the chorus of Chainsmokers’ “Closer”. If anyone listens to Spotify (and hasn’t paid for ad-free music), there’s also a particular tune that get’s played every time the Spotify self-advertisement comes on. There’s other examples but I don’t usually make the effort to remember them. The style of construction of these three examples, as far as I can tell, has only come about in the past couple of years. It seems to have a very basic construction, consisting of only two or three chords played repetitively. The beat – which I find difficult to describe – is a sort of repetitive, lilting, yet whimsical beat. Does anyone get what I’m saying?
Anyway, I really hate it. It’s not just an old codger complaining about ‘music these days’. I’ve liked plenty of objectively moronic music in the past, and I still do. No. What I think I hate most about this new style is that it is utterly inoffensive and completely neutral. I mean, I can understand why people don’t like rap or rock or classical music. But at least all these styles speak in different ways to a specific audience. But this new style seems to be speaking absolutely nothing at all to anyone. It is pure vapidity, and it’s designed to be that way, so that no one loves it, but not one hates it either (yet, I do hate it).
