Is Pop Music Losing Its Creative Edge? - Comments

i like it, and i kinda agree that its just the same message over and over again. but i'd much rather have that message than Rihanna or Ke$ha telling me how much fun blacking out, having sex and/or getting drunk is.

Would you rather the singers sing more about being drunk and partying than about boosting self-asteem? If that's what you want,sorry....
And BTW isn't an apology for being her...

Most pop music nowadays is being dumbed down; well, at least the singles seem to be. Rihanna's "Only Girl in the World", every Kesha hit, Britney Spears' "Hold it Against Me", Katy Perry's "California Gurls", Lady Gaga's "Born This Way". Everything is so straight forward now. With the exception of Gaga, pop music has lost its creativity. At least Lady Gaga puts a whole bunch of meaning and richness into her music. She's keeping pop music alive. But even some of her singles are dumbed down because I guess people who listen to pop music these days are mostly club-bound teenagers who can't handle much more than this.

I agree 100% with this article. Artist are just singing about the same thing with different music.

I agree generally to what CallusedSilk says, any genre of music can follow a similar, shall I say, message? It just happens that as of right now most artists are coincidently writing about, I dont want to say same stuff, but similar songs if your talking about their messgaes, like being true to yourself. And to be honest I think being 'true to yourself nad not caring what other people think' has always been a general pop song message....

You're probably really tired of hearing this already but I agree with Audrey. When I started to read your article I was confused, because while you were saying how "Pop music is all the same" you were giving them all points for their individuality in the songs and how each artist was in fact different. I will say however that most pop music for me has lost its substance, the only time I listen to it is when I’m at work and a radio is playing somewhere or when I’m visiting my Mom’s house and my younger sisters are listening to it.

I understand Audrey's point. However, I think that most pop music is just stupid, anyway. It's just getting old, and every song seems to be about the same stuff. But no music is really that original anymore, considering that just about everything has been done. No matter what, I still believe that most popular music is really dumb, especially pop. I just don't listen to it anymore.

Alright, I'm gonna explain to you why you're either just not thinking this through or you need to stop listening to music all together.

If you are searching for a totally original concept in a song? Stop and give up because you won't find it. As depressing as this sounds, every thought you've ever had, every word you'll ever speak, has been said before in some way, shape or form. You will never have a truly original thought in the grand scheme of things. The point isn't to say something totally new, it's HOW you say it.

Every single genre has songs that have similar messages. It's a fact. Pop music is not alone and rock isn't immune to it. I mean, honestly, there are even some bands that stick to the same general concept their entire career. You also seem to misinterpret some of the lyrics, most obviously with 'Born This Way'. It's not an apology. it's a, 'screw them, because this is the way you are and there's nothing wrong with it'. However, I will admit she's got contradictions in her song ('transgendered lifestyle' within 30 seconds of 'God makes no mistakes'? Seriously Lady Gaga?) but that's neither here nor there.

Also, if you're just annoyed that these songs are coming out and getting popular around the same time? I'd like to point out that it is NOT a reflection on pop artists as a whole. I'm positive that there are pop artists that AREN'T singing about just being yourself and metaphorically giving the finger to anyone who tells you that you're 'wrong'. However, the fact is that these songs got POPULAR, which means if you really want to pick a bone with someone?

Start yelling at the people who bought it and listened to it enough to make it rise in the charts.

I'm not getting into the loss of creativity in pop music (we don't quite share opinions on it, but hey, to each their own), but Born This Way was not, in any way, an apology for being an individual. I saw it more as something of a shout-out to everyone who criticizes her choices in things like clothing, and her... interesting music videos, and all that. Kind of like a, "Hey guess what? I was born this way, I'm awesome this way, everyone is perfect as they are so stfu and listen to my awesome song."

Everyone's trying to be crazy and individual, and, as a result, are ending up looking exactly the same as the the next pop star.
This article has confused me a little. Empowering lyrics have been around for a long time, and music isn't really about who wears the most outrageous clothes (although that's changing). There wasn't much creativity in pop music anyway due to the fact that a lot of pop music uses the same 4 chords.

The first thing I want to point out is that the lyrics to Born This Way are in absolutely no way an "apology for being an individual" as you call them.
Also, artists write and perform music they feel is relevant. In light of all the gay teen suicides and other forms of bullying and discrimination that goes on, these songs are necessary and helpful.
They also convey their messages differently. Fireworks is this loud and proud flashy anthem. Born This Way is a little more religious (I'm beautiful in my way, causer God makes no mistakes). While religion isn't the main point here, and I'm definitely not saying it's positive, it is still an element of the song that makes it different.
Pink's song, F**cking Perfect, is much more vulnerable and introspective, especially from an artist like Pink, who to me is generally much more aggressive in her lyrics.
These artists all express a similar message in radically different ways, which in my opinion is truly creative.

But do you realizethat the REASON there are sooo many new songs about being yourself, is that NO ONE IS ANYMORE?? Everyone copies the leader, the trends. Many people follow the unannounced 'they'. The 'they' that say they know what's good for us, they know how we should live our lives because we can't do it ourselves. And the new songs about being yourself, or thinking about yourself as beautiful, are trying to get people to realize that's it's not only ok to be yourself, but it's also a good thing. Being yourself is a challenge that not many people are willing to try to deal with; a challenge that is so difficult that it even DESTROYS some in the process and their only relief is in music and lyrics like this that make them feel better about themselves and what they want to do, what they want to be.

I personally find it difficult to listen to music now. I love GaGa, some of her songs are so stupid and just don't make sense. Judas, for example, maybe that's just because I'm Catholic. But they always have some sort of meaning. And she's very inspirational, to me, in the sense that she never stops working.
I personally think music was best before people started going crazy about it. Nothing against the Beatles, I just think people enjoyed it more when they only heard it on the record player or the old radio. I'm not even talking classical music. Just music people wanted to dance to. And not dance to, like groping each other and calling that dancing.
But eh, there's not much I can do. And it's not like I'm gonna stop listening to the crap they put on the radio. I just have to filter the really bad crap. ;)
*This was really well written.

I believe in my opinion that some pop artist are original (i guess i dont really listen that much of pop music) and i agree with Audrey

I agree and disagree.

Just because a song came out after another doesn't mean anything. Just because they came out right after each other doesn't mean they were written in that order.

But yes, pop music is losing it's creative edge.

I agree with Audrey, but at the same time I understand what your trying to say and it's very true.

Personally, I enjoy all those songs. They're inspirational and make me feel good about myself when I listen to them. Although these artists wrote a song about the same message, I think people really need those, these days. What, with society's high standards and all. So, maybe having multiple songs about the same thing isn't really that bad.

This is so true... and why I started listening to rock instead(;

Great article, really true!

this is sooo true! no pop singer is original anymore and there are other issues that people all over the world have to deal with than being true to yourself and pop singers need to realize that.