Pop music and its place in our life
Millions of people like music and can’t imagine their life without it. Music is not only a combination of pleasant sounds. It is an art which reflects life. Music arouses deep emotions and makes people think. It gives us new energy and optimism, besides music is a wonderful rest, a good way to remove from tiredness and tension. Among all genres of music, pop is one of the most well-known.
Pop music comes from the word “popular.” It is a kind of popular music that people used to hear because all songs become hits. Originally it appears in the 1950s in the United States.
History facts of pop music
In the 1950s, in the era of rock ‘n roll, musicians started to produce two new genres of music – rock and pop. It was the introduction in the pop culture. Mitch Miller, the famous producer of that time, started to mix different genre, sounds. He tried to create music that won’t be defined to one genre. Therefore, he combined blues, folk with rock, etc. Pop music started to popularize between teens. In the 1960s portable radio was created, and it greatly influenced the music development. It became available for teenagers to bring “their music” wherever they wanted to. Great Britain took this chance and brought their groups into America. The period of Beatlemania started. Beatle the mix of rock, pop and ballads quickly spread all over Europe and USA. They took the first places on music charts of that time. Now pop was divided into two sub-types: Bubblegum pop and Baroque pop.
Bubblegum pop was targeted on teenagers and characterized by upbeat sound. Baroque pop – unite pop and rock music into one.
In 1970s country-pop emerged. It used to have its own style and format. But most popular was still pop-rock. Appeared many great artists such as Jackson 5, group Queen, Elton John, etc. The last one became the biggest pop star. He sang almost everything from pop ballads to arena rock songs. This brought him extremely high popularity. Queen, in their turn, moved from hard rock to arena rock and popped. They grabbed the opportunity to spread their music in the period of high popularity of pop.
In the 1980s digital recording developed. This decade created dance-pop and techno. New pop stars emerged such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston. Of course, Michael Jackson and his “Thriller” album blew up all charts and became the best-selling. It was the great “paragraph” in the pop history.
The 1990s was the decade of girlish groups. The Spice Girls, the Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears are the stars of this period.
The evolution of pop goes further. By the 2000s pop genre became the only genre that opens many possibilities for musicians. They could mix different sounds, genres, songs to create their new, unique style. R&B emerged and Rihanna with it, Lady Gaga and her electronic sounds.
Pop is not only “the next music genre.” It is a culture. It is a music trend that was created and improved over the decades. It is a complicated mix of different genres but full of possibilities for musicians. Besides, this is easily remembered the music that for sure brings quick popularity.
Classification of pop music
There is no doubt, that pop music is the most common music in the World nowadays. It can be classified by the country it comes from. Therefore, three essential types of pop music are the following: American, Korean and Chinese.
American pop characterized by easy to understand lyrics, fast and slow rhythms. All songs are close to life because they clarify some simple topics. It is a genre of freedom. In the USA there are a lot of big concerts with massive light effects or simply performances outside, on the streets, in the metro, etc. That’s why this music so close to the people.
Korean is also called K-pop. It is characterized by fast songs, strong beats, easy to understand lyrics. Koreans like fast rhythms so they can dance. Everybody knows Gangnam style. Usually, Korean pop music represents by two or more people, good dancers.
Chinese characterized by slow and gentle rhythms, complicated lyrics which follow some ideas. By the way, rhythm and lyrics are very important in this style. Chinese people prefer meaningful songs with deep analysis. It just clams a person, helps to forget about all problems.
Modern pop music
Nowadays there are a lot of pop music hits and pop stars as well. The examples of best-selling artists are One Direction, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Eminem.
There are many critical comments about modern pop music. Some people think that this genre is over-produced, too simple and repetitive. Many sounds can’t be reproduced by live singing; some music sounds the same to each other. Many boy bands became famous just because of the boys, not their music. Historically, music has been defined as having three main components: Rhythm, melody, and harmony. And for a generation now, the mix between the three has definitely changed, where the melody is reduced, and harmony is so reduced that it’s almost gone. This is an observable trend. There is also a thought that pop music is not created anymore. It is manufactured, based on a known recipe of repetitive beats and a pop star is valued more for their looks than their talent.
In conclusion, I’d like to say that music reflects our moods and emotions. It appeals to our hearts and transforms our feelings. Moreover, listening to music is the perfect way to spend free time and not to feel bored. Music is beauty in sounds; it is our magic source of inspiration. Besides, every country has the possibility to develop their styles in the pop genre. It is a genre that gave complete freedom in rhythms, lyrics, and performance. It means that there is some outline of pop sound but musicians are free to do whatever they want. We can try to expand the musical horizons.
