Grotesquely overdone modern pop with, like, three people playing harpsichord

What's up with these new pop songs with, like, dozens of instruments that can't be heard in the final mix? Like, on Miley Cyrus' 'More To Lose' there's supposedly three different people playing harpsichord, and they're also all three credited for hammond organ and piano, and there's also vibraphone, harp, tubular bells, and a freaking 'marxophone', which is a type of zither. Can anyone here the three harpsichords? (Credits here: https://genius.com/Miley-cyrus-more-to-lose-lyrics)

First time I noticed was with Sabrina Carpenters 'Manchild'. Antonoff plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin AND SITAR on it, and there's NINE people credited with percussion. Why? (https://genius.com/Sabrina-carpenter-manchild-lyrics)

Final example from today: The new Black Keys single, On Repeat. Didn't they use to be a stripped down blues duo? And now there's three people playing guitar, Sam Bacco plays seven different types of percussion, and Dan Auerbach is on the kazoo somewhere in the mix? And it's all just a mess of sound, it all drowns out the riff. (https://genius.com/The-black-keys-on-repeat-lyrics)

This thread is for posting other examples. And discussing what's going on. Why do they make pop this way, and when did they start doing it?

When all the Neutral Milk Hotel stans become record producers.

Maybe if you turn everything into an indistinguishable soup then no one can sue you for plagiarism.

I just listened to the 3 examples you provided trying to understand the format. And although I can't think of any contributions off the bat, I have to say that (aside from the vocals) I really like the production style?

It's got a real 70s maximalist 'look at all the sounds we can get on all these mixing channels' vibe that I like.

Feels like Country production has been doing this for a long time too. Just a wall of instruments, with mandolins and banjos thrown in to make it "authentic."

First :30 seconds on that Miley song are so ethereal it’s like a Bryan Ferry track.

Why do they make pop this way, and when did they start doing it?

Google "Wall of Sound".

The difference being that Spector did that without overdubbing, so you needed three harpsichordists or whatever in the room at once.
I suspect that, like with the Ferry records, the idea is that numerous people involved in the recording can spontaneously throw in a part that they come up with, in hopes that the mixers will find some attractive sonic element they like and can highlight, even for a second or two.

Ferry, yeah, has at times employed seven guitarists on track

*on ONE track

...with Manzanera saying that, though he's credited, he can't hear himself on the record.

I guess I like that they're getting textures by recording a bunch of live instruments and session musicians, rather than all the DAW-era things you can do (virtual instruments, Splice, infinite sound design, etc). It's almost wholesome.

It doesn't have to be overstuffed as long as they're not all present in the mix at the same time, exactly like Halfway said. But I haven't listened to any of these records very much or at all.

Oh, there's a bunch of keyboards/synths/programming on most of those. In fact I think what I hate most about this sound is that it mostly just sounds like synthpop anyway, and all the other stuff is just ornamentation. Like, there's nine people playing percussion on Manchild, but the main rhythm is just '1-2 1-2 1-2 1-2' all the way. And the songs are never actually based around the sitar/hurdy gurdy/kazoo/zither/saw or whatever. That it might come from country production sounds interesting.