"Umbrella" by the Barbados-born R&B artist Rihanna was a big hit record in 2007. Possibly the reason it was such a hit because it was, word to Kinder Eggs, three wishes all at once:
* It was a ballad
* It was a club track
* It had emo lyrics (entity, infinity, all that pussy shit)
Has the decline in sales of classic capital P pop (ie, bubblegum) in recent years been linked to a fear of box-ticking across the board and desires to just stay in one genre per song (ie, Xenomania do an indie track, then they do an electro track, then they do a rock track, then they do an R&B track, etc etc etc)? Alternatively, have increasing sales in other genres been down to a lack of fear of box ticking? I'm thinking Gym Class Heroes here, but then again i'm always thinking of Travis and his dumb fucking hats.
― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Thursday, 12 June 2008 12:10 (seventeen years ago)
Too many assumptions there, Dom - what is "bubblegum" in this day and age and what is "classic capital P pop"?
My theory is that pop has atrophied to the state that we now get just one real hit per year - You're Beautiful, Crazy, Umbrella, Bleeding Love to quote the four most recent examples - i.e. pop that sells across genre boundaries, is bought by people who don't buy records, etc.
Most of contemporary pop, though, including at least two of the above examples, seems to be ashamed to be pop - and therein lies the reason for its decline. It always seems to want to embed itself in one of these boxes, and as a result pleases no one and sells poorly.
Whatever happened to happy, uncomplicated, non-ironic, non-referential, non-agenda, unashamed pop?
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 12 June 2008 12:19 (seventeen years ago)
I just wish that contemporary pop didn't have to sound so bloody miserable and joyless 75% of the time but that takes us back to another similar recent discussion on ILM.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 12 June 2008 12:51 (seventeen years ago)