By DIEGO MARTINEZ
Guest Columnist
Currently a lot of people on both sides are upset with the state of pop music, but I think it’s healing.
Some people miss the Gaga, Katy, Nicki era of pop music, but that doesn’t mean modern pop isn’t good.
I personally don’t like pop music, but there are a few artists that are making waves at the moment.
Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter come to mind as classic pop stars.
I think we’ve had enough of the mid pop that’s been coming out from 2016-2022. I’m not even sure I could name any pop songs between that time period except for “Old Town Road” which was terribly repetitive.
On the other end of things, there are those with the opinion that pop music is wholly bad and that it shouldn’t exist. I can understand that sentiment after listening to “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by the Smiths, nonstop, but pop music serves a purpose.
I like latin rock, but that doesn’t mean it should play everywhere. No one wants to listen to Molotov’s “Parasito” at Target. When I’m doing my day-to-day errands, I am okay with pop music. It’s cheap and energetic, perfect for the capitalist landscape we exist in.
Of course, the music that plays in public depends on the place. I don’t want to listen to Ariana Grande at Hot Topic, or Slipknot at the daycare. I’m saying this as a pop hater, essentially. I can get over myself enough to acknowledge its purpose in society. I don’t mean to throw anyone under the bus, but I believe it’s metalhead posers who are elitist about music in this way.
Six years ago, I went to watch the “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Freddie Mercury’s biopic movie, in theaters with a friend. He was being completely serious the entire time about Metallica being better than Queen.
Queen can be poppy at times I will admit, but they’re incomparable. One is rock/pop, and the other is rock/metal. Not the same thing. It didn’t help that he wouldn’t drop the subject. Looking back, he was definitely a poser.
I think the relentless hate on pop music is unnecessary. People who do this only do it to seem different and cool. They need to get over themselves and let people listen to whatever they like.
On the other hand, pop music is a little cheap and vapid at times. People who genuinely listen to pop music in their free time are very brave. I will not say that it is all unintelligent crap, but most of it is.
A pop song being sad doesn’t make it any smarter either, if you were thinking it. Most pop musicians also don’t write their own music.
I remember a while ago there was a beef between fans of Damon Albarn, vocalist of Blur and Gorillaz, and Swifties (Taylor Swift fans). He had made the incorrect suggestion that she did not write her own music.
This was a war between pop haters and pop drones. I hate to be a centrist, but in this case, I have to be.
The Albarn fans were incredibly disrespectful; the Swifties were incredibly ignorant. These people can see no nuance. The pop fans value streams and popularity while the pop haters value seeming intelligence. A fight between morons.
In the music industry, infinite music genres with different sounds and also different languages exist. Some of us are used to playlists for different moods or with a certain group of songs. I admire many music genres, but sadly not all of these genres get the attention they deserve.
It is incredible the quantity of artists out there who are literally making music that fits our mood, or our personality. It may be difficult to find them at first, but for sure each one of them are worth to listen to.
