The Transformative Essay: The Evolution Of Pop Music

It is a commonly heard criticism that pop music is becoming increasingly uniform. Scientific research is supporting the idea that musical structures are becoming ever more regular. Compounding this, the fact that many successful songs are written by the same group of people, the criticism is quickly becoming harder to refute. However, it is also important to refrain from quickly jumping to the conclusion that music is changing for the worse and to consider the reasons behind this shift.
In a study conducted by scientists from the Spanish National Research Council, it was discovered there has indeed been a decrease in ‘pitch transitions’, fewer unique chord combinations and lessening instrument types. The study analysed a data set of 464,411 of the most played songs from around the world between 1955 and 2010. It discovered that pop songs from post 2000 had diminished variety in the timbre and increased in loudness compared to the previous decade. Figure 1: The variety in the timbre of pop music has been decreasing Figure 2: The loudness of pop music has

The main one of these is that pop music is a reflection of what listeners enjoy. In fact, our brains are wired to prefer melodies that are familiar. Psychologically, this effect is known as fluency, that is, familiar information meets expectations and is easier to process, instilling feelings of satisfaction. Thus, the recent trends in timbre and complexity may not be a negative but instead, simply appealing to the tastes of listeners. Moreover, it is naïve to say that the music industry is becoming ‘dumber, louder, and more-repetitive.’ Take for example Ariana Grande’s hit song ‘Problem’. This song took a unique combination of pop, a sax hook, a whispered chorus, and a female rap verse and was able to appeal to a broad audience as being both fresh and