Pop Music Characteristics

The genre of pop rock has taken the music industry by storm, giving record companies enormous amounts of power and endless financial success along with a way to reproduce it. Owing its popularity to the “light” nature and simplistic, yet catchy melodies, pop music is one of the broadest genres. There’s no way of clearly defining parameters as to what distinguishes a pop music song from other genres. This is largely due to the genre's’ reliance on popularity. Pop music has taken many forms over the decades, keeping characteristics through each generation it passes through.
Pop music originated in the early 1950s with singers such as Frank Sinatra and Nat “King” Cole being accompanied by guitar and bass paired with catchy melodies. Frank Sinatra

was possibly the first “pop star” in the modern sense. He had screaming girls, insurmountable fame, and quickly became a household name, even today. The next evolution of pop music was in the late 1950s and early 1960s with Elvis and The Beatles, establishing on the key characteristics of rock and roll, they also added a more mellow side to rock music, which allowed it to reach a wider range of people. Throughout the 60s, The Beatles had a stranglehold on the US and the UK. They had revolutionized pop music, by writing their own material and associating their own brand with their lifestyle. Elvis and The Beatles had set the standard for popular music, and their influences have carried on through the generations, and still appears in today’s music.
Although pop music has evolved a lot over the years, the vast majority of it sounds very similar in melodic and lyrical structure to rock music. “Pop rock” is a term used to describe the fusion of both, and has led to a lot of influential musicians popularity. This would be the category that Ben Rector falls into. He produces very upbeat music, but still clearly associated with the “rock” genre. Using various instruments such as the piano and guitar, he gives his music his own twist on contemporary pop music, making it sound like a hybrid of pop rock and folk music.
Ben Rector’s new album “Brand New” is his sixth studio album, but only the second he’s released under his own record label “Aptly Named Recordings”. The fifth track on this album is titled “The Men That Drive Me Places” and it has a very slow intro. This song is a great example of the personal and relatable lyricism of Ben Rector. The song is a very emotional song detailing his life on the road, and how much he doesn’t understand why people adore him because the people that drive him places have a much greater story and are “more of a man” than himself. The song is essentially about the people who don’t necessarily get the credit that he sees is justified in their lives. “Oh, how am I the only one who knows that I’m half the man of the men that drive me places”. He also touches on how lucky he was by referencing his own life as a lucky chance, or in his own words: “But that’s just the way it goes, you’re dealt a good hand and you get celebrated”. Just by listening to his music, you can tell he’s not in it for the fame, nor does he even expect people to enjoy his music. The entire album is very humble, honest and down to earth.