It is really easy to suggest that pop music is nothing but disposable, short-lived and destined to be forgotten. And yet people have been arguing the same thing for generations about music that has absolutely been remembered for twenty years, fifty years or longer. At the very least, each generation latches onto the music of its youth for whatever reason, so each era is bound to produce a number of songs that are integral to the memories of millions. Pop music in the 1990s saw a continuance of the teen pop—with one of the most popular preteen and teen-oriented acts being the Osmonds—and dance-pop trends that had developed in the 1970s and 1980s. The usage of digital recordings, accompanied by the use of synthesizers, with synth-pop music among other electronic genres that featured non-traditional instruments steadily increasing in popularity. Dance-pop is a popular music sub-genre that had originated in the late 1970s. It is generally up-tempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. It is also known for being exceedingly eclectic, having borrowed influences from other genres, which varied by artists, producers and time periods.

It is in the late 90s where we find Swedish producer Max Martin, who has to date co-written and produced more than twenty-three Billboard Hot 100 number-one songs, come into prominence. Martin’s most famous creation, “Baby One More Time”, which he wrote independently, reached number one in almost every country it was released.
It is worth noting, however, that the hit song almost never came into fruition. The demo, which Martin had written with an R&B flavor in mind, sat lying around dormant for months. Among the recording artists and musicians who turned it down were the group TLC, due to their assumption that the line “hit me baby one more time” would advocate for domestic violence. Interestingly enough, while writing the song Martin had thought it was simply American slang for “call me.”

Britney and Max Martin create some amazing harmonic tension before returning to the final chorus. Towards the end of the song (around 3:20), “Baby One More Time” presents one of Martin’s signature techniques, a composition style called counterpoint or canon. Counterpoint is the technique of playing a melody or melodies in conjunction with another, and according to fixed rules. He utilized this auditory technique in the final chorus (most notably in “Baby One More Time” among other Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and NSYNC songs for example) – usually bringing in the bridge melody where the bridge is sung over the normal chorus. And his bridge melodies are usually slight variations of the chorus melody.

Many might know Selena Gomez from her debut on the Disney channel. She is an American singer, actress, and producer. Born and raised in Texas, alongside her television career, Gomez has starred in few films and also voices many characters in Disney films. Selena Gomez released a total of seven albums, three studio albums, one compilation album, and three promotional singles.

Selena Gomez’s first album which was released in 2009 “Kiss & Tell”. The album held freshness and a twist. Kiss & Tell is a work of near-genius modern pop that shows off Gomez’s light but soulful vocals in a near-perfect setting. Plenty of songs in this album has her talking about her boyfriends, tracks joyously detail newfound love affairs, and a good many generally rock out. The variety of styles and sounds on the record is pretty impressive. There are snappy bursts of punky pop bump up against Latin-influenced dance jams, midtempo, new wave rockers, techno-ish dancefloor, and hopeful love songs. Her vocals sound young and fresh and her singing is full of energy. The album was a great start to Selena Gomez’s musical career.

The second album was released in 2010 “A Year Without Rain”, wasn’t as successful as the first one but the album’s mix of frothy teen pop with super-catchy choruses, excellent production, and Selena’s sweet yet powerful vocals proved popular with both critics and the public, and it was a long-running one. There are no new wave or emo-pop influences, only a couple of songs that aren’t about serious longing and heartbreak, and an overall feel of the sorrow of heaviness. The album overall held great vocals but was not as successful.

“When the Sun goes Down”, released in 2011 being the third album in three years. The songs are sassier, lighter, and more fun. Her vocals are more spirited, the arrangements less reliant on heavy synths, and overall, there’s a more playful feeling to the record that’s more in keeping with her first album. She bubbles her way through dancefloor-friendly tracks like “Bang Bang Bang” and “That’s More Like It”. The rest is really solid and fun modern pop with sharp hooks and a couple of surprises. It adds some welcome taste and creates a straightforward record, and shows how easily and successfully she can slip into different personas and styles.

“Stars Dance” 2013, takes a slightly more eclectic approach. Gomez and her writers and producers don’t drift far from the dancefloor and party jams, and these are the strongest songs on the album. It’s hard to resist the jumping beats, shiny synths, and Gomez’s cherry vocals on tracks like “Slow Down,” “Undercover,” and the disco-y “Save the Day.”  Stars Dance is another quality entry in her catalog and just another example of why Selena Gomez is one of the best pop stars making music in 2013.

Release of “Revival” in 2015 the artist went through few changes such as the label change and her public relationship.  The album sticks pretty close to a club hits-and-ballads mix with a couple of R&B-inspired jams thrown in. Gomez sounds most at home on the uptempo dance tracks like “Kill ‘Em with Kindness” or “Me & the Rhythm,” where the smoothness of her voice fits in with the surrender of the beat. She aims for several kinds of maturity, and the production holds professionalism.

2020–present: “Rare” and “Revelación”, are the newest album. Her break after her last album has changed her as an individual and the artist herself had gone through a huge health journey that allowed her to change her perspective in music. The introverted and emotionally raw song “Lose You to Love Me” surrounded Gomez’s aching vocals with sparse piano, swirling strings, and lush background vocals, and connected instantly with her fans and anyone who ever had to ditch someone in order to save themselves. That song, and the record it appears on, mark something of a turning point in her career. Where in the past she focused mostly on breezy sentiments, playful frothy pop, and more recently sexy come-ons, now she’s digging deeper and mining her own life and loves for subject matter in more obvious and revealing ways. Revelación is Gomez’s first release to be prominently in the Spanish language, combining reggaeton, electropop, Latin pop, and R&B with urban elements.

The musical journey of Selena Gomez included many changes in the artist herself, her vocals, and her style. Her music included both her struggles and her rebirth into the music industry. Each song is meant to represent a stage in her life and what she is going through. Overall, her genre of electronic dance music, pop, and R&B-inspired songs has been a journey that included a lot of experiments, and today she is known for her well-established career, accomplishments, and her trials with music.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://popmusic.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2021/04/Infographic-pic.pdf” title=”Infographic BPM”]

BPM (Beats per minute) is exactly what it sounds like. It refers to how many beats take place per minute. For example, if a song has 60 BPM, that will mean that one beat takes place every second per minute. Most popular music is made in the “adante” range which is from 76-108 BPM. Some of the most notable recent songs that are within this range are Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” which has 81 BPM, Travis Scott and Drake’s “Sicko Mode” which has 78 BPM, Kanye West’s “Runaway” which has 86 BPM, and Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” which has the higher upper limit of this range at 108 BPM. The BPM does not determine the danceability of a song, the tempo, or anything like that, it simply just states how many beats there are.

The graph above shows some of The Weeknd’s most popular songs within the past decade and their BPMs, as well as the number of streams to date (February 2021). “Starboy” has received the most streams at 2,237,519,142, however, this song has been out for close to five years now. Contrary to this, “Blinding Lights,” the single off of his most recent album is exceptionally close to the number of streams as “Starboy” despite having just turned one-year-old last month. This graph represents the level of success The Weeknd has experienced in the adante BPM range. “Starboy” and “Blinding Lights” combine to over four billion streams while “Call Out My Name” and “The Hills,” both also popular songs of his, have significantly higher BPMs at 136 and 112 respectively, but have been less successful on streaming charts.

In the link provided is my infographic going through the timeline of Beyoncé’s well established career. She has accomplished so much throughout the years that this timeline does not even cover half of it. I decided to pick a main focus instead of trying to cover everything, and that was her studio albums.  Beyoncé puts her all into just about everything, but especially her albums. It is definitely the most defining aspect of her career. She has described albummaking as an art that is not seen as much today, which is why she will always work towards changing that.  As the artist has been in the industry officially since the 90s, that is where the timeline starts. Beyoncé’s moments in the popular R&B girl group, Destiny’s Child helped to show the world who she really was. It also helped to build excitement towards her solo career and what she can bring to the table as a new artist.Even today, when it comes to music groups the most popular or experienced is usually referred to as the“ Beyoncé” of the group. 

Dangerously in Love and B’Day were her first solo albums which truly established her signature go-to sound. It is where we see iconic hits such as “Crazy in Love” and “ Irreplaceable.”It was not different from Destiny’s Child sound, as both are R&B focused. The R&B songs ranged in different tempos as some were slow jams while others would be suitable to play in clubs. There were also a few ballads thrown in the mix, as that is a favorite genre from the singer as her voice truly shines in this genre. I Am…Sasha Fierce released in 2008 is where the biggest switch from previous projects is seen. Singles such as “Sweet Dreams” and “Single Ladies” show a more pop-influenced side. As Beyoncé describes it,  half of the album is dedicated to fans with her classic R&B hits and ballads, while the other half is more mainstream with influences of pop,rock, electric. It is not truly a  Beyoncé album without the experimental mixes of genres. 

4 was a moment that showed how secure Beyoncé’s place in the music industry really was. She has come to that point as an artist where there is nothing left to prove, everyone knows who you are and what you can do. It is where creative freedom is at an all time high, as the end product is more of what you want instead of what was popular. In 2011, EDM was all of the craze with singles such as “We Found Love” and “Party Rock Anthem” spending the most weeks at #1 on Billboard. It is also the year Beyoncé decided to go back to her roots with her signature experimental genre mixing with an R&B focus as we can see in songs such as “Countdown” and “Love on top”. It was her own way of trying to stay true to her artistic vision instead of going down the trendy road. 

 Beyoncé’s self-titled album is one of her more popular albums for a reason. Even today anyone doing a sudden release with no promo is referenced as pulling a “ Beyoncé.” The success of this album showed how well a music project could do without any promo at all. She was not the first to do this, but definitely popularized the movement. As self-titled was a visual album it gave a chance to show her raw talent of creating a visual for her music but also telling a story. Her vocal and performance talents were already well known at this point, the visual talents just pushed her up to another level. The exploration of social issues is also another major part that ties into the album, specifically the feminst themes. If we want to get more specific than that, it is especially geared towards the uplifting of black woman who often get left behind in the overall feminist movement. It is not the first time the artist has explored gender issues,”If I Were a Boy”, but is the more well known example.Most notably is “Flawless” one of the more popular songs on the album. It includes part of a speech given by  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which is about how boys and girls are raised differently as girls are taught to “shrink themselves”, aspire to marriage ,and other gender roles imposed on women. The experect ends with an official definition of a feminist . As she said herself “Changed the game with that digital drop/Know where you was when that digital popped/I stopped the world.”

Lemonade is one of Beyoncé’s most known albums to date. Another visual album that was accompanied by a film documentary with the release of the album. Another signature is the genre mixing as we see the reggae influence in songs like “Hold Up” or the country route that “Daddy Lessons” takes. Gospel, rock, and trap are just to name a few more. The is most notably known focus on the personal experiences of the artist, most specifically marital problems. Each song is meant to represent a different emotional stage during the ups and downs of her relationship. 

Beyoncé’s Impact on The Music Industry by Dominique Morgan

Had I taken this class this time last year, all of my work – my reviews, my infographics, my podcasts, everything – would have been about Led Zeppelin. At that time, they were the artist of the moment for me. Right now, though, I am on such an overwhelming Dylan kick that in everything I do which is even slightly music-related he is impossible to ignore. My friends get sick of me talking about Bob Dylan. While I AM a fanatic, I might as well go the predictable route. It’s what’s most enjoyable to me, and I think it results in the best possible work.

So anyway, I came up with the idea several days ago to create my infographic about Desolation Row. It’s very dense, which is to say that where other Dylan songs are very symbol- and motif-heavy, this song is character-heavy. There’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s easily unpackable. I just read the 33 1/3 book on Highway 61 Revisited, and while I admit that this had some bearing on the topic I decided, I can assure you that the opinions and interpretations of the song expressed in the infographic are mine. I thought some of the author’s ideas were kinda hare-brained anyway.

I wanted my infographic to loosely resemble a building, the dilapidated variety you’d expect to find in a place like Desolation Row. It was a bit difficult to figure out how best to orient the descriptions in relation to the pictures and everything else, but all things considered, I’d say it came out very well.

That’s it, really. If you, too, are sick of Bob Dylan after seeing this, I advise you to avoid my podcast.  : )