If you haven’t noticed, I love talking about music. Anything about music; any type of music, the industry behind it and the process within it. But of course during a conversation like this, people try to protect their favorite artist as if it is the end of their career. Instead of looking at music as a discussion of many varieties that all soon blend in with one another, the passionate listeners use their iPods as weapons and fake grillz as their shield. Oh give me a break.
You want to talk about peer pressure, than you better start with music. Forget the lyrics about killing a friend or getting high; once again, it’s all about the image!
An average teenage boy who likes 2Pac or Eminem:
Average girl who listens to T-Pain or Lil’ Wayne:
Exactly.
Let’s break down this process again:
1. Create the image
2. Write lyrics about subjects people can relate to (hope/love) or cannot relate to (being a pimp).
3. Make a music video with a majority of people dancing.
Overtime an artist will have something of their own, or maybe just a really bad translation of what the last person did.
For example:
So bad, but so genius.
Soulja Boy’s first single was, “Crank that Soulja Boy.” If you watch the video, it starts with two young boys doing the Soulja Boy dance and their father (I suppose) wondering who this Soulja Boy is. Trust me, I’m asking myself the same thing. But it’s genius how this works. His first song, as awful as it is, has a catchy beat and a repetitive dance routine. What average teenager wouldn’t want to get up on that?
Whether or not you’re a fan or not, definitely watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpocrqvP2Yg
Going back to the emotional attachment listeners have with an artist, this is something that cannot be trusted. A while back I watched the same music video with three different friends and recorded their reactions. All these friends and I watched the video for Lady Gaga’s single ‘Just Dance.’
One of my friends who is an actress said she loves Lady Gaga’s voice and thinks that she is extremely talented.
Another friend of mine who is a writer thinks that Lady Gaga is so sexy and way ahead of everyone else.
But my last observer, who sings opera asked me, “When did a singer no longer have to sing in order to be considered good?”
My answer: Madonna.
But let’s ask the master of auto-tune–T-Pain.
Here’s a link to an interview he did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45bKBvPCX18&feature=fvw
Okay…let me get this straight. You still need to be able to sing in order to sound like you can’t sing. Hmm..interesting.
If that’s so, than how does this work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyXXlvJZhW8
Yeah, let me know about that one…
Another good job!
The only thing I respect Soulja Boy for, is that he wrote the dance, lyrics, and beat to “Crank That Soulja Boy.” – artists write lyrics & beats, but I’ve never heard of one writing a dance with it all! It’s a very good first, but done so bad, I just wanna punch him.
You’re funny about the thing with T-Pain’s auto-tune though haha.
What I don’t understand, is why T-Pain can actually claim Auto-Tune when it has been in songs WAY before him. – I don’t understand it.
Really good job, babe! Keep it up!
Love you!