Jasia Maldonado Mrs.

Fuentes English 1102 April 29th, 2014

Pop Music in Todays Society When I was in elementary school, my mother surprised me by taking me to a concert. She had suggested previously that I should bring my Justin Timberlake action figure to this event and when I realized what I was about to witness, I was the happiest eight year old ever. I saw Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and N Sync as the final act. After this concert I was infatuated with the pop music industry. I began wondering why people were so interested in the lives of pop music stars. This created a cloud of questions going through my head. What is fueling society to keep pop music so popular? How has music changed over the years and what caused it? Why do people sometimes pay over one hundred dollars for a concert where the performer is lip syncing most of it? Lastly, what negative effects does pop music have on society? I never understood the infatuation with these pop stars, I figured they were just like everybody else except had a special talent. Some stars only become famous because they have a pretty face that the public loves along with some sort of talent. However, there is still little information that explains why society is so interested in the pop music industry even with the negatives effects it brings. Both Helen Lee Lin and market analyst, Robert Prechter, agree that pop music has changed a great amount over time based on how the economy is doing. I believe, however, that even though pop music

Maldonado 1

has changed, some characteristics still remain the same. This inquiry will outline what I believe to be true about pop music, how pop music has changed over the decades, and how it has negatively effects society. There are three articles and one video that explain the negative effects of such an industry and how its changed since the 50s. It is perhaps surprising to see what is fueling society to keep pop music so important. From watching MTV, to going to concerts where the artists arent genuinely performing on their own merit because of new technology that allows them to lip sync. In this paper, I plan to give insightful details about the pop music industry. The pop music industry has played a big part in society. Robert Prechter as a stated earlier, is a financial analyst. He has investigated the changes of pop music from decade to decade. This change is based on how the economy is doing, whether it is good or bad. Robert Prechter explains how society went from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to Britney Spears in the early 21st century. Essentially, when the stock market is rising, songs tend to be joyous and fun but when the stock market is falling songs become more somber and angry (Robert Prechter, YouTube). In 1955, when Rock n Roll started the stock market was doing extremely well and then it escalated to dance music where people danced in pairs and swung around and women wore hourglass dresses, so it could be used to dance in. The stock market rose even further and surf music began. Boys and girls would blast this in their car as they were heading to the beach to have a fun filled day. After surf music, this is when the British invaded the pop music industry because it brought in The Beatles. The stock market had stayed at a certain balance which is when The Beatles were extremely popular. However, the stock market fell, and in the late 60s was when psychedelic and hard rock came to be. The

Maldonado 2

stock market for the next five years was in the garbage. However, on the bright side, different music came to be such as heavy metal and love ballads. Society became edgier and music reflected the hardships it was going through. Heavy metal showed how angry people were in America because of how poorly the economy was doing because of the fall in stocks. The love ballads showed another side though. It shows how depressed and lost society was because of how terrible the economy was doing because of the amount of money lost. People were jaded from economics and the Cold War. By the time of the 80s, punk, pop, and bubble gum music had developed and by the 90s, alternative, pop country, and dance had appeared. The type of music tha t society chooses to listen to is based on how the economy is doing because most people listen to certain types of music based on the way they feel or the mood that theyre in. Its a cycle that society has been going through since the 1950s and possibly even before then. Helen Lee Lin also shares her thoughts of the pop music shift. She believes that theres been a shift toward minor key melodies since the 1960s. 85% of the songs written in the 60s have used major keys compared to the 40% of them now (Lin, 1). Researchers believe that music has gone from bright and happy to something a little more confusing to understand along with the belief that Americas popular songs have become slower and longer. Researchers, E. Glenn Schellenberg and Christian von Scheve, have discovered that the beats per minute have decreased from 116 BPM in the 1960s to about 100 BPM in the 2000s. The average number of minutes has changed as well. In the 1960s the average minutes per song was about three minutes or under and since the 2000s the average is about four or more minutes per song (Lin,

Maldonado 3

1). But what I wonder is, is pop music/pop culture influencing the way of the economy or does the status of the economy actually influence the type of music we listen to? Regardless of the question above, there is one thing Im sure of after completing my research. Pop music has negative effects on the younger generation. Miley Cyrus, who once starred on Disney Channel as Hannah Montana, has changed quite a bit. Her audience has changed drastically including the lyrics to her once PG rated songs. Her most recent songs include lyrics that involve Molly and experts warn the dangers of this new drug. Some believe that by teenagers listening to these types of songs, the fear of trying a new drug disappears. This new drug is looked at as a pure form of ecstasy but it contains more deathly drugs that people dont realize which can cause something fatal to happen. Molly has become very popular especially in Hollywood circles and the teenagers that listen to pop music and it has been the blame for the deaths of some teenagers who had it in their system. One teenager in the article even said that while listening to electronic dance music, Molly makes the music sound better (Arnowitz, 1). Similarly, 2-Chainz, Juicy J, and Lady Gaga have also come about using or experimenting with the drug along with some of their fans. This is extremely detrimental to society because this drug can kill. In the most common cases, people who take the drug go out and party and then they crash. The reason some people die is because typically with ecstasy type drugs, the users experience an elevation of their body heat and sometimes their salt content is lowered because of the excess perspiration from the partying (Arnowitz, 1). The problem with pop music singers is that they dont fully understand how many teenagers look up to them. When they act or

Maldonado 4

speak in a certain way, it can cause others to mimic the things they do because they are looked at as role models. As research shows, the world of pop music has changed greatly over time. Besides the type of music or how long the average minutes a song is what else has changed about pop music? There are many more changes such as the clothing or lack of clothing that is up on stage as well as the actual singing that goes on. My research digs deeper into this and figures out why pop singers use lip syncing as a tool when performing in a concert. Pop music is a very interesting yet confusing topic to dissect because there are so many broad areas to talk about. However, in this inquiry I will narrow down the different topics as the paper goes on. One theory that I strongly believe is that pop music influences the way we dress and act as a society. Most girls get their trends from pop music stars because the media is constantly talking about the rich and famous. I, for example, dressed with resemblance to Selena Gomez. Ive gone to the stores and bought dresses that resemble the ones shes worn on the red carpet. Ive not only dressed like her but Ive gotten my hair cut like hers as well. I got long layers and side bangs because I genuinely liked how her hair looked. In the book, Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music, the author Lavinia Greenlaw discusses in chapter 13, how when she was a child, she wanted to be desirable and bad so she decided to dress like a disco dancer and be like this girl Tina. When she dressed otherwise, girls laughed at her and called her a gypsy (Greenlaw, 210). This is the way society has been since the beginning of pop music. We worship those who dont matter and we dress like them subconsciously. In my opinion, I think we should look up to those who do something great in life, like

Maldonado 5

doctors and policemen. Medscape surveyed 24,216 physicians and the doctors earning ranged from about $156,000 while a pediatrician ranged to about $314,000 (Sifferlin, 1). These are workers who have gone to school for more than eight years and still dont make nearly as much as pop singers. Miley Cyrus has a net worth of $150 million dollars and Justin Beibers is about $160 million. On average he makes about $50 -$70 millions dollars every year (Warner,1) . I find this information appalling. Someone who has gone to school for years doesnt even make a third of pop singers who have become famous for singing and doesnt even have a degree. The worst part is that some of these pop singers dont even make it on their own. Because we live in the 21 st century, new advancements have been discovered such as the art of lip syncing and auto tune. One might think that in order to become a famous singer you would need a natural talent or the ability to sing. However, in most cases, this is not true. T-Pain and other artists are known for auto tuning most of their songs. Daft Punk made a song named Believe and it showed that some artists know how to auto tune correctly without changing the entire songs to sound like a robot. This to me shows that some dont know how to perform on strictly merit. This proves that some dont feel confident enough to perform on stage without back up help. In some cases, the music industry /changes its members to look and sound like something they prefer, just to sell tickets. For example, Katy Perry has demonstrated this change throughout her career. In my opinion, she has changed the most out of every pop singer performer, besides of course, Miley Cyrus. She was born and raised in a conservative, Christian environment. She once was singing religious songs which werent a big hit and nowadays her

Maldonado 6

costumes for stage are extremely flashy and show a little too much skin. The music industry changes the performers into making them look like what society wants them to look like. Whatever label company the pop singer signs with gives him/her a voice coach to make their voice sound the way it should. Pop singers also get their own make-up artists, dress consultant, and assistant to keep them on track according to their personal schedule. This destroys originality which is what society needs more of. Every time he/she is up on stage, they are all done up because thats what society wants to see and thats what it pays for. Some of these artists have even been completely embarrassed up on stage because they have been caught lip syncing. Katy Perry in fact had an embarrassing moment and was caught lip syncing on French television. She lip synced so badly to the point where the shows host stopped the performance and asked her to start over and sing it for real (This Katy Performance, 1). It is proven that most singers lip sync because they dont feel confident singing it live. What I dont understand is, isnt that what people go to concerts for? People go to concerts to see a singer perform live so that it feels real rather than listening to them on the radio. Society knows that artists do this, yet they will still pay $150 to go to a Beyonc concert just to watch her lip sync and do a crazy, elaborate performance (Nelson, 1). Pop music has another flaw with its industry. It builds artists into the rich and famous, but this new generation of pop singers has a short career time. After their career ends, some artists fall under drugs. Examples of this are Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen. They both had been through stardom from being on TV to having their own songs. After their career ended, they both became big into drugs. This brings me back to Miley Cyrus. Her new songs with Juicy J consist of singing about the drug

Maldonado 7

Molly. Lindsay Lohan has gone to jail for drugs and has been arrested countless times. The sad thing is that this gets so much publicity even though its bad publicity. Justin Beiber, who is younger than the legal drinking age was pulled over and made it on the front page of the paper of People magazine. These pop singers are supposed to be role models for the younger generation but in fact young adults shouldnt consider these role models at all because they arent doing anything to build a better society for America. They build stereotypes for little girls who think they should wear revealing clothing, a pound of make-up, and are as skinny as a pencil. It has even influenced me into changing the way I dress and the way others dress as well. It is corrupting society into thinking girls should look a certain way when in fact the singers dont even really look like that. So, what is fueling pop music to be this way? The answer is simply society and money. Citizens pay for this type of entertainment even if its not on their own merit. While these pop stars are making a net worth of $150 million, the industry is also profiting millions of dollars while doing so. I have a big problem with this industry because they make too much money for the little bit of work that they do. As I said earlier, doctors should make more than these performers because they go to school for years and they earn a degree to help people in society. I believe that if society was to cut off all ties with the music industry then pop singers wouldnt be looked so highly upon and others would get the credit they deserve. In my opinion, people need to focus on the more important things in life such as going to school and getting a job rather than whats going on in pop music stars lives. Throughout all of my research, I have come up with one conclusion; pop music has changed greatly throughout the years and even

Maldonado 8

with society knowing that these pop stars lip sync and auto tune their songs, they will forever go to a concert and spend however much it costs because whats fueling society is money and the music industry brings a bunch of bills in.

Maldonado 9

Works Cited Arnowitz, Leora. "Miley Cyrus Sings about Molly Again; Experts Warn of Its Dangers." Fox News. FOX News Network, 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2014 Duca, Lauren. "This Katy Perry Performance Fail Might Be The Most Awkward Thing You See Today (UPDATE)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014 Greenlaw, Lavinia. "On Punk Rock and Not Being a Girl." Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music. : Eric Weisbard, 2007. Print. Lin, Helen Lee. "Pop Music Became More Moody in Past 50 Years." Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Nelson, Chris. "MUSIC; Lip-Synching Gets Real." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Jan. 2004. Web. 08 Mar. 2014. Sifferlin, Alexandra, and Alexandra Sifferlin. "Doctors Salaries: Who Earns the Most and the Least? | TIME.com." Time. Time, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Warner, Brian . "Miley Cyrus | Celebrity Net Worth." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. "What Makes Pop Music Popular? - From History's Hidden Engine." YouTube. YouTube, 08 June 2006. Web. 26 Feb. 2014

Maldonado 10