2022.6-8月 音乐/舞蹈记录·探索

The strength of Pop music lies in a denial of genre or niche: Pop does not try to bring a new subculture or convey a message. It wants to include anyone and everyone and just have fun. Pop wants to be approachable: no barrier, no threshold, no shame. Anything goes. But Pop should not be seen as a derogatory term: every person adores at least one Pop song, whether it’s Britpop, Synthpop, Disco Pop or whatnot. Pop after all, is not irreconcilable with innovation or quality. But what exactly defines Pop music then? Pop is whatever gets the most appeal from people, the common denominator between different music tastes and the most flexible, applicable of styles. Never too extreme in one aspect or another, yet never too mundane or boring; Pop seeks to catch the attention fast and hold it, but never in an offensive or disturbing way.

In the US, the repressive authority of the Bush administration on Dance/EDM parties in general has led since its inauguration in 2000 of a stronger intertwining of Dance, especially House, with other genres such as Rap, Nu R&B and Pop music. Electronic samples and the use of soulful vocals start to appear on EDM records that would otherwise be ignored. American EDM artists were forced to cross over to Pop in order to financially survive and this has led to an even greater diversity, complexity, and eclecticism in contemporary (Pop) music. After the Obama inauguration, “pure” EDM breaks through in the States, something that hasn’t happened since its birth in Chicago and Detroit. However, by that time, Pop, Dance, Rap, R&B, and Rock were already so clotted up (not the least by the advent of streaming music services and growing multimedia) that it might even be reasonable to discard Pop as a separate super-genre and regard it as simply a collection of the most popular and commercial music – just like it was in the beginning.