Pop - what is it? Meaning

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Pop, pop music, pop artists are synonymous concepts. "Pop" is an abbreviation for the word "popular", that is, famous, famous. From this article you will learn the meaning of this term and its characteristic features.

Pop vs pop

There is such a term as pop music. In a broad sense, it refers to any music other than classical, jazz, and folklore. In a narrow sense, this word denotes pop music, in other words, well-known music in combination with ordinary vocals, not hostile and, as a rule, dance or lyrical. These are the songs you hear on the radio.

Pop is not a term. This is a slang word that refers to pop music in a very narrow sense and often expresses a person's negative assessment of such "art".

As for the negative connotation, a common list of cons is usually expressed in unpretentiousness, lack of depth, low level of performance and, curiously, excessive popularity. Simply put, pop is something that does not reach the musical standard in the understanding of some people. Thus, any music is sometimes called pop, if it is simple, not making any impression. It is only necessary to take into account the fact that music(pop music in particular) is always perceived differently by people.

Suppose Pink Floyd fans are quite capable of calling the singer Lady Gaga "pop" for the reason that she is trivial. In other words, pop songs often have unpretentious lyrics, simple arrangements, are easy to remember, and the motive "haunts" the whole day. More serious performers and world-famous bands ("Pink Floyd", "Deep Purple", "The Beatles", Vladimir Vysotsky and many others) create really "strong" things that are relevant at any time. Pop is something that only matters today. After a while, such music does not arouse interest even among those people who listened to it only because it was at the peak of popularity.

History

In the Soviet Union, the term "pop music" arose rather belatedly (presumably in the second half of the 1980s). Before its appearance, singers were correlated only with "Soviet art". The adjective "Soviet" is quite appropriate here, since it was precisely this term that meant music approved by the party for the entertainment of the inhabitants of the USSR. Different groups of people disliked the stage in different ways. Rockers, for example, found her too coherent, unprincipled in relation to the government, creatively connected, conditioned by a whole series of formalities. Others did not like her frivolity, dependence on the fashion trends of music.

Pop music began to form at a time whenthe informal art of singing has gained relative popularity. In youth circles, at first an unremarkable, and then a growing discord between music intended for dancing and soulful songs, in which each person found a special meaning for himself, took place. In other words, Russian pop music from the very beginning was purely entertaining music for young people in the 1980s. Then the "fresh" term gained wide popularity in some rock sphere, then it turned into widespread speech and received other meanings.

Directly, the word "pop" (translated from English "popular" means "famous, popular") does not mean anything rebellious. But it is impossible not to notice that it became often pronounced only with the advent of Western progressive technologies and mass media.

Term ambiguity

The term "pop" is extremely subjective and vague. At first, it was used to express one's position on frivolous and shallow music, however, with this formulation, bewilderment immediately appears. First, what does shallow music mean, and can one also call, for example, the great Beatles group pop? A good half of national creativity can also be included there, etc. Ultimately, in the field of art that is not related to pop songs, there will only be advanced and other creativity that is difficult for mass perception.

By and large, the wording that pop is just music that is usedpopular and loved by the vast majority of people, inaccurate. Since well-known music is not a genre or even a style, it is just evidence of an event.

This category includes both "ephemeral bands" and really talented singers. How can you compare the Beatles, Abba, Mozart or Vysotsky? The most important thing is where all this "popularity" will go in a few years. Therefore, if a song or a group is completely forgotten, it means that its fame is worthless. Thus, being in demand is not a sign of pop music, no matter how much those who would like to make us think so, for whom the indicator of wide coverage is the main task of all activities.

In that case…

Pop is fun music

I wonder what this definition implies? If such a term is understood as music that is intended for an atmosphere of entertainment, then it turns out that Beethoven may well be pop music. And if you equate pop and dance music, then both tango and w altz can be called pop. In addition, the practical electronic music of the 1990s is quite interesting in a creative way, and blindly calling it pop is a mistake. But is it…

Uncomplicated, amateurish creativity

Low-grade music is, of course, not good. However, how to regard its simplicity and "shallowness"? If we mean the arrangement, then BulatOkudzhava with his guitar has nothing to compete even with the Mirage group. If we talk about the expression of texts, then in this case the songs of the Lyube group are written more professionally than the texts of most of the songs of the eminent Tsoi. As for vocals, everyone already knows that Nikolai Baskov takes notes better than, say, Vysotsky. If someone says about a sincere performance - and here there is an example: after all, both Shevchuk and Pugacheva sing, sparing no effort, putting their whole soul into it. So which of them is Russian pop? Now you can slowly move on to the next wording…

Mediocre music

This definition is much closer to the essence. Because pop music, in essence, is not gifted with adventurism and poetic riskiness. Because…

This, apparently, is not music as a form of soulful and genuine creativity, but a product made for money and popularity

Actually, it all depends on priorities. Fame (and after it money usually comes) is an absolutely reasonable dream. Finding your admirers, gaining a material opportunity to improve your own creativity - this is what every singer consciously or unconsciously fantasizes about. But in reality, such fame will never bring him joy if he sacrifices creativity for it.

Apart from everything else, a distinctive feature of pop music is the desire to make quick money, trying to pay off as soon as possible and in the simplest way. Pop music is a specific market for the poor, like Chinese consumer goods, cheap vodka with a catchy sticker, sandals,made "under the brand", which are bursting at the seams for the next season.

Pop creators don't need to make a creation. After all, the creation of a masterpiece is unthinkable without creative searches and trials. And any unrecorded commercial test is a dangerous and slippery business. Here pop music steals all sorts of already proven ideas, deprives them of their scale and depth. Thus, the producers act in the following way: they create such nuggets, polish them, or simply find already prepared "stars", process them to the required parameters and release them to the "conveyor line".

Characteristic features of pop music

Of course, it doesn't matter to many that a whole lot of similar "products" do not have depth, soulfulness and sincerity. In addition, intuitiveness in creative work is unfamiliar to pop music, since inspiration cannot be controlled and, therefore, it is commercially unsustainable. So pop as a term could have originated directly at the same time as the performance industry, that is, a certain manufactory that masterfully generates and meets the cultural requirements of a standard mass consumer.

Accordingly, even if we take as an example the "thieves" songs that were written in places of deprivation of liberty, and if they are not creatively rich, they cannot be unconsciously called pop. The same is true with folk art. Of course, it is also quite quickly accepted by the broad masses, has a simple motive and execution, as well as a selection of topics. Like pop music, folklore is practical creativity, because it is used for certain tasks and human needs. However"primary culture" appeared suddenly, because of this it is natural and not fake. And the fact that folk art was formed over many centuries could not but be reflected in its creative sincerity and expressiveness. And, of course, folklore from the very beginning did not set a mercantile goal of earning money, in this regard, it is in no way pop music.

Pop definition

As a result, the following concrete wording of pop music can be singled out: "Pop music is a product of a musical nature for the masses, created in the course of commercial activity, in which the desire to earn money undoubtedly prevails over creativity (and is not even combined with it)".

Features of the pop industry

The pop industry is characterized by the rapid acquisition of popularity and profit - this, one might say, is its key and main goal. It already implies creative simplicity typical of pop music, triviality, accessible entertainment, unprincipledness, replacement of the uniqueness and talent of the singer with an unnaturally formed image of a “star”, thoughtless interchangeability.

Pop music has nothing to do with moral standards, if there is a chance to get instant money without any threat. In other words, the more a person is willing to sacrifice for the sake of rapid popularity and profit, the more he is "pop". It is very important that the words "pop" and "mediocrity" are not equivalent, but only often combined.