TheGoldStandard said:

HAPPYPERSON said:

Alyssa Lopez, Staff Writer
April 13, 2015
Filed under Opinion

In pop music, the central focus is to include numerous sexual references and as a result, cheapens this genre as a whole. For awhile, this narrow definition of pop has been dominating the music scene.

On Billboard.com, “The Hot 100″ which is the top songs of last week, consisted of music screaming about the urge for sex. The number one song is an idiotic, mindless rambling “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. This hit has a catchy beat and flow though lacks any true sentiment with gravely unoriginal, tiresome lyrics. “Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo) [x3]/Cause uptown funk gon’ give it to you [x3]”.

Basically, girls serve his sexual needs and they do so since he is outrageously good looking. Depressingly, this message of unsentimental sexual drive and single-minded thoughts is what most pop artists create, especially if a chosen song is specifically meant to be a promotional single.

Nonetheless, pop hasn’t always been interpreted as solely a sex driven genre. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, artfully wrote unique music by incorporating diverse intellectual and emotional lyrics that cover an extensive amount of topics. For instance, naming a few of Jackson’s numerous hit singles – “Thriller” is a horror themed song about zombies and werewolves; “Rock With You” he is expressing emotional feelings as he is dancing with someone he loves; “Man in the Mirror” a political song about the reflection of oneself who must be apart of the movement to improve the world’s problems.

Overall, The King of Pop has perfectly exemplified that pop music can be a creative and inspiring outlet of emotional connectivity. Inspiring his fans worldwide, continuously ’til this day beyond his death.

Despite his unique approach to pop, this genre grew stale. Nowadays, labeled as sex driven music created by hackneyed musicians selling sexual content as their main target point. Their only purpose for writing these songs is to feel empowerment by gaining self-esteem in feeling sexy, having multiple arousal moments, and superficial unrealistic love.

However, there is a small-scale of pop artists and even fewer well-known ones who don’t entirely limit their pop music to arousal nonsense. Artists such as Kelly Clarkson, whom has never done sexual music, including in her new album “Piece by Piece”. She continues to write her lyrics in a pop genre style and at the same time, embrace good qualities within oneself to build up confidence and acceptance.

The main problem is not the pop genre, rather the overwhelming amount of musicians creating this uninspiring music. Musicians who have real talent, such as Bruno Mars, shouldn’t limit themselves to this simplistic gibberish. They should expand their boundaries and create music that will forever be memorable, touching the hearts of millions of fans.

elpaisanoonline.com/opinion/2015/04/13/tarnished-reputation-of-pop-music/

Oh please. You sound like my dad.

MJ's non love/sex songs would struggle to fill an album. He's not Bob Dylan.

Sex has always sold music.

Did pop music ever had a good reputation to tarnish? You know in the early 1900s, mainstream pop music in the US was "coon songs" and both white and black performers did blackface.

I believe that the state of pop music (which is to say the envelope has been pushed off the table and has become so edgy that every message seems to cut with explicit language) is the reason a wholesome, uplifting hit like "Happy" by Pharrell could be become so POPULAR. "Happy" was a breath of fresh air from an industry blowing out toxic exhaust on its audience.

[Edited 4/24/15 10:45am]

It's pretty much always been about sex - or at least desire - in some form, I think. People have written songs about other things, no doubt, but I think since pop music became a thing (I guess that would be in the mid-50s with Rock 'n' Roll), raw desire's been at the centre of it. Maybe that's been more or less sublimated, but I don't think The Beatles and The Stones' screaming teenage fans were screaming for thoughtful social commentary. Plus, partly because of the subject matter, the 'loose morals' of the performers, and the libidinous reaction of the young fans, it's generally been seen as a disreputable, possibly corruptive, influence on the youth. Think of Elvis's pelvis.

Possibly, it's become particularly explicit and unsublimated now - although even that's not unprecedented, as there were some positively filthy blues records. But maybe that side went underground or straightened its collar for a while and now it's back. I suppose I would say that if some of those 'nasty' records in the past seemed riotously filthy and gleefully at odds with 'respectable' social mores, now it's all a bit more glum and formulaic. There's only so far you can shock people, and when trying to shock people becomes the norm, it ceases to be shocking. If Nicki Minaj got hydraulic arse-cheeks and bounced through the shot like the cars in an old Ice Cube video, that might be shocking, but, short of that, it's all been seen.

[Edited 4/24/15 13:38pm]