#1 She’s cute and bubbly. I’ve always loved cute and bubbly. Just take a look at my girlfriend. Cute and bubbly? Very much so, yes. Exactly.
#2 She is reminiscent of Mariah Carey. Her choice of music is very soulful, and occasionally, tinged with a hiphop-y vibe. Her melodies are always complex. But never too complex. Just complex enough.
Some of her fans are annoyed by the comparison. They should shut up. Mariah Carey is a legend (there was a damn BBC documentary on her); and the comparison is nothing but a compliment.
That being said, those who accuse and dismiss Ariana for supposedly being a Mariah clone should also shut up. She will become her own brand; can we give her some breathing room to grow?
#3 The most important reason: She has TALENT. I love a lot of the new artistes (or at the very least, I can understand their appeal). But a lot of them sound very average when they perform live, proving that they get a little too much help from software and producers.
Ariana on the other hand has a frightening amount of talent. Her vocal control sends shivers down my spine every time.
I welcome her with open arms into my playlists. You should do the same. :)
Above is “Almost Is Never Enough”, a true display of her abilities to sing and harmonize with a co-vocalist.
If you've ever read an album review, then it's a term you've come across at least once. When I was younger, and just beginning to realize that music was better than cake, better than sports (oh dear God, yes), and better than cute girls (I was delusional then), I came across this word a bunch of times: formulaic. In fact, I ran into it more than just a bunch of times—seems like they didn't let you graduate music-critic university without having it engraved into your right cheek.
Um…wrong kind of cheek.
Every time a university student somewhere uses a direct
dictionary quote, a cute cuddly animal dies.
I have broken down my own personal definition of “formulaic” into three facets. In other words, as far as I know, there are three main ways in which music can sound like it was manufactured in a German automobile assembly line.
Structure
Now, if you haven’t noticed it yet, a gazillion and one songs adhere to this basic structural formula:
Intro, first verse, chorus, second verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus, outro.
Some artistes mix it around a tiny bit. Maybe they bang-start with the chorus; maybe they drop the music after the bridge and go a cappella; maybe they modulate the chorus after the bridge and let the instrumentalists strut their stuff. It doesn’t matter—in the end, a lot of contemporary, western influenced music is just the spawn of some extensively pre-dated, generally accepted style adopted a long, long, time ago.
Okay, maybe not THAT long ago.
To be honest however, you can’t really blame musicians for formulaic structure. Formulaic structure works. It is time tested, and it provides a great skeleton to flesh out. Asking for an utterly different structure is like going, “Dammit, I’m really tired of these cell phones having their circuits on the inside. Why doesn’t someone try putting them on the OUTSIDE for a change.” See? Ridiculous. You start thinking like that, and that’s how you end up with crap like this:
Yes, that is a camera GUN.
But though, structural formula is permitted, this is less acceptable,
Melody
It is difficult to explain what is meant by a predictable melody, except that if you love music enough to waste your time on tiresome articles like this, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Melody seems almost mathematical sometimes: the consecutive chords in a song just make sense…sometimes you can even predict how a song will go from hearing the first few notes. A litmus test for this is to judge how easy it is to memorize the melody from a first listen. Of course, this method is flawed on many levels, but hopefully it gets my message across.
Simply put: if it is too easy to predict a melody, chances are it was lazily written.
But, I can hear some people arguing, if your melody is super easy to learn, doesn’t that mean that it’ll stick faster in the listener’s head…and isn’t that a good thing?
Well, yes and no. Have you ever heard the Teletubbies opening track? Catchy son of a bitch, ain’t it? Twenty cedis says the damn thing is playing in your head right now, just because I mentioned it. And yet, do you consider the Teletubbies song a musical masterpiece?
I didn’t think so…
It’s better when the melody of a song can surprise us in its key moments. They don’t have to be big surprises. Little deviations do the trick nicely. Think: John Legend’s “Ordinary People.” Or a personal favorite, M3nsa’s “Fanti Love Song”.
And finally…
Lyrics
I don’t even have to talk here, do I? There are so many ways to be formulaic lyrics-wise: in the rhyme scheme, in the puns, even in the subject matter. Especially in the subject matter. The top ten song subjects are:
1. Broken love
2. Sex
3. New love
4. Jilted love
5. Sex
6. Unconfessed love
7. Sex
8. Unrequited love
9. Sex
10. Sex
Did I mention sex?
I’m not saying that these subjects should not be explored. Why, it is the stuff we thrive on (yes, even the sex, easily-offended-religious-purist-reading-this-article)! They are the lowest common denominators. They have topped charts for a reason. But, good grief, surely artistes can find more creative ways of expressing these same ideas without sounding like they all purchase their lyrics off eBay, no?
I’m on to you, Bieber.
Take Frank Ocean’s “Bad Religion” for instance. In it, he explores theme favorite number eight without going the conventional “Boo-hoo he’s so perfect, he makes my heart flutter, but alas, I am invisible to him” route. He sings his story from a different angle, setting up a conversation between himself and a taxi driver.
Now, that’s different. It transports you to an entirely different place whilst you listen. That’s creative music.
Why professional critics hate formula
Simply put; because they have heard it all. It becomes infinitely more difficult to impress a critic who’s been eating jell-O all their life, with your own mango flavored jell-O. It’s just not ‘wow’. Very likely, s/he spent the entire summer in West Africa anyway and ate a butt load of mangoes. You have to do better than that. You have to slice up that jell-O and line it with some other tangy stuff, dress it up in mixed berries and smother it in cream or something. Even then, s/he might still go “meh”.
But on a more serious note, formula can be extremely tiring. On a major level, it is the reason why some artistes simply do better than others. Sometimes it is the reason we grow tired of an artiste. You may not consciously be listening for formula, but somewhere, on a sub-conscious level, you KNOW you’ve heard that shtick somewhere else…and it makes you want to drop kick puppies just listening to it.
Save the puppies. Listen to creative music.
One kind of formulaic facet I didn’t mention, but also exists, is personal formula. Critics hate that too. Some artistes, when they create their first hit, try too hard to recreate the exact kind of song that hit in the first place. Sometimes, they do that for an album. Often, they do that for their entire (usually short-lived) careers. Dynamic bands like Linkin Park and Coldplay are still around after nearly two decades because, whilst they maintain their unique style, they are not afraid of experimenting and tweaking their sound. Others do not seem to grasp this concept...
You like electronic keyboards and lyrics
that make you sound like you’re high. We get it.
When All is said and done however…
No artiste can completely avoid formula. There is only so much creativity you can put into a song before it begins to sound excessively self-indulgent, and too few people can appreciate it.
Also, I do believe in nailing the formula. It is my belief that you can, in fact, be formulaic on one or all three facets, and hit a song out of the ballpark. Some musicians, especially indie musicians such as Him & Her and Amy Stroup, write amazing songs with simplistic, sometimes formulaic melodies. Others like Kelly Clarkson can release “Breakaway”, which is formulaic on ALL three levels, and still have you loving their tracks.
But even then, I’ve always thought that it’s probably better to be formulaic on only one facet. At most: two. Anything more than two, and you’re treading dangerous ground.
Another track that is begging for a rap voice. You can search for the original version of “Angels” by The xx; it’s a smooth, beautiful track. Today though, I’m craving some hiphop so I heard this remix and thought, gosh, how good would this sound as a rap song.
I'm sorry, but there is something infinitely epic about this song. And not in an obvious way. Just in a sort of: you almost feel high when you're listening to it (which incidentally, is the exact same way you feel when you listen to Toto's "Africa"). I am a sucker for any song that nails its genre type (which is the whole point of "good music" I suppose). The Weight of Us just feels so genuinely folk. Songs like this remind me of why I will never be able to do anything without music. Music = Food
#MellowThursday Okay, so this is my last entry for Mellow Thursday. This is from the pop genre, because I realized I have no pop entry. Also, because @msteeko recommended it, and as usual, she was right on the money. The only downside of this song, in my humble opinion, is that somehow Twilight got its grubby hands on it. Ah well. Great mellow track, nonetheless.
#MelowThursday Next entry comes way south from Jo'burg. It's Crush by Lira. All I can say is: how have I not already heard of this woman? This is the kind of stuff babies are made to. Amazing, soothing vocals. Genuine, believable lyrics. Turn this up and relax, wherever you are. Another great recommendation from @msteeko.
#MelowThursday This entry was recommended by the fabulous @msteeko Beautiful song. Always love it when I can hear the earnestness in an artiste's voice.
Finally, for the rap enthusiasts. Boy have I got a treat for you. "No introduction" by Nas. The background track is amazing (I have always preferred actual instruments to Synthesizers, even in rap). Take your time to soak this in. Yup, this is rap at its finest.
Now for the Rock lovers, Civil Twilight gets us all calm and pensive with "Letters from the Sky." If you feel you've heard it before, that's because it's also from the movie I Am Number Four. I wish I could say all their music was as good as this one song, but alas. Still, no point letting a good song go to waste.
Another entry into #MellowThursday, from the Afro-blues genre, is Fanti Love Song by M3nsa. For those who cannot speak Fanti, the opening lines to the song go like: "The rain is falling, the power is out, the air is cold... Come sit by my side, talk with me, the day draws to an end..." If that doesn't get your romantic urges going, nothing will. Enjoy.
#MellowThursday Now we've got an entry from the Soul genre; "Since I've Been Loving You" by Corinne Bailey Rae. The original was by Led Zeppelin, but I don't need to tell you whose version I prefer (hint: it's the one I'm bothering to feature on this blog).
Corinne's "Since I've Been Loving You" never grows old. At least, not for me. Another artiste I am utterly in love with, and have been for many years now. Enjoy.
#MellowThursday Today, I want to see how many mellow tracks, spanning different genres, that I can feature. The first is "Stay Just a Little" by Kina Grannis, an artiste that I am not ashamed to say puts butterflies in my stomach every time I hear her voice. This is one favorite amongst many favorites from her album Stairwells.
Music is not good because it is catchy. Anybody can achieve that (not to downplay the importance of a good tune).
Music is good when it can connect you so genuinely with the emotions of the artiste, that you feel things you have no business feeling. Music is good when in that moment in time, you feel like an infatuated teenager/gangster/clubber/jilted lover/philosopher/rock star/looter/drunkard/little girl/astronaut/voice of nature/child of God/fire/ice/magic/dancer/baddest villain the world's ever seen.
Music is good when it allows us to fill the shoes of its creator, and visit worlds with them.
izzy806
origamiaround
jacobvanloon
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