Conventions in Pop Music
Conventions in Pop Music
- Clean cut- Appeal to the general audience of music listeners (no clear audience)- Focused more on the production and sound of the music for the radio rather than live
music- Mainstream style- Often used to encourage dancing due to the consistent and catchy rhythm and beats- Usually songs about love/relationships and recently, partying; the songs are about 3-5
minutes long- Pop music usually has a positive vibe - There are links between their music videos and songs- The musicians follow current trends rather than setting their own- Most UK radio stations play pop music- Pop music is usually showcased via the radio or through magazines- Follows the verse-chorus-verse structure and attracts to the audience via memorable
melodies- Over the past 50 years, pop music has evolved from acoustic, and hardly manufactured to
tacky, repetitive, manufactured and energetic today.- Derived from rock and roll music in the 1950’s- this may be why pop songs currently
include a good rock sound.
How Artists Are Presented in Pop
The female artists in the pop industry are presented in a very seductive and sexual way to gain the male gaze. This is done
by the make up and costumes worn by the singers.
Outfits Hair and makeup is often used as a
reflection of the artist’s feelings in the music videos made.
They wear bright colours to reflect on the positive attitude/vibe of the music
They wear stylish and often designer clothes, but they make it seem casual or laid back.
Females: Skimpy clothing, a small amount of accessories, dresses, high heels; or Formal wear such as gowns and high heels and many accessories.
Males: Laidback style- leather jackets/snapbacks/trainers/ varsity jackets/jeans/t-shirts; Smart style- suit/waistcoat/shirt/tie/trousers/formal shoes.
Male pop artists tend to have beards and/or tattoos now to reflect an edgier side.
Female pop artists may have a few tattoos, however they may wear wigs or dye their hair to match a trend or to express their feelings.
The Past & PresentHere is an image of
Britney Spears performing one of her songs live over
10 years ago. In this image she is shown
to be wearing limited makeup, straight hair
in no particular style , flat trainers and a red jumpsuit with only her arms and the sides of her
waist showing.
However after 10 years, both Britney and Beyoncé have become more
sexualised in their music videos, award ceremonies, photo shoots, etc.
In the picture of Britney, she is seen to be surrounded by a group of other girls in her music video in leotards and knee high, high heeled boots, alternatively,
Britney is wearing a two peice suit consisting of a crop top, fish net tights
and knickers.
In the picture of Beyoncé, she is shown to again have a crop top on, knickers and
a pair of strappy high heels. Her hair is sleek and her eyes are sultry.
Both these images differ to the pictures of themselves ten years ago because they have evolved with the music and industry. The industry has made them
wear more sensual outfits to gain a wider male audience through the male’s
gaze.
Also here is an image of Beyoncé at
an awards ceremony also over 10 years ago. She is seen here with long,
sleek and curly hair ,
complemented by little makeup and a
dress .
Videos Stereotypically doing what teens ‘enjoy
doing’, e.g. partying/raving, having sex, messing around.
Female pop artists usually wear skimpy outfits and act seductive way in order to seem ‘sexy’ or ‘attractive’ to the audience.
Compared to ten years ago, the outfits have become a lot more revealing for example, Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”
Largely performance based- they either have a story line that it follows (either with the singer/band or with a completely unknown person) or a dance routine or a mixture of both.
They often include numerous props and a lot of editing for example, in front of green screens (i.e. Rita Ora’s “Radioactive”) or integrated text ie. Cher Lloyd’s “Swagger Jagger”
They usually illustrate the meaning of the song.
Extreme lighting is used to give the feeling of the music video a bright outlook, again promoting the idea of pop music being positive, happy and upbeat.
Moodboard
Moodboard
General KnowledgePop music (an abbreviation of "popular") is a type of music genre
which begun in the 1950’s, evolving from rock and roll.
In general, pop music is a very upbeat and electrical sounding
type of music. They often include elements of dance, urban, rock,
country and Latin. The songs often follow a verse-chorus structure
and are about 3 - 5 minutes long.
The most well known pop artists originate from either the United
Kingdom or America. However in recent years, sub genres of pop
such as K-POP are becoming more known all over the world, for
example, Psy. For British artists to become world known, they
usually have to ‘crack America’.
Many artists have been successful at this. Some of these include
Adele, One Direction, Leona Lewis, the Spice Girls and the
Beatles.
In order for my magazine to be successful I will include people
from the USA and UK.
The target audience for pop music is a general audience as it aims
to reach out to everyone who listens to music. Pop artists do this
by adding different sounding elements to their music, for
example, adding rap artist to feature in their songs or by adding a
dance style beat to apply to the dancers. The psycho-graphic
category would be ‘Aspirers’ and ‘Mainstreamers’; the socio-
economic categories for pop music would be C1,C2,D and E; and
finally the demographic categories would be ‘age’, ‘gender’, ‘social
class’, ‘lifestyle’, ‘religious beliefs’, ‘education’, ‘hobbies and
interests’, ‘disability/ability’ and ‘attitude’.
Social media over the past five or so years has become an
advertising platform for pop artists to share their work to the world.
This can be done using websites such as: Facebook, Twitter,
Soundcloud, Vevo, YouTube and any MTV channel on the TV. The
advertising an be done, for example, by adding an advert before a
YouTube video advertising their new album or new single release
and a store link to iTunes. I could use some of these logos to let the
audience become interested.
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