Listening to music is a common escape from the present. Especially during the times of isolation, where people are confined to the same environment for long periods of time. Music takes us to different places in time and helps us take our minds away from the stressful present. One common theme between playlists across the world is music from their younger times - the element of nostalgia is strong. We are, after all, creatures of emotion.
Even millenials and Gen-Z (the youth and young adults, in simpler terms) gravitate to older tunes that hint at this nostalgic feeling. Pop music is a strong evidence for this - where one can see the return of groovy basslines, funky tunes and a resurrection of the synth. Since pop music is motivated by commercial reasons more than artistic ones, it can stand as an argument supporting this. YouTube has also seen an exponential rise in Lo-Fi (Low fidelity) music and radio - where chill beats meet 90s anime aesthetics, to evoke peacefulness to the listener. The most popular example is the lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to, a continuous stream of music that runs in the background for those who love listening and working/studying.
What does LoFi mean?
Low Fidelity refers to the audible imperfections in the recording of a track. It is sometimes intentional and is a sought-after aesthetic choice. The imperfections are usually the sounds of pops, cracks and fizzles that happen when listening to music on vinyl. The beginning of following video shows the sound of a recorded vinyl track (headphones recommended).
The crackling sound, accompanied with a slight noise happens with vinyl tracks due to its manufacturing process. It is impossible to get a vinyl pressed without any physical imperfections. That is the cause of the imperfections in its sound. Borrowing from Wabi-Sabi, the imperfections in the physical and auditory realm only adds to the beauty and timeless nature of the vinyl medium.
YouTube has many of these lofi tracks, and often feature interesting remixes/versions of popular tracks. One of my favourites is the slowed & reverb version of 505 by the British Indie Rock band - Arctic Monkeys.
Role of the Music Industry
The role of pop music gravitates towards mass appeal. This would require an understanding of the listener's demographics and mindset that gets them to listen to music. Most listeners of mainstream pop, being youth, are inclined towards mental health awareness, non-violence, compassion and climate change. There is a lot of suffering in the world, and the information age only spreads it around easier than before. This has left much of the youth stressed and worried about the future. The escape they look for must speak the values of peace, celebration and carefree joy. The answer is found in the jolly-good tunes of the 80s - the era of the disco and funky numbers.
Artists like Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Dua Lipa and Calvin Harris have brought the sounds of the past era back to the present. A montage of pop music inspired by 80's synth-pop is shown below -
What defines the 80s sound?
The synth-pop and dance-pop of the 80s is reminiscent of three important qualities - groovy bass, synth instrumentation and reverb drums (in my opinion).
Groovy Basslines
Like i had mentioned in an earlier post of mine, the bass is the primary anchor of the song. It helps bridge the musical notes to the drums. The bass is repsonsible for us to bob our heads or move our bodies to the song that's playing. For the disco era, what's more important than getting people to dance?
A good example of an 80s-inspired pop bassline is Dua Lipa's Don't Start Now
Synth
The synthesizer is an electronic instrument that generate sounds through electric signals. Just like a keyboard, It has keys that play a note when pressed. It has additional features that can process the sound that is played to give additional effects and emulate other instruments. In simpler terms, its a keyboard that can mimic other instruments and produce interesting effects to the played notes.
Synthesizers were commericially produced and sold in the beginning of the 1980s and were really successful. The processed sounds were a contrast to the "warm" and "realistic" analog instruments. A universally successful standard for synchronising instruments (MIDI) also picked up in the 80s and complemented the adoption of synthesizers. This is the reason for the rise in its popularity.
The Weeknd's Blinding Lights feature a prominent synth line
This synth line is heavily inspired by a popular song by ah-a -Take on Me
Gated Reverb Drums
Gated Reverb is a music processing effect from the 80s where the drums are made to sound loud and punchy, with a poweful boom. Typical reverb effects make the sound echo like its inside a room, where one can hear multiple echoes. Gated reverb is special where the echoes after the first reverb is removed - making it sound grand. Vox covers the origin of this effect, which was accidentally discovered, in this video.
Phil Collins demonstrates the grandeur of this effect in In the Air Tonight
The drums echo and immediately cut off, creating the large audioscape.
In modern pop music, an example would be Midnight City by the band M83
I am absolutely in love with this aesthetic that has infiltrated mainstream pop. In fact the aesthetic of the 80s has also spread into fashion, where it is common to see men dressed in shirts with floral prints for a nice evening. A bridge between the old and new is always an interesting space. Will we go further back and emulate something almost forgotten from the past? Let's see...
Skandha
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