Take a step back and think of your favorite pop song. Think of the last time you heard that song and what you were doing.
Were you grinding on some college co-ed, jamming out with friends or just studying? Either way, the song made you feel better about life, right?
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me start by telling you to stop judging pop music. It happens to be perfect just the way it is — thank you, Bruno Mars.
Pop music, by definition, is a collection of whatever music is in vogue at a given moment. As a society, we define what is cool and popular. It just so happens that the music topping the charts tends to involve mindless lyrics on a pulsating, slick beat, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.
Let’s look at the current state of the world. With recent natural disasters like the Haiti and Japan earthquakes and the recent uprisings in the Middle East, it’s no wonder that pop music demands less from the listener than before — even if the conflict is a world away.
This generation has more to deal with when it comes to social responsibility. Sometimes we don’t have the time to fully process what we eat, let alone what we listen to — for example, students still pack Taco Bells nationwide even after the mystery meat scare.
We still eat unhealthy things, even though we know they are bad for us, just because they are more accessible. We, as a nation, tend to frequent places that are easy and familiar, even when it comes to music.
In our society, we appreciate instant gratification, a society where we do not have to understand the banal words that pump out the speakers. For example, international pop artist Pitbull raps about how he knows girls want him in his hit single “I Know You Want Me.”
If we had fully analyzed the lyrics blaring at the bar, it would reconfirm how ridiculous some of these songs really are.
The fact is, no matter how ridiculous they are, modern-day American citizens will eat them up.
Previous generations have all embraced the power music holds over their daily activities.
Think about the shallowness of disco during the ’70s. In the shadow of the Cold War and part of the Vietnam War, America and the rest of the world wanted something light, easy and fun to take their minds off reality. With dance-friendly beats and lyrics about more trivial matters, the disco music scene saved people from their own lives.
From this era arose songs like KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Shake Your Booty,” Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music,” ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” People in the mid- to late-’70s loved this music because it was an escape from their troubled reality.
It is during times of worldwide unrest that pop music turns to its senseless counterparts to make the general public feel better.
Think about last year’s end-of-the-year chart: the majority of the songs in the Top 20 were about forgetting your problems and having a good time.
Songs like Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK,” Usher’s “OMG,” Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” and Enrique Iglesias’ “I Like It” dominated the airwaves last year, and they all have one thing in common: appreciating fun and enjoying their comrades in party.
This message was what the world tried to live up to despite the looming devastation of more natural disasters and war. It gave people something with which to distract themselves instead of being depressed by all the destruction in the world.
Either way, pop music helps people escape from the craziness of their lives, if only for three minutes and 30 seconds.
 
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Contact Kittu Pannu at [email protected]