BY Mariella O’CURNEEN. EEB4. S6ENB
Every few weeks 13Stars will do a survey on a certain topic, as a way to get its readers involved in the content of the newspaper. A few weeks ago, the 13stars Instagram page asked its followers what type of music they like listening to. As expected, the answers varied widely: from Hip Hop, through Indie, R&B and many more… but there were three genres of music that were particularly popular with the voters, namely Pop, Rock and Rap. Pop and Rock tied for most popular with 23,5% each and coming in second place – Rap with 18% of the surveyed saying this genre was the one they listened to most.
Although Rock is the oldest of the three, it is still widely listened to. Many say that rock music has a deeper connection with its audience than most other music genres, because no two songs are the same. Each artist brings in new sounds and unique ideas, giving each one of their songs something that the previous one doesn’t have. This means that people will always be able to find songs that they enjoy listening to, no matter how different their music tastes are.
Unlike Rock, Pop songs are known for using the same sounds. This is actually a common marketing technique, used to guarantee that newly released songs will be liked. The idea behind it is, if you hear the same sounds often enough, you will become familiarised with them, hence becoming more likely to appreciate the new song, containing these very sounds you have heard before. Ultimately, beside being easy and pleasant to listen to, Pop songs are in fact the result of a very clever and successful strategy, exploiting the listener’s susceptibility to familiar musical patterns.
Lastly, it can’t be denied that Rap has a lot of prejudice against it because of the shocking topics discussed and strong language used (in some songs). Yet, there are plenty of people claiming this to be an extreme over-generalisation. There are many rappers who use their music to raise awareness of the issues they face. Furthermore, many see this music genre as a way for the artists to create a safe space for their listeners. Unlike Pop music, which predominantly depends on its melody, Rap music relies on its lyrics to appeal to its target audience. People tend to listen to Rap because of the effect the lyrics have on them, ultimately making this genre so popular.
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