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.