what is hot well the conventional wisdom
tells us that is just whatever is
popular as a younger man I would smugly
say huh you know pop is just short for
popular so if something enters the
mainstream it's automatically pop but
I've been thinking a lot more about this
lately and I think I disagree with my
younger self as I often do usually the
word pop describes not only art but
culture more specifically the practices
and beliefs of society and the people
and objects dominance in that society
pop culture refers to categories such as
music film and other mediums of video
video games sports politicians
technology fashion and even slang the
dictionary defines pop culture as quote
modern popular culture transmitted via
the mass media and aimed particularly at
younger people oh my gosh popular
culture is in the definition of pop
culture nice oh here's another one
quote cultural activities or commercial
products reflecting suited to or aimed
at the tastes of the general masses of
people well younger people are often the
ones driving the masses of people since
they are more open to new things and
advertisers know they'll often hold on
to those things for the rest of their
lives so according to both definitions I
shared with you about what pop culture
is the purpose of the creation is a part
of the definition that needs to be
emphasized to better understand this
let's take music as an example when
music journalists first distinguished
hop from rock in the 1960s they
classified it as music designed to
appeal to everyone as opposed to rock
which aspire to be authentic and
creative pushing the boundaries of music
but today some of the most innovative
music is classified to some degree as
pop take Animal Collective who are even
often classified as quote experimental
pop so let's break this down say you
have a musician often a musician doesn't
set out to make quote pop music they
make music and if they are so fortunate
it enters the mainstream and then
becomes pop music when the English new
wave bands Japan released the song
ghosts they were probably the most
surprised that it was such a big hit it
is a ridiculously unconventional song
everything about it is not what you
would typically hear in a pop hit and
yet it was popular it was technically
pop then you have another type of a
musician one who specifically is trying
to make a song they know the most people
will like so what do most people like in
a song they like a song with a steady
rhythm a repetitive chord or note
progression that fits that rhythm like a
glove a memorable melody that is easy to
sing along to a predictable verse chorus
bridge structure with the verse building
up to a strong chorus and that chorus
better repeats at least two to three
times in the song more often than not
this musician loves all of those
elements in a song so it doesn't feel
forced at all but occasionally you do
get a team of songwriters who might as
well be a machine because they are
pumping out a formula that is a much
safer bet to be commercially successful
Spotify adds at least 20,000 songs each
day and has more than 30 million songs
in its entire catalog I would argue the
vast majority of these songs are wannabe
pop songs yep the musicians that make
them strive to give them a steady rhythm
a repetitive chord or note progression
that fits that rhythm like a glove a
memorable melody that is easy to sing
along to a predictable verse chorus
bridge structure with the verse building
up to a strong chorus and that chorus
better repeat at least two to three
times in the song but only a fraction of
those 20,000 songs released every day
are actually classified quote pop and
even of those classified as pop an even
smaller fraction will enter the
mainstream culture which brings us to an
interesting development there
are many many subgenres of pop there's
the aforementioned experimental pop pop
rock power pop synth pop electro pop
noise pop teen pop j-pop kpop chamber
pop indie pop that's a weird one I would
say there are 50 different definitions
of what indie pop actually is but anyway
yeah that's just the tip of the iceberg
there are lots of pops lots of pop
subgenres so as a whole pop just means
stuff that lots of people just so
happened to already like it doesn't mean
it can't push the boundaries of Arts and
Culture but it does mean that it tends
to be a safer bet to be accepted by the
mainstream even when the mainstream
ignores it it can still be pop I have a
feeling I might still be confusing you
let's see how about this if you're still
having a hard time understanding what
pop is it's whatever your 14 year old
cousin likes or would like
[Music]
thanks for watching this video I have a
couple other videos in this style so if
you like this video check those two outs
also I am planning on some more
histories of musical acts and films this
summer and I always love to read your
suggestions and finally if you for some
reason don't know about my other channel
mr. beat check that out as well if
you're so inclined although it's not
really pop