It's a game of covering bases now to maximize tv and radio coverage and to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. And it's working.

 

I think this sums it up perfectly really. If you combine as many genres as possible into a song, fans of all the types of music will like the song, so it will sell more, and hence get played more on the radio, etc.

 

I do love many of the songs that have come from this though.

 

RITD is blues more than anything else and SLY is a ballad. Simple.

 

Ballad isn't actually a genre though.

Edited May 3, 201114 yr by Eric_Blob

Also on wikipedia:

 

In My Head by Jason Derulo

Once by Diana Vickers

Written in the Stars by Tinie Tempah

This Ain't a Love Song by Scouting For Girls

 

These four are all classified as pop rock (except the latter which is classified as indie rock).

 

If you go by wikipedia's genres, there were 4 rock influenced #1s last year.

 

Actually 5, since it classified When We Collide as pop rock too.

I'd say WITS is rap, just because it has guitars and a rocky chorus doesn't make it rock. Same with DeRulo, though he's R&B/pop instead of rap :lol: Once is just pop imo (ironic really as I said I don't like to use pop as a genre without mixing it first :P) I'd easily Matt Cardle is pop/rock though, like McFly/Busted/Pink/Kelly Clarkson.

RITD is blues more than anything else and SLY is a ballad. Simple.

Apologies for being pedantic but is ballad a genre? I'd say it's a type of song myself. Blues is a good catergory for RITD to fall into, in my genre playlists I do put Adele in R&B, Soul etc. (as Blues would be part of the etc.)

Ballad isn't actually a genre though.

 

 

SLY is hardly a new type of song so it can't be that hard to pigeon-hole it.

Edited May 3, 201114 yr by tonyttt31

Apologies for being pedantic but is ballad a genre? I'd say it's a type of song myself. Blues is a good catergory for RITD to fall into, in my genre playlists I do put Adele in R&B, Soul etc. (as Blues would be part of the etc.)

 

 

No need for an apology, thanks anyway.

 

As I said in the previous post - we've had these stark, emotional ballads hundreds of times in the charts down through the years so it can't be that hard to find a genre for it.

SLY is hardly a new type of song so it can't be that hard to pigeon-hole it.

 

It can't belong to the genre "ballad" though, because ballad isn't a genre.

 

I would've said it's a pop song, personally.

It can't belong to the genre "ballad" though, because ballad isn't a genre.

 

I agree.

 

I was agreeing in my post - that may have been unclear.

 

I agree.

 

I was agreeing in my post - that may have been unclear.

 

Oh, sorry. :lol:

 

I would say pop, although I was just thinking that Empire State of Mind was considered RnB by most people, and the songs are basically the same, so I'm not so sure now. :lol:

 

Someone Like You does actually get played on urban radio stations though.

 

Like here, they played it inbetween Cee-Lo/Wiz Khalifa and Man Down by Rihanna on Radio 1Xtra. :lol: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010fqxt

 

And I heard them play Hometown Glory they other day on there, so they consider Adele to be urban anyway.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010q06p Here's the Hometown Glory one which I heard. They also played Who You Are by Jessie J, a song which some might not consider urban.

Edited May 3, 201114 yr by Eric_Blob

Oh, sorry. :lol:

 

I would say pop, although I was just thinking that Empire State of Mind was considered RnB by most people, and the songs are basically the same, so I'm not so sure now. :lol:

 

Someone Like You does actually get played on urban radio stations though.

 

 

how are they basically the same? I assume you are ignoring lyrical content.

 

But you do highlight a common problem when assigning a genre to a song. For example, Frozen from Madonna was rarely classed as trip-hop or ambient or chill-out - nearly always pop. Likewise Ray of Light was a heavier dance song than much of the so-called trance that came out in a few years later in 2002 but it too was classed as pop.

 

People focus far too much on the artist when assigning genre and not to the style of the song.

 

So, Adele has been a retro soul artist - or has been lumped in with Duffy and Winehouse at times, and yet SLY is more in keeping with Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O'Conner - which Wikipedia says is Alternative rock, pop rock????? Which patently is madness.

Edited May 3, 201114 yr by tonyttt31

how are they basically the same? I assume you are ignoring lyrical content.

 

But you do highlight a common problem when assigning a genre to a song. For example, Frozen from Madonna was rarely classed as trip-hop or ambient or chill-out - nearly always pop. Likewise Ray of Light was a heavier dance song than much of the so-called trance that came out in a few years later in 2002 but it too was classed as pop.

 

People focus far too much on the artist when assigning genre and not to the style of the song.

 

So, Adele has been a retro soul artists - or has been lumped in with Duffy and Winehouse at times, and yet SLY is more in keeping with Nothing Compares to You by Sinead O'Conner - which Wikipedia says is Alternative rock, pop rock????? Which patently madness.

 

Yeah, by saying "basically the same", I am ignoring lyrical content (as I often do with non hip hop songs tbh). :lol:

 

I agree about the artist thing. The same happens to urban artists too. Artists such as Rihanna and Chris Brown put out almost completely non-urban songs like S&M and Yeah 3x, and they still get considered RnB by lots of people, and even included in RnB charts, and played on urban radio, etc. which I'm sure wouldn't happen if it wasn't for the artists themselves.

 

Adele being played on Radio 1Xtra isn't a bad thing, and doesn't mean she doesn't have rock influences. Lets be honest, she does seem quite out of place in amongst all the Tinie Tempah, Lil Wayne, N-Dubz, etc. that they play, but they consider her urban for whatever reason. I think Adele has been nominated for Black Music awards and stuff like that too.

 

As a side note, not that this is anything to do with anything, but Nothing Compares to You is :puke: imo. Someone Like You is much better than that (as are most songs I've heard since it).

As a side note, not that this is anything to do with anything, but Nothing Compares to You is :puke: imo. Someone Like You is much better than that (as are most songs I've heard since it).

 

 

well, I'm no huge fan either - I was trying to find a comparable song.

IMO, no. The number 1's this year have been better than the number 1's of the past three years combined IMO.

well, I'm no huge fan either - I was trying to find a comparable song.

 

Yeah, I can see why they're similar.

 

IMO, no. The number 1's this year have been better than the number 1's of the past three years combined IMO.

 

Well, it's just opinion I guess, but I think this year's #1s have been poor to the past three years (2008-2010). The only one I full-on love from 2011 is What's My Name?

 

2011 is good for having not many #1s that I loathe with a passion. There's only one (Grenade), but at the same time, nothing this year has even come close to songs like Airplanes, Meet Me Halfway and Live Your Life (I know Live Your Life wasn't a #1, but it got blocked there by an X Factor charity single, and broke the record for the highest first week downloads in the US, to I'll pretend it is :kink:).

 

2010 actually had loads of #1s I hated, looking back. Replay (generic and boring), In My Head (generic and boring), Bad Romance (generic and boring), This Ain't a Love Song (generic and boring), All Time Low (generic and boring), Beautiful Monster (generic and boring), Forget You (generic and boring), Just the Way You Are (generic and boring), Love You More (generic and boring), Please Don't Let Me Go (generic and boring), okay, I'm getting very carried away here! :lol:

Edited May 3, 201114 yr by Eric_Blob

its true, there's a lack of variety in the charts atm, mainly because it mainly consists of club friendly hip hop, rap and dance combinations, there are a few exceptions but generally the lack of many forms of indie or rock is the cause of this- and whilst I hate moaning about this sort of thing, the charts seem totally americanised these days

 

the thing is I do genuinely believe that if a truly great rock/indie song comes out, or at least something a little bit different from the norm- it can do well, you've got examples from Kasabian, Muse and Brandon Flowers from recent years- its a shame, but most if not all of the rock material released recently has been rather sub-standard and a pale shade on the acts past work, a sub-standard generic urban song would still be relatively popular, but if its rock, people just aren't interested :(

 

I totally agree with this. Strokes & Arctic Monkeys, I'm looking at you. <_<

If you don't like what's currently in the chart, listen to something else. There's plenty more music out there.

 

That's exactly what I do, since I have little choice. :rolleyes:

 

BTW, before anyone says this I'm NOT a troll , just explaining my unpopular opinion. :drama:

 

You're preaching to the choir here. :P

 

Yes, but the indie songs went Top 20. The indie songs right now (bar Noah & The Whale) don't get near Top 30!

 

Err, you do realise that Adele technically counts as indie, since she's on an indie label? :)

Example, Alexa Goddard and Dizzee Rascal are also on indie labels I believe. (This is based of one time when I looked at the Indie chart, so I might be wrong here).

Find out who really download songs and you have the answer for pretty much everything

 

20 % are teens who probably follow only what's cool atm.

 

Older people with 'deeper knowledge' and more variety in their taste might download older songs and albums as well, and thus not participate that much in buying songs in Top 40.

 

Edited May 4, 201114 yr by SKOB

Find out who really download songs and you have the answer for pretty much everything

 

20 % are teens who probably follow only what's cool atm.

 

Older people with 'deeper knowledge' and more variety in their taste might download older songs and albums as well, and thus not participate that much in buying songs in Top 40.

 

Also, digital outlets have different customers: Amazon has more men vs. iTunes and people buying from there are also older. There has been researches about this.

 

I assume you didn't mean to sound so patronizing! :blink:

I assume you didn't mean to sound so patronizing! :blink:

 

Well let's say they follow the world around them and buy individual song very easily.

Well let's say they follow the world around them and buy individual song very easily.

 

Yeah, you know, with all that money they have!!