Last October, Billboard noted there were no rap or hip-hop songs in the top 40. The last time that had occurred was 1990. Now, I admit that I was wrong about rap. I predicted it would die a quick death, mainly because by its very nature (lacking melodies) it could not make the transition to “elevator music,” or muzak that was becoming increasingly ubiquitous.
Well, rap fooled me. It hung on for another two decades, in large part because white youts decided it was essential to proving their hipness. Other than some clever lyrics in rap such as “Baby’s Got Back,” or songs that—-more recently—-actually do have melodies not only supporting the rap but often taking an equal place in the song, rap has no way to make the jump beyond a crowded dance floor. It’s not something you put on in the background at a party where the main activity is anything but dancing or sex.
Spotify similarly showed no notable titles on its top 50.
Others have observed that classical music is making a comeback. A number of rising stars are finding more than enough work. Even good old Grok says “industry data shows younger audiences increasingly turning to orchestral and cinematic classical arrangements.”
Far more dominant are soft-chick tracks featuring Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae, Dua Lipa, and of course Taylor Swift. There is also the perpetually-depressed Billie Eilish and the foul-mouthed Olivia Rodrigo. For men, there are male growlers such as Teddy Swims or Jelly Roll. We have also seen a revival of a more “country” sound, though the traditional C&W crowd would probably throw up in their mouths if you described some of these as “country,” but . . . Certainly no one has been more successful at this than Morgan Whalen.
Pandora’s “Today’s Hits” are swamped with the Mournful Males such as Lewis Capaldi, James Arthur, and Dean Lewis. Look, no question these guys can give you a lump in your throat. But they seem imprisoned by that angst. Ed Sheeran managed to break out of that and along Charlie Puth, Shawn Mendes, Myles Smith, the Jonas Brothers, who are always good for a quippy tune, and of course Justin Bieber, navigated those waters to a less melancholy medium. Then you have a number of more upbeat male singers who succeed without rap—-the Weeknd and Post Malone come to mind.
I think several things about modern music are simultaneously true. First, for more than a decade, the push by music labels to cross over for greater sales led to the blending of more typical “pop” acts teaming up with a rapper for the bridge or what used to be the solo. For 40 years, almost every rock and roll song featured a break with a guitar, keyboard, or saxophone solo. Those have been replaced by hip-hoppers. Not all were bad. I recall one from the 1990s called “Mr. Vain” that was a good mixture of the two genres. Second, the digital revolution has very clearly damaged music. It’s not just the old-timer analog guys who say this, but newer industry pros. In some ways, those new execs are like some the antebellum plantation slave owners, realizing they were sitting on a decaying and collapsing institution while seemingly unable to break free to a different model.
For the uninitiated, digital converts all music into digital code. This permits essentially “perfect” tracks in that even the smallest missed note or rim shot can be replaced digitally. But of course, that’s the point. Bands used to gather in a studio and play live. Hey kids, remember the Beatles? There were inevitably mistakes. (You can hear the Beatles occasionally sign different lyrics in the same harmony—-but the producers left them in just the same). What was lost in note perfection was more than offset by in-studio energy.
Digital also brought with its oppressive sameness a much narrower compendium of signals, meaning that almost every song has the same “boost” and “hotness.” If you have an iPod and are over 30, you probably noticed that when some of your older songs come on, you have to turn the volume up. Modern music is mixed much hotter, but also in a far narrower audio range. Hence, the songs have the same sound, regardless of whether it’s Cold Play, Chainsmokers, Imagine Dragons, Ella Langley, or Arianna Grande.
Until the docking ports for iPods or satellite-delivered music, the industry often made music with an ear toward the car radio (which is nearly non-existent now). Those of us who have recorded in nice studios are nearly universally blown away when we first hear the big sound coming on playback over the big speakers. But the talented engineer would always so, “OK, let’s now play it over car speakers.” The difference was shocking and always required tweaking the music.
Last, while much of the modern music is—-as music has always been—-about love, an increasing number of songs (shockingly so, I think), deal with retrospection and even death. Ed Sheeran sang of the “Castle on the Hill” where he remembered his youth. He was 26 when he wrote that. Or how about “Death Bed” by Powfu? It is sung from the perspective of a boy who is on his, well, death bed. Wiz Khalifa’s “Long Time” croons about old friends who haven’t seen each other, again, as though Wiz was 80 years old. Sheeran’s “Supermarket Flowers’ discuss a son clearing out his mother’s room after she died. Capaldi’s “Before You Go” agonizes over a suicide, and whether he could have done more. I’m not saying these songs are disproportionately dominating the charts, but it says something that so many young artists are focused on death. Needless to say, take a Wellbutin before listening to any Billie Eilish album.
Until we have more raw numbers on any new surge in musical tastes for classical music, it remains murky as to where new musical tastes are going, but it does appear that hip hop has had its day.
Thank God.
.Larry Schweikart (@CyberneticsLS on Truth, @LarryWild2028 on X)
Rock drummer, Film maker,NYTimes #1 bestselling author
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