EVOLUTION OF POP MUSIC

Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid 1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many disparate styles. Songs that become hits almost always share certain features that are sometimes called the pop-music formula. They have a good rhythm, a catchy melody, and are easy to remember and sing along to. Pop songs are louder than others even if played on the same volume because their volume is amplified when they are recorded to make them louder. The reason for this is to get the attention of people more easily and quickly as it sounds catchier to the listeners. Pop music may include elements of rock, hip-hop, reggae, dance, R & B, jazz, electronic, and sometimes folk music and various other styles. The broad appeal of pop music is seen to distinguish it from more specific types of popular music, and pop music performances and recordings are among the best- selling and most widely known in many regions of the world. 1950s It began in the age of rock n roll. In the '50s, the music of the previous decades- including swing music and crooning vocals was being replaced. Artists like Johnnie Ray, Frankie Laine, and Guy Mitchell were of this decade. This decade was one of celebration for Elvis Presley, who came around in 1953, and whose songs, like "Hound Dog" were some of the most loved of the time. 1960s Pop music in the 1960s was a time of creativity and innovation and many new styles of popular music developed in the aftermath of rock n roll. Many British pop groups in the 1960s were heavily influenced by American blues and R & B. These included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Beatles helped to reshape Western pop music and were the most successful band ever. Every album was a huge hit from the early material on Please Please Me (1963) to the hugely innovative Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Bob Dylan was also a successful solo artist of the decade. 1970s In the 70s there came the subgenre of power pop, a mix of punk rock and pop, defined by bands like The Romantics, and Cheap Trick. Suddenly the hooks and melodies of pop were intertwining with the twang and drawl of country music. This was the beginning of the era of the Jackson 5, Elton John, and Queen. 1980s Digital recording became huge in the 80s, and the possibilities it offered allowed pop music to grow even more. Suddenly, synthesizers and electronic sounds could be put into pop music, and as this kind of dance pop developed, so did genres like techno. The artists who emerged in these years were revolutionary for pop. Micheal Jackson's Thriller is still the best selling album of all time. Jackson was becoming the biggest pop star of the decade, followed closely by Prince, who had his own pop stardom to claim. Female pop powerhouses were also coming into play like Whitney Houston and Madonna. The latter became the most successful female artist of the decade. The '80s was creating a pop music culture like no other decade had before it, a culture that would carry through in the decades to come. 1990s While the '90s saw pop continuing much as it had been in the past, what it introduced to the genre was girl groups. The decade saw the British girl group, The Spice Girls, emerge into the American market and become the most commercially successful British group in North America since the Beatles. The next ten years saw teen pop groups and singers pop up all over the charts, including the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. 2000s By the 2000s, pop was a genre with endless roads for artists to travel down, each with its own flair and twist to the classic traditions of pop music. Teen pop continued to be an extremely popular genre in the early 2000s with the success of teenage pop singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Boy Bands maintained their popularity during the beginning of the decade but their popularity also faded, with the exception of Backstreet Boys, who continued their popularity post-2005. Other artists which emerged during this decade were Justin Timberlake, Kylie Minogue, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and many more. 2010s- 2020s Teen pop had made a significant comeback throughout the decade, with the likes of Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Like their predecessors, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake, who rose to fame in the late 90s and early 2000s, most of these stars were exclusively associated with Disney Channel and Nickelodeon at the genesis of careers. Since 2011, boy bands and girl groups have returned to mainstream popularity for the first time after the early 2000s, with the most popular examples being British-Irish boy band One Direction and American boy band Big Time Rush. A new generation of successful girl groups was ushered in by acts such as Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. In addition to this, K-Pop groups, benefitting from high visibility on Social Media and Video sharing sites like YouTube, began to capitalize on their viral power and monetize netizen fan bases overseas conducting sell out tours in western markets during the mid-2010s. Korean acts such as BIGBANG, EXO, and BTS sold out US tours with little to no promotion or support from mainstream media sources like TV & Radio Airplay. In Latin America, Latin pop had remained the main subgenre. Tropical, reggaeton, moombahton, soca have also been popular genres while pop rock continues to be successful. In December 2016, Billboard magazine named Enrique Iglesias the 14th most successful and top male dance club artist of all time. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee becomes the highest-certified song of all-time in the United States after receiving a 13× platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for units of over 13 million sales plus track-equivalent streams. Artists like Ed Sheeran, Adele, Ellie Goulding, Sam Smith, Jessie J, and Emeli Sandé from the U.K. started to become highly successful and gained popularity from crossover hits in the U.S.. Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" , "Perfect" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You", and "Set Fire to the Rain" all reached the No.1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 in this decade. Prerona Baruah Ist Semester