Taylor Lorenz’s Power User Why Every Hit Pop Song Sounds the Same Now
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Nov 5, 2025 Chris Dalla Riva, a music journalist and data analyst, dives into the evolution of pop music and its cultural reflections. He reveals surprising trends, such as the dominance of teenage tragedy songs in the late 1950s. Discussing shifts from professional songwriters to artist-driven compositions, he highlights how technology and media reshaped music consumption. Dalla Riva also discusses TikTok's influence on anonymity in pop stardom and the potential future of AI in music production, alongside a quirky fact about a hit song penned by a U.S. vice president.
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Teenage Tragedy Trend Explained
- The late 1950s Hot 100 featured a subgenre of melodramatic teenage tragedy songs about death.
- Chris Dalla Riva links this trend to folk traditions, recent world trauma, and the newly defined teenage demographic.
The Beatles Shifted Authorship Norms
- The 1960s shifted pop toward artists writing and performing their own material, popularized by The Beatles.
- Dalla Riva argues this created the modern expectation that authenticity equals songwriting credit.
Technology Shapes Song Form And Sound
- Technological limits shaped song form and performance styles, like the three-minute single and microphone-enabled soft vocals.
- Dalla Riva shows formats and timbres changed as recording and playback tech improved.
