R&B and Pop fell into the cloud, and now it's raining house tracks.
You can see the generational divide forming as each new track descends from the heavens. On one side, tThose who loved Beyonce and Usher in their former incarnations as the purveyors of a more robust, Hip-Hop influenced R&B sound, and those of Generation Now (A generation in mind, not age), who wonder why it took so long to marry these genre's together.
The uptempo chartbusters seem so seamless and integral now; so why did it take so long to get her? R&B's inability to step too far away from the streets is a likely cause, as was the pop cash-cow, playing it safe for guaranteed album sales. It took house producers remixing their favourite pop and r&b tracks to convince these artists (and their record companies) that splicing genre's was a good thing.
Lets take a look at who are the top (dance) pop/r&b producers of today.
1. Dr Luke (Katy Perry's Teenage Dream)
2. Max Martin (Usher's DJ got us fallin in love)
3. Stargate (Rihanna's Only Girl in the world)
4. Benny Blanco (Ke$ha's We R who we R)
5. JR Rotem (Jason Derulo's Ridin' Solo)
Now, lets look at what these guys were doing 5 years ago
1. Dr Luke (Kelly Clarkson - Since you've been gone)
2. Max Martin (Kelly Clarkson - Since you've been gone)
3. Stargate (Ne-Yo - So Sick )
4. Benny Blanco (Spank Rock - Bangers & Cash)
5. JR Rotem (Rihanna - S.O.S.)
So we've gone from defiantly Hip-Hop, Pop or R&B tracks, and injected them with a euro-dance sensibility. Why now? I'm sure when Dr Luke and Max Martin were crafting perfecto-rock for Kelly Clarkson, they were also wondering why dance diva's weren't also successful?
A lot has happened to music in general in the last 10 years. The Berlin wall of record company compartmentalization has collapsed, and musical looters have run riot on the internet creating hybrids of hybrids of hybrids. It all began when a DJ under the moniker of Freelance Hellraiser dropped A Stroke of Genius, mashing the Strokes garage guitar sound against the winsome vocals of Christina Aguilera. It worked.
So when Belgian duo Two Many DJ's released As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2 in 2002, they mixed a slice of Bobby Orlando in with Felix Da Housecat's house classic 'Silver Screen Shower Scene', and a classic compilation was born. The mash-up era had begun, and although it was still in its infancy, it's modus operandi had been set in stone: There were no rules.
With the prevalence of mash-ups and the maverick attitude of 'If it feels good do it', up-and-coming DJ's and producers felt more comfortable mixing genres, just to see what happened. By 1994, Daft Punk was rocking out before their time on Human After All, LCD Soundsystem was beginning making the rock kids dance, and Robyn showed that pop ingenue's can have some balls too.
In terms of the US at least, this is where Will.I.Am comes in. The erstwhile Black Eyed Pea and uber-producer spent downtime whilst the Pea's were on hiatus, checking out the dance clubs of the world, from Ibiza to Sydney. Convinced that he could infuse his Hip-Hop joints with dance sensibility and still retain a sense of sincerity and honesty in the music, Will set about re-defining urban music in his Auto-tuned image. The result was 'The End', a record that, if we're honest, is not sincere or integral, but did achieve its aim. It got the dance-floors moving.
The success of Black Eyed Pea's opened the door for European pop producers to indulge the dance-floor and raid the pop charts with House, Techno and Electro. Americans such as JR Rotem and the Euro-trained Dr Luke followed, and the next thing you know, the pop charts are chock-full of dance influenced tracks.
As with any musical trend, it's bound to fade out at some stage, with the cyclical nature of popular music dictating that another hot new sound will take its place. It won't disappear though, good music never does, and those dedicated to making the honest and sincere pop and r&b records with dance music as a major influence will continue to flourish on the fringes of the pop community, long after the chart success is gone. This is no more evident than in the micro trend capital of the world - England.
Bass music's resident diva-in-waiting Katy B's new album was released this week, and I popped it on the i-phone, and I heard the sounds of something more than just chart-topping elevator music. In each track there were possibilities for pop and r&b's future, and it was all borne out of the ashes of Garage and Grime, Dubstep and UK Funky. It was vital and real, something urban british music achieves time and again, to little fanfare.
Another unique release this week was The Weekend's debut album House of Balloons. Building on a sound that Drake has shoe-horned into the charts in the last year, The Weekend offer a dirty detour from the perfectionist pop of Katy P and co, with woozy, drugged-out basslines supporting lyrics that would be lecherously unbearable if they weren't so intriguing and sung in a way that would make both The-Dream and Jodeci golf clap with respect.
Will the minute movements of these two newcomers become the sound of an recovering industry, or will they remain the other sound?
US chart music has moved through Britney's tween tones, Timbalands skittery soundscapes and Beibers Baby, but how much has it really evolved? Are uptempo R&B and pop beats a sign of a revolution or a temporary diversion?
Reviews of The Weekend and Katy B are coming soon...
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