What makes a song "generic"?

[JSparksFan]

What? "Price Tag" sounds like "Party In The USA", nothing like "Irreplaceable".

It's "Hate That I Love You", "With You", "Lifeguard", "Come Back To Me", "Bye Bye", "Take A Bow", "Stronger", "Grown Woman" and basically the whole Jordin Sparks discography along with countless others which used the "Irreplaceable" formula.

"Tattoo", yes, but not her entire discography.

I was just messing around, although you can add "One Step At A Time" to that list too.

Sorry, my inner stan is uncontrollable at times. But if we must get nitpicky, let's not forget Bey's "borrowed choreography" for the "Countdown" video.

My inner stan has to make an appearance to say that Beyoncé and the music video's director made no secret that they were inspired De Keersmaeker. Plus that's not generic as it's not as if loads of people were inspired by that choreographer's video. ;) [/stanmode]

Okay, inner stan truce?

[urbanmusik]

Okay, inner stan truce?

You got it!

^ Female?!

Firework
Who You Are
F**kin' Perfect
Born This Way
What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)
We R Who We R
Mean

Those are all self-empowering songs, and are not gender specific.

I think he means all the songs are by females?

Self empowerment songs were great when "Firework" and "Who You Are" brought them back into popularity. Then P!nk came and ruined it all by making things too soppy and everyone jumped on the bandwagon.

"What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)" got it right by not being preachy and samey lyrically however.

[swiftie13]

Oh and "generic" according to JSparksFan is my favourite word by the way

[NothingFails]

I think generic is usually when you can tell an artists' heart is not in the song, either if it's written by other artists and they're being forced to do a "single" or if better songs have been written for an album and lesser tracks are just being lazily put out just for album padding (which is why I'd rather take an 8 song album that runs for 40 minutes over something that runs for an hour and is loaded with forgettable songs).

There are songs that fall into the "love song" or "empowerment anthem" songs that actually have effort put into it, and you can tell. Look at Whitney, I Will Always Love You is *the* love song and Greatest Love Of All is *the* empowerment anthem, both were actually cover songs, but Whitney made both of those songs her own (huge Dolly fan and she'll be the first to say IWALY belongs to Whitney) and took two themes of songs that can be so lazily written and generically delivered and made them anything but generic.

[Titan3510]

You got it!

^ Female?!

Firework
Who You Are
F**kin' Perfect
Born This Way
What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)
We R Who We R
Mean

Those are all self-empowering songs, and are not gender specific.

I think he means all the songs are by females?

No...

Sambo...those songs you listed are not about female empowerment. Those about self-empowerment. I don't like some of those songs you named, Sambo, but I have no problem with those typles of songs in principle...as long as they remain honest and true.

What I meant by songs that revolve around "cheesy female empowerment" was simple: I was talking about "cheesy female empowerment" songs.

Although you mostly hear in rap music, where there's always a song about this girl is makin' it happen or that girl is makin' it happen or shawty got this or babygurl does this or how I'm so proud of you...

...it also rears its head in other places. AKA a huge chunk of Beyonce's discography.

It's gotten to a point where if someone describes something as "this is for the females," "all these ladies are makin' it happen" or if it's putting women on this pedestal, I roll my eyes.

I mean, every once and awhile it's nice but it's so overdone nowadays...

Now, I think I understand what my cousins and my friends talk about when they describe something as "girl music."

[JSparksFan]

@ Titan, I think for so many years, men have dominated the music industry so it's only fitting that these female empowerment anthems have become so rampant as they symbolize the changing of the times. Take a look at the US Top 10. 8/10 of the songs belong to female artists. Back in the day, the other way around was the norm. So, as Bey said, "Who run the world? Girls."

[swiftie13]

^ Ever since the 200's females have been alllll over.. men need to come back now if you ask me!

[JSparksFan]

^ Ever since the 200's females have been alllll over.. men need to come back now if you ask me!

We had charts in the 200's? Tell me where to find them!

But seriously, though, today's situation cannot compare to the male domination back in the day.

[CrazyCrazy]

Well I'm pretty sure in the UK at least females have dominated for a long time, especially singles wise.

[NothingFails]

Females have been dominating since the mid to late 80s in the US.

[urbanmusik]

I don't think female empowerment songs are that prominent to be honest. Beyoncé's done it a number of times, but it's clearly something she feels strongly about and puts effort into. Her lyrics are creative and have substance to them - I wouldn't call them generic.

There've been far more self-enpowerment recently than female empowerment ones. What was the most recent female empowerment song bar "Run The World"? The Sugababes "Girls"?

It may be a topic that's been covered a number of times - but it's not that common at the moment and isn't generic if done right. I wouldn't say it's a theme that makes a song generic, it's the production and clichéd lyrics in this case.

[UKMusicLova]

LOL at 'Price Tag' sounding like 'Irreplaceable'. That's almost as ludicris as when you said Keri's 'I Like' sounded like Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams'

I think as most people said, 'generic' for me is when the song sounds like many other songs that are around in the charts.

Rita Ora's 'Party and Bullshit' is generic because it sounds like 'Teenage Dream', 'Last Friday Night', 'Price Tag', 'Raise Your Glass' etc etc..

I think if one song is similar to another song that isn't 'generic' but it is if many many songs have followed the same formula!

[Titan3510]

@ Titan, I think for so many years, men have dominated the music industry so it's only fitting that these female empowerment anthems have become so rampant as they symbolize the changing of the times. Take a look at the US Top 10. 8/10 of the songs belong to female artists. Back in the day, the other way around was the norm.

Uh-uh...nope. Sorry. Not accepting that, Akini.

My problem isn't with female empowerment songs. Every once and a while, they're okay.

It's just the overload that I've been getting is cheap and played-out.

Tawdry. Tasteless. Unpleasant. Janky. Garish. Insincere. Meretricious. Ratchet.

Need I go on?

And to make matters worse, the cheesy female empowerment anthems having nothing to do with the music industry at large.

It's all about "girl, do you." "Shawty got her own." "My chick can do this and that and that over there too."

So I don't know what you're talking about.

So, as Bey said, "Who run the world? Girls."

That's funny...I haven't seen Beyonce running much of anything in a long time...

#clapback

[urbanmusik]

LOL at 'Price Tag' sounding like 'Irreplaceable'. That's almost as ludicris as when you said Keri's 'I Like' sounded like Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams'

The Price Tag/Irreplaceable comparison is ridiculous, but I immediately thought of "Sweet Dreams" when I heard "I Like"! They're both great songs which were current without being generic - I love how subtle they are.

[Timmy94]

Take a look at the US Top 10. 8/10 of the songs belong to female artists. Back in the day, the other way around was the norm. So, as Bey said, "Who run the world? Girls."

But it must be said that it's the first time that there are just 2 male artists in the top 10 since July 2005, so I wouldn't standarize it iiwy...

[leoapp]

I don't think a generic song always means a song sound look alike with other songs. Then you may say that popular Tedder mid tempo ballads which sound look alike: Halo, Already Gone, Bleeding Love, Battlefield are generic? Of course no.

I think generic is a song with meh lyrics, meh melody, meh production, lazy vocal (too much auotuned vocal), etc. Well basically, 90% of today's electropop tune, especially the ones with Pibull on it or sung by pop male artists like Jay Sean, Taio Cruz, Enrique Iglesias and Jason DeRulo.

[JSparksFan]

Well I'm pretty sure in the UK at least females have dominated for a long time, especially singles wise.

Females have been dominating since the mid to late 80s in the US.

I stand corrected, then. It's just that when I was growing up, it was mainly male artists I heard on the radio. How arrogant of me to assume that that was the case everywhere!

Uh-uh...nope. Sorry. Not accepting that, Akini.

My problem isn't with female empowerment songs. Every once and a while, they're okay.

It's just the overload that I've been getting is cheap and played-out.

Tawdry. Tasteless. Unpleasant. Janky. Garish. Insincere. Meretricious. Ratchet.

Need I go on?

And to make matters worse, the cheesy female empowerment anthems having nothing to do with the music industry at large.

It's all about "girl, do you." "Shawty got her own." "My chick can do this and that and that over there too."

So I don't know what you're talking about.

The power of a thesaurus!

So, I guess what you're saying is that you hate the overload of female empowerment anthems by women as well as men?

So, as Bey said, "Who run the world? Girls."

That's funny...I haven't seen Beyonce running much of anything in a long time...

#clapback

Now, even you've gotta admit that that was a low blow! But Bey will be back to wig-snatching form her next era. No doubt about it.

But it must be said that it's the first time that there are just 2 male artists in the top 10 since July 2005, so I wouldn't standarize it iiwy...

Recently, though, females have been dominating the charts. Compare the success of Taylor, Rihanna, Katy, and Gaga over the past 3-4 years with their male contemporaries. There's a stark difference.

[Virgostar]

It's when you hear a new song premiere, and it sounds like at least 5 other songs that were recent hits. And you know it was written and produced bearing in mind of what's hot at the moment.

In my opinion it is not offering anything special and sounding very formulated. It's just some "whatever" lyric with no thoughts on the following subjects:

Girls / Boys
Clubbing
Sex
Cheesy Self Empowerment (lately)

Both these quotes hit the nail on the head for me.

[aaliyahman]

Next post illustrates it best...

[aaliyahman]

LOL at 'Price Tag' sounding like 'Irreplaceable'. That's almost as ludicris as when you said Keri's 'I Like' sounded like Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams'

I think as most people said, 'generic' for me is when the song sounds like many other songs that are around in the charts.

Rita Ora's 'Party and Bullshit' is generic because it sounds like 'Teenage Dream', 'Last Friday Night', 'Price Tag', 'Raise Your Glass' etc etc..

I think if one song is similar to another song that isn't 'generic' but it is if many many songs have followed the same formula!

No need to be rude because you and some others don't agree. Sometimes people get an easy pass on this forum.

What I love is how confidant you are in telling me my OPINION is wrong. Please follow the links and tell me they sound nothing alike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2feLmJzb50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJSSGcOk0H8

and now these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_ED5Cf1_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38wsNnbcSWM

[Hugo]

I think generic is usually when you can tell an artists' heart is not in the song

+1

imo a song is generic when you think of at least 10 other artists that could re-record the song and it would sound exactly the same.

Production and vocals are the key factors.

[JimJim]

For me it's either:

a) A recycled by-the-numbers production
b) Terribly daft lyrics
c) All of the above

(b) has been a real killer for me lately, some songs have lyrics that are so run-of-the-mill it boggles my mind that someone was paid to put them to paper. These songs (among many others) have terribly generic lyrics:

- Chris Brown // Turn Up The Music
- Nicki Minaj // Starships
- Stan Walker // Loud
- Chris Brown // Yeah 3X
- Marvin Priest // Own This Club
- Timomatic // Set It Off

Basically anything about 'putting your hands in the air' when you're 'dancing on the floor', they'll 'give you more', because it's 'what you desire' and it'll 'take you higher'... 'oOoOohhhhh'

By definition, it means something that has no brand or trademark... that is what it is, something so common that it lacks identity and leaves a taste in your mouth that is too familiar.

[joel77m77]

So, as Bey said, "Who run the world? Girls."

That's funny...I haven't seen Beyonce running much of anything in a long time...

#clapback

Now, even you've gotta admit that that was a low blow! But Bey will be back to wig-snatching form her next era. No doubt about it.

Beyonce has been running her life and she has been doing it very well, which is more than I can say for other music artists.

[Formusic]

Your opinion.

[TheRealest]

LOL at 'Price Tag' sounding like 'Irreplaceable'. That's almost as ludicris as when you said Keri's 'I Like' sounded like Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams'

I think as most people said, 'generic' for me is when the song sounds like many other songs that are around in the charts.

Rita Ora's 'Party and Bullshit' is generic because it sounds like 'Teenage Dream', 'Last Friday Night', 'Price Tag', 'Raise Your Glass' etc etc..

I think if one song is similar to another song that isn't 'generic' but it is if many many songs have followed the same formula!

No need to be rude because you and some others don't agree. Sometimes people get an easy pass on this forum.

What I love is how confidant you are in telling me my OPINION is wrong. Please follow the links and tell me they sound nothing alike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2feLmJzb50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJSSGcOk0H8

and now these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_ED5Cf1_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38wsNnbcSWM

So basically, everyone copies Beyonce - the orginator of music.