This Is Why Music/Singles Should Go By Genre

Hey everyone, I’m talking about why I think music needs a genre. So what will follow isn’t news or anything particularly relevant, but it’s something that interests me. So here’s how it goes…

I want to talk about the genres for the music and their music videos that aired on TV channels like MTV and Fuse.

Here’s what the singles and the genres looks like…

Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble (Pop)

Katy Perry – Roar (Pop)

Nothing More – Mr. MTV (Rock)

Linkin Park – Final Masquerade (Rock)

Nickelback – Edge Of A Revolution (Rock)

Calvin Harris – Outside ft. Ellie Goulding (Dance/EDM)

Lady Gaga – Just Dance (Dance/EDM)

Britney Spears – Work Bitch (Dance/EDM)

Iggy Azalea – Black Widow ft. Rita Ora (Trap)

Nicki Minaj – Anaconda (Rap/Hip-Hop)

The Weeknd – The Hills (R&B)
Chris Brown – Zero (R&B)

And so on…

See? Those are the genres that the singles gets to be classified. That’s because the genres for singles like Ariana Grande’s Problem with pop used to have a heading that would say what the genre the single belongs to whether it’s on the radio or a TV channel or even the internet like Vevo. Especially YouTube. Even the internet shows the genres of the songs that weren't really the right genres and yet what really worked. Example: Carrie Underwood’s country singles like Smoke Break with the pop genre for internet like Last.fm/special airings on random channels like MTV Hits. I always liked that. To the point, formal, and looks nice on the single.

Here are other examples of a single’s genre by an artist who is on a different genre...

Ariana Grande: Pop

Ariana Grande – The Way (R&B)

Ariana Grande – Focus (Pop)

See? Ariana Grande is a pop artist and yet her music can be any genre like R&B. Pretty awesome huh? That’s more like it.

Nowadays, music goes by pop radio like Call Me Maybe and celebrities like Jennifer Lopez. That’s all music does these days, pop music like radio and celebrities like rap/hip-hop stars (like Lil Wayne). What was the music industry thinking?

First of all, singles needs a genre like Selena Gonez singles with pop. If a music single doesn’t have a genre, then it would be a rough market causing music business to stick with radio like hip-hop and pop like Beyonce. No questions asked.

As you can see with the artists like Shawn Mendes and singles like The Weeknd’s Earned It, they try to shoehorn other things into the heading. It’s kind of an eye-sore if you asked me. They did this with other genres like R&B too with “pop”. No “The Weeknd is an R&B artist”. No “The Weeknd songs are R&B songs”. Nothing… The composition is kind of ugly and filmsy, to be honest.

Also, whenever an artist get to do music in the mainstream, it has to be pop and not other genres like rock. To me, you can’t remove mainstream genres like R&B and rock from the mainstream music industry like Top 40 radio and MTV. While the corporation is still rightfully remain the music business thanks to something like Vevo, why remove the genres like alternative and metal from the music industry? How about no. Let’s move on.

With a genre like EDM, the singles like Love Me Like You Do and the artists like Zedd gave you a sense that all the music artists and singles came from different genres. Of course fans, like myself, already know about that, but the general public assumes it all comes from one place when it doesn’t. Look at country music. Country music is the only popular music that is not mainstream. That’s because Nashville is very protective on country music like Florida Georgia Line and only appeal local/North America. That's why only crossover country music like Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood is allowed to go crossover with mainstream music like pop music and MTV. That’s where crossover hits like Need You Know and special airings on mainstream music channels like Carrie Underwood music videos aired on MTV Hits comes in mind. So bear in that. Let’s continue.

Remember when some people assumed pop music popular? No. Pop music is a music genre, not popular. Remember when some people assumed non-pop music like R&B music “pop?” Then when people told them “It’s not pop”, they should say “It’s a mainstream song that isn’t pop like metal.” But then that made some people think that mainstream music are pop music, not mainstream music in general like rock and EDM. Having that “genre” there implies that mainstream music is presenting a song/single, but a specific genre like alternative referred to a mainstream music song/single as that genre. There, simple as that. Well come to think of it.

At least, for me, that’s why “genre” should be on the mainstream music record like rap/hip-hop and marketing materials like MTV and Vevo (where country music also co-exist together).

Speaking of which, there’s the example of a music video showing a genre in the music video’s information when aired on something like MTV.

Now look at that. See? That’s why a genre of a mainstream music single like a pop single has to have a specific mainstream music genre for a music video that aired on something like VH1. OK then, let’s move on.

OK, let’s talk about a genre that fits correctly, on the single, album or even an artist. Take Nicki Minaj for example. Nicki Minaj is a rap/hip-hop artist that makes rap/hip-hop music for hip-hop/R&B stations like BET. But, hip-hop/R&B station is a sub-division of mainstream music because mainstream music needs a tentpole genre like rock/metal. Only top 40 and pop are not tentpole genres and therefore, top 40 and pop are homegrown mainstream music. Therefore, pop music does not have a sub-division. Now this was a nice little cherry on top of what was mainstream music that suppose to happen. Because Nicki Minaj is a non-pop mainstream artist and not a pop artist, that’s where crossovers like Super Bass come in mind. That way, crossing over Nicki Minaj into pop was meant for a crossover single like Starships, not Nicki Minaj turning into pop and makes pop music. So therefore, Nicki Minaj is a rap/hip-hop artist, not a pop artist. There are other mainstream artist that only fits one genre and not the other.

Example: Taylor Swift is a pop artist that is designed for mainstream music like pop music, not other genre like country. That’s because Taylor Swift songs like Taylor Swift’s country songs are pop songs, not country songs. Example: Love Story is a pop song that released in 2008 and became a crossover pop song for other genres like country. However, not all Taylor Swift’s pop songs are played on pop music stations like Radio Disney. There are only a few Taylor Swift songs like Tim McGraw’s Highway Don’t Care not played on pop radio and only played on other radio on like country radio. That’s because Taylor Swift loves country music and yet she is not a country artist. That’s why Taylor Swift’s country music are pop music, not country music. Even internet like Vevo referred to Taylor Swift songs as pop songs.

So let’s take a look at why all Taylor Swift songs are pop songs who happens to be the kind of buck the “Taylor Swift is a pop artist because Taylor Swift songs are pop music” trend…

Now this, I like. It’s a good compromise. If they still can’t use another mainstream music genre like rock on a mainstream music artist like Taylor Swift, then pop is a fine substitute. As long as Taylor Swift stay pop, then she will always stay pop and make pop music designed for pop audiences like Swifties. I happen to be Swifitie too because Taylor Swift is different from pop music when I listened to alone. Sounds reasonable. Just like how Pokemon was labeled as a video game franchise and yet it wasn’t and instead labeled as an anime/manga franchise that started off with the games. That’s because Pokemon games are licensed games, not a video game series. OK, let’s continue.

When the music for the singles and artists gets to make new music, then I assumed that mainstream music (not popular music) would follow the suit and have a genre for a specific mainstream artist and his/her singles/records. I was wrong, because the mainstream music industry has come into problems regarding of genres.

When artists gets to make new music, the pop music general is right on top of the future single/artist. No another genre like rock…

So why artists making new music is heading for pop and not other genres like R&B? Also, why non-pop mainstream genre only have rap/hip-hop? OK then, why mainstream music these days has to be pop and rap/hip-hip? The only popular music that isn’t pop or rap/hip-hop these days is country and yet country is not mainstream. What were they thinking? Blame the music business, not the medium. Will mainstream music gets to have the headings of other genres on their singles/artists like rock? Of will all of them eventually have a pop-rap/hip-hop heading?

For those who care about this kind of thing, do you think the music artists and/or his/her singles/records should restore mainstream genres in general like Metal? Do you think pop and only pop is fine enough and not other genres like EDM? Are you not too big on them just using the pop genre and nothing else like alternative? Sound off below!