184
submitted 7 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 25 points 7 months ago

I'll never quite understand the hype to artists like Beyonce. Of course "she" won. She is actually a conglomerate of like 100 song writers, dozens of producers, hundreds of engineers, mixers and editors, backup vocals, etc. It's not like back in the day when an artist got big by their own merit, now it's an over produced and manufactured artist that wins, and yes she's talented, because she's been manufactured to be

[-] Seraph@kbin.social 22 points 7 months ago

Newsflash: with enough money you can buy almost anything in the US.

[-] BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social 8 points 7 months ago

It’s not like back in the day when an artist got big by their own merit

Sorry, when, exactly, are you talking about? Frank Sinatra didn't write any of his major songs. Elvis Presley literally didn't write anything. Madonna didn't write most of her biggest early hits, though she did get much more involved in writing after the 80s. Plenty of Rhianna's big songs weren't written by her. Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Celine Dion aren't songwriters. Meat Loaf didn't write a single song on 'Bat Out of Hell'.

So, what is this time period where every artist got by solely by their own unassisted talent? Because I could also point to Taylor Swift today, who's been heavily involved in the writing of every song she's ever made. Lady Gaga's writing influence is all over everything she's done. Zoomer superstar Olivia Rodrigo wrote every song on her latest album.

Just looking at some top albums from 2023:

  • SOS by SZA - She's credited on every song.
  • Midnights by Taylor Swift - She wrote everything.
  • One Thing at a Time by Morgan Wallen - Writing credits on roughly half the tracks
  • Did You Know There's a Tunnel under Ocean Blvd by Lana del Rey - Primary credits on all tracks

The funny thing is that, compared to most of pop music history, it's actually far more common for artists to be involved in songwriting that it was in the past. Up until relatively recently, singers were mostly seen as just that - singers - and there was no real expectation for them to be writers as well, since the songs would be supplied by the large team assembled by the label.

So again, I ask, what was this golden age where all artists wrote everything they performed, and when did it end?

[-] angrystego@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Mariah Carey IS a songwriter!

[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world -1 points 7 months ago

For all those people you named that didn't write their own songs, there are hundreds who did. Are you seriously telling me it's not more common now for music to be over produced and for artists to have more money to throw at it?

Did the Beatles have a hundred writers and engineers? The stones? Johnny Cash? The foo fighters? Abba?

But if they were around today they probably would because music today is over produced.

Anyways, I dunno who you're defending, Beyonce? You know she plays concerts for dictators and employs sweatshops right? You know she's a terrible person, don't defend her because you like her music

[-] BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social 4 points 7 months ago

Whelp, I had a large response typed up that I lost by accidentally swiping back, so I'll just say that if you're going to call Beyonce a terrible person, I probably wouldn't cite rock stars as paragons of morality, or shall we ask Cynthia Lennon how nice John was to her? I hardly need to bring up Michael Jackson. Of course, that has absolutely nothing to do with whether they wrote their songs or not, which is the actual topic, so I'm not sure why you bring that up at all.

Genres have obviously shifted, but if you compare pop musicians of today to the pop musicians of the 70s and 80s, yes, there is absolutely more songwriting today by the artists. Rock is a very different genre with its own traditions and tends to be based around groups rather than solo artists, so it's not a very apt comparison. Not to mention, it's not like rock artists back then weren't shitting on disco groups for this exact reason back in the day. The Village People weren't exactly prolific songwriters.

It almost feels like your real issue is that rock is dead, and sure, that's unfortunate. But luckily for you, rumor has it that Beyonce's next album will be based in rock.

[-] EssentialCoffee@midwest.social 6 points 7 months ago

It's not like back in the day when an artist got big by their own merit

Back in what day? Small tribes where there was no collaboration with outside sources before the written word?

[-] BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

This guy's inability to fathom that there exists music outside of Rock is bordering on hilarious. Not to even mention the entire world of music before Rock, which is especially hilarious given him citing musical history. Does he think Nat King Cole or Ella Fitzgerald wrote their own music?

[-] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world -3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I mean if you're stupid and don't know about the history of say rock and roll, let alone music. Artists in the 60s and 70s like the stones, Beatles, hell even newer people like Nirvana, foo fighters, etc. Write all their songs, most even do their own editing and mixing. The Beatles didn't have a hundred people in the studio writing and mixing while they sipped margaritas and got their nails done.

Dude there are literally documentaries about musicians and the writing process, and they didn't always involve 100 people.

Edit: just want to look at my albums. So many like Metallica, all songs written and composed by the members of the group. Go look at the credits just for song writers in a Beyonce album, there's like two dozen writers

[-] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Beyond that, her husband is a billionaire investor (formerly musician, but who are we kidding to still use that descriptor). Even with her success, which can be criticized from both sides enough, that alone precludes her from being one of the "good ones."

this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
184 points (85.9% liked)

News

23311 readers
3655 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS