Revisiting the Past: Pop Music's Successful Blend of Old and New - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the past years, pop artists have been inspired by the seventies and eighties music in many ways. Artists like The Weeknd and Dua Lipa are releasing music that is heavily influenced by previous decades. On their last records, you can hear the inspiration of the seventies and eighties music. How do today's artists use elements from previous decades, and why does it work so well? Is the recipe for a hit to combine what was popular before, with what is popular now? The paper focuses on how pop artists are bringing the 80s back (Lavallee, 2020).

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When you take a listen to today's music charts and top lists, you can get a picture of what the most popular "sound" in the music industry is. An article from USA Today last year stated that hip hop, rap, and R&B music is the dominating genres. But lately, there has been quite a signature sound that has been pervasive in popular music.

Influences of earlier decades, like the 1970s and the 1980s, are vital elements of the most prominent songs today. Two of today's hottest artists, Dua Lipa and The Weeknd, has released albums where recognizable 70s and 80s sounds and nostalgia are shining through in the production. Synths that dominated in the 80s, like the Juno-106 and the DX7, are heavily used, along with drum machine sounds similar to the Linn M1 (Jack, 2016). The productions have prominent retroelements, but they are still keeping up with the current trait and production quality in today's pop music.

An example of a song that is making use of this sound is the song "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd, released this year. With a high-paced rhythm, a catchy synth riff, and smooth basslines, it captures the eighties nostalgia in a spectacular way. If you have ever heard A-ha's song "Take on Me," released in 1984, you can hear strong resemblances. It immediately gave you a real nostalgic feeling of the music scene decades ago. Is this why songs like this that are dominating the charts to this day are getting such a great response? Is it because of the nostalgic feeling it gives us or is it just because music from the seventies and eighties is just catchier than what we can come up with today?

The inspiration on the music have impacted mostly on what most people in the streets listen, especially the people in their early 30s and 50s who are highly conversant with the 19080s pop music. The underlying mystery is that most individuals within such age are the earlier music fans. There is a strong influence of the pop music of the 80s on the current music industry. The possibility of emergence with nostalgia, as suggested by most scholars, could be the most probable reason for the widespread of hip-hop music within the United States. However, as suggested, there are no specific periods in time in which the impact of the Cold war grew devastating that the Reagan years.

New York Times has also recorded that legitimate artwork made in the 80s has been taken seriously and has been redeemed in the present day. The setting of the 80s has been revived I most recent pop songs. The 80s provide and act as a rich foundation for artwork. It has been achieved by establishing the time-traveling power of the present digital era. The time-traveling power of YouTube, the internet, among other techniques, have been able to give pop culture nostalgia. All these have only accelerated the capability and the impact of the 80s pop. It gives them room for exercise and recalling.

It can be attributed from early 1980s, where the popular music genres were played. During this period, there was an emergence of dance music as the earlier disco events become less popular. The 80s led to emergence of urban genres, such as hip-hop. Currently, these music genres have become more popular with musicians selling the highest number of copies compared to other genres. The current music seems to shift towards the late 80s concerning the hip-hop genre popularity. There has been a vast number of genres that have been released, which have hit the highest number of listeners. Songs such as reputation initially release in 2017 mid-November has sold at least 1.9 million copies. Other hip-hop artists such as Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi have made the highest number of customer streams reaching over 1.3 billion views, especially in Despacito song, which accounts for the most viewed in social media platforms. In 2017, over 19 songs surpassed over 500 million streams with at least 17 forms of R&B and Hip-hop genre. Across the vast streaming platforms currently present, rock music has claimed the highest stake in the total sold albums with over 35% sales (Lavallee, 2020).

Furthermore, songwriters and music composers seem to be translating the 1990s model. The earlier music focused on the uniqueness of the dance moves and the degree of influencing the audience. The current shift in music is becoming very similar; hip-hop music is rejuvenating to new modern moves, which can get the audience's attention. A good example is Dua Lipa's show. The video workout shown portrayed by Dua Lipa represents TV exercise classes dating back in the 80s. The music track is much inspired by the electronica and the disco from the 1980s. The track sound is also present in the most significant music stream currently "The Weeknd's Blinding Lights," as shown by the presence of a synth-pop keyboard hook.

The Weeknd continuously proves to be this generation's Michael Jackson. In interviews, he talks, about his motives for becoming this generation's Michael Jackson. However, The Weeknd understands he can never be him, and he just does what Michael Jackson did. He openly talked about this with Pitchfork after he proved that Michael Jackson is his role model. He said, "but he is a good inspiration: I want to give the kids that feeling."

Furthermore, the 80s has created the present digital era. It acts as a unique playground for growing pop popularity. In the early music era, there was at least a 20-year cycle for every genre to gain popularity. However, with modernization, there is a different form of a wave for the current nostalgia. In early 2000, 80s revival music instances were marking the largest celebrations of the 80s prom. Such unique periods had unique moves such as a flock of Seagulls and over-moussed hair. A vast number of examples such as 13 Going on 30, Rock of Ages, episode of friends, and the One With All the Thanksgiving are among the most loved genres for the 80s era. Another instance of such coincidence is based on the current trends in the New York publications about the various music trends. In the current time, the period of the 80s, which had unique history having high sarcasm, is now being considered to be dangerous, especially as a period marking a legitimate setting providing a rich foundation for recalling and source for legitimate art creation. The period is being considered to be prestigious in American history. The presence of a vast number of platforms such as YouTube has offered the best source for the hip-hop genre, giving it a unique culture.

From observation, the world is moving on the 80s Revived 22.0, in which the main idea is the historical significance of the 80s era as established to be the most viewed content under the neon lens. Other aspects that are currently being translated to the current world are reflected over the lolling progression in certain shows, including Goldberg, which focus on exposing the childhood artifacts. However, there is an increasing tendency of delving into the 80s period as a way of achieving a connection of the era with the current modernization. Modern instances such as wall street painting on "money Never Sleep" or in drakes ‘in my feeling’ song dates back in 80s favorite (Lavallee, 2020).

To add onto the topic, the 1980s music is serving as inspirational music to new developing artists who weren't born during the period. The current song-creators are eager to revive the 1980s in a modern era, trying to maintain the decade's culture. The current youth who was brought up by parents who experienced the 80s hit music are now moving towards re-developing the past through actions and unique filming of events showing 1980s pop-era. There are also strange things which are equally satisfactory to the 80s reflection immersion. However, in every instance, the concept is revisited; there is always a memorial immersion to other possible sequential activities showing how many specific musicians such as Marty McFly are still evident today.

There is an interconnection everyone tries to establish between the current world and the 80s events. Reviewing individual famous Hollywood acts such as the Catch Fire and the Americans or Halts immensely uses nostalgic incidences. These films, however, focus on assessing the 80s era on political background and the critical step taken towards the achievement of evolvement in technology determining the fate of the current world as opposed to individuals who are old enough to have fresh memories of the 80s possibly. The younger generation, such as Matt Duffer and Ross, the principal characters in recent series, are acting the Stranger Things in the early 30s born before certain events enacted within the play. The two actors have recently confirmed in an interview that the 80s culture plays a significant role in their life despite having not experienced the real period.

Matt Duffer confirms that most of the tremendous moviegoing experience is achieved while in the house within the VHS. Their experience is based on what they learned while they were growing, making their significant acting role. A similar sentimental experience is explained by Bruno mars which were only a toddler in the 1980s. His aspiration to music is highly influenced by the 1980s culture. Bruno Mars expresses his sincere feeling on the confidence level exuded by Prince and Elvis and Michael Jackson as they were the leading musicians during his early age. Bruno Mar's ’Just the way you are’ song depicted a clear picture of the 80s love songs.

The impact of the 80s will always be felt, in either direct, indirect connection, the feeling of cultural connection will always be felt. In reality, the period can always offer an escape method (USA TODAY, 2018). In funding the memory of a given individual, the time aspect will always be reflected as depicted in the current world even after the emergence of new technological trends. The current cultural instances in the music industry will always be reflected in the 80s. For instance, the famous films such as the superhero were earlier started in early 1978.

It is best to say that pop culture swept across the 80s and boomed in the 90s. The 70s pop shows were merrily accepted in the 1990s. It is evident from the 'Boogie Nights.' The schedule is correctly outlined, and that leaves one conclusion about the 80s pop wave. It rebuilt itself I the 2000s as if following a schedule. Most movies made from the 2000s incorporated 80s pop soundtracks. It can be observed that a remake on "the boys of summer" was a hit I 2003, yet it had been recorder in the 80s by a band called Ataris.

Conclusion

Consequently, Hip-hop came to be famous in 1980; since then, American society has been dramatically built on pop-music language. The 80s music culture has since been passed on to the current music industries. The 80s music has clearly indicated to being the mother of pop culture in our present –day. It can be correct to say that they made the nest music. The 80s can be referred to as a reflection or nostalgic loop which the current generation will always be revolving for an entirely more extended period. The current pop artist is, therefore, integrating 80s music to society. Some of the famous songs produced in the 80s such as ‘I wanna dance with som...