FAST FOOD AGE OF MUSIC – A DISCUSSION

Hey y'all, Pez here.

Consider this for a second: everyone has their guilty pleasures, right? Could be that delectable $1 Big Mac deal that you just can't help but get 4 of. Or the decadent double caramel thick-shake at your local milk-bar. But deep down inside, you know that – as delicious and convenient as your never-seeming-to-end cheat meals are – you are long overdue for a green juice, or a healthy grilled chicken and salad.

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What the hell am I even talking about? Well, in the age of social media, I tend to see how we consume our music in a similar sense. Especially with the rise of TikTok, music has been consumed and discarded at an inorganic rate, a culture that may neglect the artistic integrity of innovative and idiosyncratic art.

There is a burgeoning number of artists who specifically engineer their songs to have a 15-20 second section that is 'trend', or 'TikTok', friendly, as they try to pander towards the tiny attention span of creators and consumers that lap up their music. Look, I don't want to come off as a pretentious snob that gatekeeps music, because part of me empathises and understands the many up-and-coming artists who try capitalise on this phenomenon to propel their music careers to the charts. However, it becomes very questionable when the Champagne Papi himself, Drake, tries his hand at this new wave to pay his rent money: "Right foot up, left foot slide, left foot up, right foot slide" is what Drake asks his listener to boogie to in his 2020 hit Toosie slide...are we serious right now? It is pretty difficult to be more blatant in your cash-grabs as an artist, especially when the track has nothing exciting to offer, for only a run-of-the-mill trap beat accompanies these dance commands. Unsurprisingly, Drake was successful in igniting the "Toosie Slide" trend, as everyone from all-star athletes and TikTok influencers started slidin' all over the internet.

Now to link this back with fast food, here's a dumbass graph I drew:

Truth is, I don't deny the fact that some TikTok tunes are catchy and groovy. But musical appeal to this extent is largely ephemeral, as you'd find that the more you listen to these songs, the less catchy and interesting they become; you have already heard all it has to offer, you've tasted almost all the flavours in the song, and each listen becomes less catchy than the previous one. And just like fast food, it may taste good in the moment, but scoffing down KFC daily will place great toll on your health and tastebuds. Certainly, music which is provocative, risky, weird, will probably not be catchy, nor will it be widely received by the people. But as you spend more time with it, and as you familiarise yourself with the song and the artist, you begin to hear and appreciate colours in the track that you once did not. In each listen, you discover something new, be it a vocal passage in the background, or an underlying synth, gems that make every return to the song fresh and engaging. Much like a healthy kale salad, it may taste like grass and dirt the first time, but you know that you're being kind to your future self.

Of course, not every song must be "healthy" and pRoFOunD. I understand that there is a time and place for everything. But when you sacrifice artistic integrity for a quick buck or a burst of clout, especially if you are literally the top selling artistic of the decade, I find it distasteful and lazy. It just feeds into the culture of reducing music down to a 5 second soundbite.