We all know that Reddit is the best place for music discussions. I’ve been spending a lot of time analysing the opinions of others when scanning through threads entitled ‘Unpopular music opinions’ and found a couple of them that produced many controversial topics which definitely fit into the niche of my blog, and here they are:
(Btw most of these confessions are a collection of what a group of people said, so they aren’t typed out word for word.)
“Autotune is good.”
I think the argument used to explain this statement was that autotune is used to enhance a singer’s voice, and I would agree with that. I do however think it’s nice when a singer doesn’t use autotune on their songs, which is very rare these days.
“People’s taste in music has nothing to do with the sound. It has more to do with the artist’s image and the opinion of your friends/reviewers.”
I think all of these things come to play when telling everyone who your favourite artist is, or maybe when choosing a song to play on your instagram status, but when actually listening to music surely it’s the melody, lyrics and vocals that causes you to like or even love a song. An artist’s image also isn’t a bad way to promote their music.
“Pretty much every classic rock band is only liked because of nostalgia.”
I’m not a massive fan of ‘classic rock bands’, but I can’t see how this would be true. Surely there was something in the first place that made these nostalgia-filled people like the music, unless this person is implying that the music is now outdated and the only people left who like it are the people who were around when it was fresh and modern.
“Lyrics are irrelevant.”
I can see why people think this, but as an avid Lana Del Rey listener I would have to disagree. I love looking at lyrics whilst listening to a song. In fact I would be interested to know what this person believes is more important: vocals or melody?
“Beach house is the only worthwhile dream pop band after the 2000s.”
Maybe I haven’t listened to enough dream pop to see if this has any truth to it, but I can’t really think of a dream pop song that I haven’t liked. And if you’ve seen some of my previous blog posts you will know that Boy Pablo is one of my favourite bands so there is no way I could agree with this statement. However there is no doubt Beach House are fantastic and influential too.
“EDM, Kpop and country will be the only genres in 20 years that will have commercial and critical value.”
Two or three years ago, I might have agreed with this – but with Indie suddenly topping the charts (Sam Fender, Glass Animals etc) I may have to disagree. On top of this genres like Kpop and country actually very rarely enter the main charts, so I think we would have to re-enter country and introduce Kpop to the mainstream before this happens. Maybe we’ll also see new genres emerging that we’ve never heard of before.
“Just because you don’t like the fanbase doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to the artist.”
This one I massively agree with. There is certainly nothing wrong with being apart of a community, but it’s the music itself that is vital. The fandoms I found myself in weren’t so much ‘toxic’, however they commented on the personal lives of the artists way more than the actual music, and all I wanted to talk about was my favourite album. Artists should never have to adopt the reputation of fans, and sane fans who enjoy the artist’s music shouldn’t have to either.
“Hitting high notes shouldn’t be the only requirement for a good singer.”
It’s unclear whether this Redditor was only referencing vocals here or whether they were talking about the talents of an artist in general, but either way they would be correct. A vocal range can be fascinating, but what really makes the song in my opinion is the lyrics and melody. If these two factors of a song are good, I can get over a boring voice or a voice that isn’t showcasing it’s multiple abilities. As well as this, I believe more emotion can be felt singing in a softer or deeper tone. Too many artists get given mediocre songs just to show off their high vocal range.
“Emotion is the best pop album of the 21st century.”
This confession reminded me that I need to have another listen to Carly Rae Jepson’s pop masterpiece, since I remember it being an unskippable album. I personally think it’s so hard to put a label on what’s ‘best’, however in this case I cannot find anything that fits this royal title any better. Jepson’s development in terms of her music make it all the more better too. She went from a disney pop sound to an authentic pop sound that drew inspiration from almost every decade. The only album I could put Emotion in competition with is 1989 by Taylor Swift, but both are so different in terms of their atmospheres they display.
“Drummers are massively underrated.”
The fact that this idea has never came to mind when thinking about music possibly confirms that this statement is true. I remember being in music lessons at school, watching other people play this complex instrument because there was no way I could get the timing right without disastrously playing the wrong notes.