Stop Letting Musicians Get Away With Being Uncreative [OPINION]

We are in a period, at the present, where ‘same old song and dance’ is no longer just an expression but an actual representation of the current state of music.

Popular musicians across the charts seem to be using some kind of musical algorithm to pump out hit after hit, and frankly it’s getting quite boring. Without at least some evolution of sound, musicians fall into a pattern, and it starts to get mundane. Even fanbases start to dissolve, ones that will obsess over artist’s first number 1, but don’t want to hear an iteration of it two years later.

The start to my realization came a couple of weeks ago when country duo Dan + Shay released their new song “10,000 Hours.” As someone who has been following the duo since their debut album, I was pretty excited to see where they were going to take their music after the success of “Tequila.”

But they didn’t take it anywhere. Even with the addition of Justin Bieber to the song, it goes nowhere new for them. They kept the song in the same rut their music is always in. It’s a dreamy sort of sounding music. They’ve always produced soft, easy-listening, romantic pieces. I know their style; I know their aesthetic by now, but even when my mom, who just kind of knows their music, says, “Yeah, that’s a Dan + Shay song.” we’ve got a bit of a problem.

This isn’t some isolated issue, as previously mentioned. This is something that stretches into even basic pop music. It’s been why people, including myself, have once thought of certain musicians as influential artists in the music industry but now just glance over them on release day.

Two biggest culprits of the repetitive music crime are without a doubt Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes. Looking at these two men in the start of their career, they were both basically on the top of the world. They had a widespread appeal and, more importantly, their music was new for the time. They came out with honest, real, vulnerable songs. Songs such as “The A Team” and “Stitches” felt so beautifully fresh on the charts. Neither were afraid to put their hearts into their lyrics and production. Everything felt genuine, even a bit raw.

This method was good for pop music. It was fresh and way outside the realm of bubblegum, mindless pop that usually clogged up the radio. But once they were established and actually successful with their method to music, it became the norm. Whether it was because other artists adopted the style or they themselves just kept using it, the whole thing became, truthfully, boring. After singles like “Perfect” and “If I Can’t Have You,” it became clear they had nothing new to offer. The music seriously fell flat.

Both men still gain attention and love for releasing new music, but the impact their songs once had just aren’t felt anymore. Many others and I got bored being wrapped in their fanbase. It all got hard to really be excited about.

There are even artists who don’t exactly have the lengthy discography in their career but have just enough out that it’s obvious they are headed down the same repetitive path. A prime example of a case like this would be crossover country artist Sam Hunt.

Hunt without a doubt has a specific style. It’s sort of on the rap side, but also has pop music beat, but then kind of hits you with a twang of country. He manages to really mush genres together and blur the lines between them. It’s slightly hard to even group him in a genre – he’s just making music.

His take on music gained him a lot of attention and rightfully so. It’s very unique and not many artists really have the pizzazz to copy his style. But that’s kind of where we’re starting to see the downfall.

Because we see that the style only works for him, and has made him very successful, he’s beating it to death. It’s like he’s out here trying to replicate the impact “Body Like A Back Road” but two years later. The state of music has changed, people’s interests have grown, and artists need to evolve with it.

Of course, within the music industry, everyone wants the hits. They want to keep their reign going and establish themselves as a hit maker. On the surface, the easiest way to do that is to constantly do what you know works. They have the “if it’s not broken” mentality and it certainly works temporarily, but eventually people hit a point. They start to get bored or stuff becomes predictable, and that’s what I’ve seen happen among fans of many artists.

The problem here can easily be fixed through just something as simple as brainstorming. Bring in new people, look at what music is like on the charts, maybe even listen to any fans’ critiques. Changing your voice and sound with positive results is a possible solution. Look at an artist like Keith Urban. He came out of left field with “Graffiti U” and that’s what was incredible. It was fresh for an artist with his history. His change received well as reflected on the music charts.

We even can look at the case of Taylor Swift who has grown and changed her music right at the perfect time. She knew when she was falling out of country music around the release of “Red” and to keep herself interested and relevant, she had to reinvent her music. “1989” was her shift and it was unapologetically hers. Any artist can, as she did, look to themselves to see where they are at. Do musicians really want to keep playing the same tune for 3+ albums?

There has to be some change somewhere with our current state of music and new songs from musicians. Without any change, people will get bored and critics will start to highlight the repetitiveness found within artists. This really is something that is brewing but can be prevented from bubbling over. It takes just an extra beat or a change in tune in the bridge of a song for ears to perk up.