Friday, October 7, 2016

The Millennial Whoop Makes Me Want to Weep

Millennials - they kind of rule the word these days, don't they? It's not easy to see why. The fact is they make up a very large part of our population right now. It is said that by 2025, Millennials will account for about 75% of the work force. That's staggering when you think about it. There has never been a generation since the baby boomers that due to mass volume alone have the power to influence the world around them and dictate popular culture as much as the Millennials do...

It's just too bad they have such shit taste in music.

Alright, I digress a bit. Not all Millennials have shit taste in music. And honestly, people in positions of power have realized the mass amount of money Millennials have to spend in our economy and have been trying to tap into that income - including those in the music business.

Okay, I can see you giving me the stink eye. 'Penny,' your thinking, 'what does the economy and marketing towards Millennials have to do with music?'

May I present exhibit A - the Millennial Whoop:




Writer Adam Epstein posted a great article on the website Quartz about the Millennial Whoop, a simple musical phrase that is all over popular music today. In the article by Epstein, musician Patrick Metzger described the mechanics behind the phenomena:
"It's a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale, typically starting on the fifth. The rhythm is usually straight 8th notes, but it may start on the downbeat or on the upbeat in different song. A singer usually belts these notes with an 'Oh' phoneme, often in a 'wa-oh-wa-oh' pattern."





So, for those of you who can read music, this is what the Millennial Whoop looks like on paper. Take that simple three, 8th note pattern, mix and repeat.



I know, I'm starting to get a bit technical but bear with me. Music is a medium based on patterns and the combination of notes in specific patters make music. Simple, right? Think of Hot Cross Buns - that simple song every grade school kid learned how to play on a recorder in music class. The song is a simple pattern of three different notes, repeated over in different intervals. This creates a piece of music with, albeit simple, but reoccurring patterns that are, when not being blasted through a recorder by an eight year old, pleasant to the ears of the listener.

I've said it over and over again - music is no longer an Industry, but more of a Business and the goal of any business is to make money. 

There is an episode of Mad Men, which one exactly it is escaping me now, where Don Draper's agency is trying to market a product to teenagers and in trying to do so, creates a very whimsical jingle for the client. The client makes mention to Don that the song seems to have elements of nostalgia, which he doesn't believe would work as young people are unable to feel nostalgia. To this, Don laughs and says 'teenagers can be nostalgic - have you listened to their music?'

As much as the 'me first' generation is always on the lookout for the latest and greatest, deep down inside we all tap into the known, the familiar. We look for something that strikes a chord with us, that triggers familiar paths in our brains. Now, the Millennial Whoop is nothing new - this is a musical phrase that has been used for as long as people have been making music. The difference now is that pop music 'Mad Men' have tapped into this sound, this phrasing and are using it as a way to trigger feelings of familiarity and comfort in something new in order to make a profit. It is, in a way, creating a fake sense of nostalgia that those with money to spend on music are lapping up like crazy right now. 

It's simple, really. In business, when you find something that your target demographic is going ape shit over and throwing money hand over fist at, you would be a complete idiot to not make your business successful and tap into that. That is what's happening with new music - creativity is being replaced with a manufacture Whoop that is funneling money into the business again. Music is being created with a sort of manufactured nostalgia that is giving the me-first generation something to grasp a hold of and give them a feeling of depth, of understanding, of shit man, I've LIVED.

In the long run, it is easy to pay someone to write a piece of music that contains the Millennial Whoop than it is to invest time and money into artist development and produce a piece of music that is in reality, a timeless work of art.

I know, I'm being hard on Millennials. Probably much the same way that Generation X's were hard on my peer group growing up. I was at a concert this week put on by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, in which the closing piece was a number by Vivaldi. There was no Millennial Whoop here, there was nothing manufactured about this piece of music. Yes, it contains elements that make it recognizable and comparable to music created at the same time, but it also contained something more... It had heart and soul. 

I wonder, in 1000 years, if songs like California Gurls by Katy Perry or Live While We're Young by One Direction or Sing it by Rebecca Black will stand the test of time, or be seen for what they are - products manufactured to a specific demographic and produced to make a lot of people a lot of money...

Pass me The Beatles, please...


Love,
Penny 
xoxo