Pop music has become such a staple in today’s society. Songs that play over and over again on the radio bring us together as a community. Love them, hate them, or love to hate them, these musical stylings give everyone something to talk about.

But what is it about pop music that makes it so prone to attention? One could suggest that it’s all about marketing and imagery. Alas, that is sadly not the case.

I should point out a small incongruity. Personally, I think the article should really be called “Some Bold Assumptions About Pop Music as Told by a 20 Year-Old Counterculture Advocate who Doesn’t Listen to Pop Music.”

In case you didn't know, the “pop” in “pop music” stands for “popular,” and has little to do with soda and/or candy (much to the disappointment of a 7 year-old Rubén). Pop music represents a unique genre of music that is classified by how much it is enjoyed by a general public, but that wasn’t always the case.

Time for a history lesson! The term “pop music” has been used to describe mainstream music since the early 20th century, but didn’t really become its own genre until the 1950s. It was heavily inspired by rock-and-roll, but by 1969, it had become much more commercialized and accessible, whereas rock-and-roll aimed more towards authenticity and expansion.

Pop music has a tendency to borrow from other genres, such as the aforementioned rock-and-roll, country, blues, funk, and so on. The point of it was to appeal to a general audience. The easiest way to do that was to be as relatable as possible to its target audience—that is, literally everyone.

Let me put this into perspective. Imagine for instance, that Disney is coming out with a new movie. Disney likes to bridge the gap between youth and adult entertainment using a formula where a children’s movie format borrows preconceived fantasies while incorporating a threshold of adult themes. Disney makes an attempt at appealing to a blanket audience, and succeeds. That being said, a contemporary criticism of Disney is that they continuously rehash that formula and reuse archetypes and tropes to the point of exhaustion. Eventually, Disney’s method is no longer innovative and original, but tired and predictable. This, however, is not to say the formula no longer works. Disney still makes billions of dollars on media and merchandise, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future because it there’s no valid reason not to use it.

Pop music is the musical equivalent to Disney. It all follows a similar formula, often borrowing traits from other sources, and trying its hardest to address subjects and themes that can appeal to just about everyone by making their songs as relatable as possible. Meanwhile, artists who follow that formula but write about topics that are more personal or introspective are often considered “indie” or “alternative” musicians because they just don’t reach that blanket audience.

“But Rubén,” I hear you asking yourself, “if this formula is so infallible, why is pop music from the 1970s so different from pop music today?” And my response to you is this: it’s really not.

The style changes, but the formula never does. Here are some lyrics from Amii Stewart’s “Knock on Wood” (which by the way, is really just a disco cover of the 1966 Eddie Floyd song):

“‘I don't want to lose you, this good thing
that I got 'cause if I do
I will surely,
surely lose a lot.
'Cause your love is better
than any love I know”

Now, compare that to Ariana Grande’s “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart”

“And nothing's ever easy
That's what they say
I know I'm not your only
But I'll still be a fool
Cause I'm a fool for you”

If I didn’t know anything about those two songs, I’d say they were two consecutive verses to the same song.

The themes never change. Whether it’s falling in love (compare lyrics between Andy Gibb’s “I Just Wanna be Your Everything” to Justin Bieber’s “All That Matters”), heartbreak (Bonnie Tyler’s “It’s a Heartache” to Panic! at the Disco’s “Impossible Year”), or just nonsense (Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting” to Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”), the content has always remained consistent. To wit, some contemporary artists will even cover old-school pop songs. For example, in 2012, Ariana Grande recorded (and completely butchered) a song called “Gimmie Some Lovin,’” which was originally a song by the Spencer Davis Group from 1966 and was later covered by the Blues Brothers.

It’s the vessel that changes and evolves. Technology has given way to drastic changes in the music industry, and just like technology becomes obsolete, so does music. Synthesizers helped to create sounds that had never before been incorporated in music and also served as a replacement for instruments that weren’t readily at hand. When this was first established in the late 60s and early 70s, people were unsure of its capabilities and used it conservatively.

By the late 70s, the electronic aspect had been embraced and was used much more to make new music like disco, which stemmed from the pop genre. After that, the disco craze died (but disco itself never will), and synthesizers were put in the background while pop music began to really establish itself with big names like Michael Jackson and Madonna.

By the 90s, these technologies were more accessible and advanced, and you could hear the increased electronica in the music along with it. That bled into the 2000s, providing us with shiny boy bands and the recurrent use of autotune. But something else was happening here. Along with the growth of technology, minorities began inhabiting more and more of the United States, meaning that these music corporations needed to find a way to reach out to this new potential audience while still keeping the old one. That’s why there is more leans toward R&B and hip hop in today’s music than in the past.

Finally, the 2010s marked the rise of the 90s kids. This culture, showing an affinity towards nostalgia and anything vintage, inspired corporations to resuscitate the use of wind and string instruments in their synthetic productions, but only just so.

So there you have it. Everything you didn’t want to know about pop music. Sure, you might have been fine listening to your Taylor Swift and your One Direction without asking any questions about the art they create, but in the wise words of the genius Bo Burnham:

“Art is a lie, nothing is real.”