Some say that something that makes a song great is catchy meaningful lyrics, chord progressions, a solid structure, reaction, and emotion. Others may agree or disagree with those people. Let’s look at some of the popular artists in the music industry that rose to the spotlight with their incredible music.
We have rappers such as Travis Scott, Future, Drake, and Kanye West, including pop artists like Michael Jackson, and the list goes on. These artists became popular because of either their inspirations or the songs that they create. A great song is a timeless classic. That’s what these popular artists we all know and love managed to create. Classics.
Let’s start with Kanye West. He is one of the most influential and popular artists in rap history. From his incredible production to his unshakeable confidence, Kanye has made a name for himself in the music industry and worldwide. Looking at some of his popular tracks, such as “Stronger”, “All Of The Lights”, “Runaway”, “All Falls Down”, “I Wonder”, ”Gold Digger”, etc. For Kanye, these songs became so popular because of how new they sounded. The production was ahead of its time, and Kanye knew exactly what he was doing when he made these songs. Today, these classics are considered timeless, and legendary in the rap industry. Not just legendary in the rap industry, but in the music industry as a whole. He has been responsible for multiple cultural movements and progressions within mainstream hip-hop and popular music at large. One reason Kanye is so popular is because of how diverse he is within his music. From implementing soul, baroque pop, electro, indie rock, techno, synth-pop, industrial, and gospel influences into his music, Kanye showed the world how incredibly creative his musical mind is and what he brings to the music world.
Moving to the trap elements of music, the title of one of the most influential trap artists of this generation goes to Future PLUTO Hendrix. When Future came out, he gained massive popularity after he dropped his first few mixtapes. Fast Forward to the year 2011, and he dropped his next mixtape, “Streetz Calling”. This mixtape gained him even more popularity, because of how futuristic and melodic his voice sounded. The use of auto-tune in his songs paved the way for countless rappers who came after him to do the same or similar things today. Coming into 2012, he dropped his first debut album Pluto. A popular track from that album is named Magic, and that track alone became his first single as a lead artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as it peaked at number 69 on April 12. Other singles on the album proceeded to reach numbers 92 and 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. Throughout the years, Future has proven to be a formidable artist in the trap era and rap industry. Back in 2013, Pitchfork, an online music publication, wrote that “Future miraculously shows that it’s still possible for auto-tune to be an interesting artistic tool, finds a multitude of ways for the software to accentuate and color emotion”.
Psychedelics, atmosphere, and melodies. When it comes to these elements, Travis Scott is definitely what comes to mind when you think of this. He has made and continues to make amazing songs as time progresses, showing massive improvements in his sound as well. His 2014 mixtape ‘Days Before Rodeo” truly showed how talented he was at rapping and producing, implementing newly sounding drums, instrumentals, and dark elements to his music. This album was only a prequel to his highly anticipated album which would finally release in 2015, titled “Rodeo”. Similar to Future, Travis’s sound changed the course of how hip-hop sounded once “Rodeo” dropped. In the earlier trap days, hip-hop only used minimal elements of melodies, because they weren’t used to creating that type of music. But when Rodeo released, the melodic atmosphere within the album gave other artists a new perspective on the sound of trap itself, as upcoming artists or well-known artists began to utilize melodic elements in their music. This is how it was for the majority of 2015, and this sound continued to thrive from 2016 to the present.
A great song is something that will resonate with the listener for as long as they live. It contains incredible sounds, new effects, amazing beats, and lyrics, and sounds that have never been heard before. A timeless classic. That’s what a great song is.
