Country Music Analysis: Carrie Underwood's Pop Country
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After looking through my music library, I realized that all of my songs generally follow the same structure: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus. Some songs may be missing the Bridge, and some songs may start with a Chorus, but they all follow this same format. I noticed that most of the songs that gain popularity today are like this. Not only is the structure the same, but also the lengths of the songs are comparable. It is a rare occasion to hear a song longer than four minutes on the radio. This begs the question of why these types of songs are pleasing to the majority of the population. Maybe predictability is what makes them so catchy; people know what to expect when they sing along. The short length may also be directly…show more content… This category was made specifically because of the kind of Country music that I enjoy listening to. Artists that have songs that belong in this category are Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. The reason why I identified these two country artists with pop is because although their songs do have country roots, they are not as intense as pure Country songs. Carrie Underwood became the first country artist to have a #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100, and holds the spot for the #1 country album in the 2000-2009 decade. This occurred because Underwood’s songs, such as Before He Cheats, Last Name, and Undo It, are all unlike typical country songs in that they are fast-paced, have strong percussion, and have strong and loud vocals. Her music, along with Taylor Swift’s music, still have the country guitar “twang” and the story-telling aspect, but their songs made it into the Top 40 because of the elimination of the banjo and the thick Southern accent. This infusion of country and pop is particular popular among the younger…show more content… This category can be split into two sub-categories: Bollywood and Classical. One characteristic that can be found in any Bollywood movie is the multitude of song and dance routines spread out throughout the movie. Although these movies are not considered musicals, as they would be in Western culture, the actors in the movie will randomly break out into a song at least every 30 minutes. These songs are generally very upbeat, high tempo, and come with an easy dance routine that anyone can learn. Bollywood music is very similar to dance pop music in America where a wide variety of instrumentation is used and there is no particular structure to the