[Rant] B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)

#1

So, this chart topping song really pisses me off. It’s SO INCREDIBLY SIMPLE and it’s #1 in multiple countries.

Yes it’s very good, it’s a good song, I’m not saying it sucks. I’m saying it’s simple. I could have absolutely made this, no doubt about it. I might even already have software to emulate the hardware they used.

I can’t quite put my finger on the reason it bothers me that a song like this can top the charts. Maybe it just pisses me off because the masses don’t appreciate real art, and instead numb their minds with simple dance music. Or maybe it’s ego, maybe I feel like I should have been the one to produce this because I absolutely could have. When I hear something that I could have produced, it always sort of sets off a tiny explosion in my head and no matter how much I appreciate it and enjoy listening to it, I can’t shake the thought in the back of my head, “why didn’t I make this?”.

So it starts and ends with the same question, who am I producing for? Been trying to answer that for years and I still don’t really quite know.

#2

I’m not going to bother watching this, as I can imagine what it is just by looking at the freeze frame…

No need to be angry about that.

What you forget is that it’s not about the song.

A million people have written a million better songs, and are entirely unknown.

It’s about who you know, who has big money to market the song to death, after it’s been focus group vetted and approved. The formula to make chart-toppers is known. Something like: have a one liner that is repeated 200 times in 3 minutes, thus creating an earworm, have “love” somewhere in there. Also, don’t forget to be a hot young woman or have one play the part in the video. That’s it.

You will probably write great songs that nobody will care about and/or never hear, simply because your name is not, say, Jakob Dylan or Kelly Osbourne, you were not born of money, you were not born in the “right country”, you don’t know anybody in the higher spheres of the business, and you’re not a hot woman (or a top-model looking guy) that can show their body constantly on TikTok, Instagram, etc. to gain popularity that screams “I can make you a shit-ton money” to any business decision-maker.

Life isn’t fair. Life isn’t supposed to be fair. Life makes pretty much no sense, you just go with the cards you were given and try to make the most of it. That’s about it.

Who are you producing for? Yourself, first and foremost. After that, anybody that is willing to take a few minutes of their time to listen to your music is mostly a bonus.

#3

That’s all I was going to say. Mostly agree with everything else, but this is one of the most important lessons I’ve had to take to heart over the last few years. Helps you accept a lot beyond music.

#4

Think that depends on what you want to achieve. If you want money and fame and your name on posters, you get to pander to what the unwashed masses want to hear, which right now (now being an indeterminately long period - decades?) seems to be simple, brainless, completely unchallenging pop songs that have a basic hook and some kind of acceptably processed vocal. Then you get to convince somebody that your particular brand of brainless hooks is more appealing than everything else on the pile and they should pay you for it.

Or you can make the music that inspires you and hope it catches the zeitgeist in some way that causes you to blow up. Me personally, I’d just play the lottery - you have better odds of success.

Or you can just make what appeals to you and if other people like it, that’s real great.

I think the bigger picture here is that this is Eliza Rose’s 15 minutes of fame. There’s nothing really there, you’ll likely never hear from her again after this. It’s a thing that caught the attention of the dance community for a minute and then it’ll be replaced by something else. Given the quality of what’s in that video, I don’t see it spawning a lifetime career for her.

#5

There is nothing wrong with a track being simple…just because something is complex does not make it better, or give it the moral high ground over the simple. I don’t think it is about simple vs complex, it’s about commercial vs underground. Obviously with mainstream genres, you have a wider audience, and thus an easier time getting exposure and commercial success.

You know, I used to think like you, and sometimes I still do. You become resentful of the mainstream, and of the fact that some dj’s and producers blow up over night with next to no skill, while you’re struggling to get a few hundred plays on your tracks…I get it. But it’s just not a healthy way to think…it does more damage than good.

The way I see it is that music is a life long endeavor, a marathon, not a race. Not sure how old you are but as a 33 year old, I can tell you that time becomes much more scarce after you get that career, or a wife and kids, etc…life gets in the way. So what is the point of putting that pressure on yourself? Enjoy yourself, put out quality work at your own pace, give it some time…eventually you’ll be noticed.

At least that’s what I tell myself :rofl:

#6

Ye olde anti pop music rant.

Music like this has its time and place to be enjoyed just as other music. Not everyone is an intense music lover, some just enjoy easily digestible background sound. Great for a goofy night out with friends dancing and few cocktails.

Ill save the moody, complex stuff for my headphones at home when Im deep in it.

Personally, I dont want to listen to intense/complex music all the time. It doesnt always fit my mood or the context of the social situation.

#7

I wouldn’t worry about it.

For example for me undeniably the best band ever are The Fall but many people dont even like them and think Mark E Smith cant sing, some people are just wrong and I simply don’t worry about their opinions. :stuck_out_tongue:

As regards complexity in music Id say that that is only a minor part in great art, for example the band Polyphia have come across my table several times in the last year or so from muso friends who rate them highly and while the music is undeniably complex and the playing displays virtuosity I find them bland and pretentious, they are the opposite of what I like in music to me they are entirely devoid of soul.

Some of my favourite electronic music of all time is also incredibly simple but not neccisarily poppy or mainstream, EG: almost all of surgeons early work.