tunegrape: The Pros of Pop Music Probably Outweigh the Cons in the End

In an age where pop has become a manufactured commodity, and more of a product then a form of art, it is refreshing to see that an artistic spark still exists within pop music, through bands such as folk-pop group She & Him. Pop music has made a bad name for itself after allowing years of tweaking by major labels and a revenue-centric flow of singles. In reality though, in a genre ruled by the likes of Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Bieber, there is talent to be found. Pop is a widespread genre of music, and many artists have woven the pop appeal into their own sounds to create catchy, yet original songs. Blink-182, for example, was never a band based on musical talent. Sure, Travis Barker is a well-studied and talented drummer in his own right, but surely not the best. What Blink-182 had was an uncanny ability to write pop hooks. Rivers Cuomo of Weezer has a binder filled with hundreds of detailed pages, outlining the qualities and similarities of his favorite pop songs, in an effort to create a pop-music-writing guide. Destruction breeds creation, and the barren wasteland that is mainstream pop music is dotted by many oasis’s brimming with talent.

She & Him

So what brought about this urge to come to the defense of the pop genre? Well, like I mentioned before, one of those talented pop bands that should replace the Biebs on the top of the charts is She & Him. She & Him consists of the instrumental talents of M Ward and the graceful and innocent voice of Zooey Deschanel. I first hear the vocal talents of Deschanel in the movie Elf, where I was blown away by her voice. When I heard she was forming a group with M Ward I immediately jumped on the idea, but forgot about it pretty soon after. Over the years I have acquired a few She & Him tunes and one of their more recent ones, Don’t Look Back, has once again caught my attention.
The song is bright and poppy, overflowing with Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonizations, bubbly piano, a light touch of guitar. If you could capture the fun of a childhood summer and turn it into instrumentation, it might sound like something similar to Don’t Look Back. Deschanel’s voice tops it all off perfectly, like tires on a car she drives this song forward until the end with her irresistible voice.