I've been noticing a varying list of songs being referred as pop songs, even though they don't directly fall into the pop genre easily. I think what gives most people the impression that it is a pop song is the "four on the floor" beat.
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Four on the Floor simply means a kick drum hitting on every beat, put simpler, the dance, electro, and pop beats that have been surfacing in the past three years.
Now, this is not to say that every dance, electro, or pop beat follows the "four on the floor" beat formula (even though it's not much of a formula), but it is more obvious than before. But, now, it seems EVERY "four on the floor" beat song is being referred to as "pop", even if the artist is NOT A POP ARTIST! For example...
Now, Elle Varner is not a pop artist, but this song has a "four on the floor" beat. Does this mean that this song is a pop song? Someone on Wikipedia seems to think so, since this song's genre for the public domain website lists it as "pop, dance-pop..." and finally "R&B". R&B, the genre this artist is mostly known for, as the last choice of genre. Why is this so? But that's only one example, here's another more familiar and more controversial...
Now this is almost an exact opposite. Unlike the song before it, Rihanna has been labeled as a pop artist at some points in her career, and this song DOES have a "four on the floor" beat, but does this mean the song is indeed a pop song? What makes it a pop song? What doesn't make it a pop song? Seriously, does anyone ever ask these questions? Because, these questions could be the key points to winning or losing your argument. Take for example an older song...
This song has been labeled as an R&B song because it is sung by R&B artists and is produced by a renowned R&B producer, yet IT uses a variated "four on the floor" formula. Why wasn't this considered as a pop song? What plays into the reason this song is an R&B song besides the artists? Shouldn't the song be considered an R&B song solely because of how the song sounds? If that's not the case, what is it? Another argument that could come up is their skin color being the consider color for R&B artists, yet that shouldn't be the case. This, for example, is sung by an artist who is not exactly the skin color or race for R&B music, yet...
...he is also using a variated "four on the floor" formula. Why isn't this a pop song? The tempo? The artist? The producer (who is also the artist in this example)? Why is every single single being considered a pop song solely because it follows the "four on the floor" formula?
And sometimes it works in the opposite direction, some songs that are clearly pop song are being considered R&B songs because of the artist in question.
This one is somewhat tricky when you think about it. Chris Brown has been an R&B artist since the VERY beginning, and is still (in some introspect) an R&B artist, but this song follows not only the "four on the floor" formula, but also the electro-pop formula, yet in some cases, it's still considered somewhat of an R&B song because of the artist. Not every song from Chris Brown is going to be R&B, and not every song will be considered pop, but when you blend genres, you cause confusion. Confusion that leads to essay long OP's like this.
Many people could argue it's the artist that makes the genre, and some can even argue it's the producer that makes the genre, but what should really make the genre is how, as a whole, they perceive it, and how they want listeners to perceive it. So, what's your opinion? If the song follows some kind of "four on the floor" formula, is it a pop song immediately or should the artist, producer, songwriters, and sound be put into consideration first?
