Creativity and Popular Culture
In his journal article “Creativity and Cultural Production: A Study of Contemporary Western Popular Music Songwriting,” Phillip McIntyre examines the role of creativity and how it is viewed in western society. (Teachers registered with the GTCS can access the article through the education source in the research portal.)
The author posits that:
“The contemporary Western popular music industry tends to work within a paradigm of creativity that runs counter to current academic research.”
This is an important point and in many ways contributes to the notion that creativity is not a construct which is tangible or developmental, but a flash of inspiration or an ethereal concept which is difficult to grasp.
The author cites Boden(2004) who examined this ethereal view of creativity through two different lenses, the inspirational view and the romantic view. The inspirational view tends to be drawn from the notion that the creator must be “undisciplined and almost mad,” whilst waiting on some divine intervention. The romantic views creativity as having “a lot to do with the extraordinary and the use of innate gifts of intuitive talent.” The author points towards this romantic view of creativity as very much suiting the Western popular music industry, who are quite happy to continually perpetuate the notion of this type of creative individual.
“It has resulted in the idea that creative individuals posses a set of powers peculiar to them that are beyond the grasp of mere mortals.”
Truth be told, rather than a creative individual, the popular music industry is very much based on a series of inter-related and collaborative teams such as song writers, producers, promoters, publishers, distributors, retailers etc, without whom an artist will not be in a position to be heralded as the ‘creative individual.’ An example of this can be seen in the pop song 'Havana' released in 2017, which has six different writers credited.
What is more key, however, is that within Western popular music there are well used song forms and structures, or there may be particular stylistic features specific to certain genres of music. Those who engage with the popular music industry need to be well versed in these. In many ways it is the difference between creativity which is ‘adaptive,’ and creativity which is ‘innovative.’ It would be difficult to imagine a chart topping single which is highly innovative and experimental. It is much more likely that a chart topping single will have a recognisable form and structure with features which are expected to be included. There are formulas which writers use, such as:
Get to the chorus before the 1-minute mark of your song; on average by the 45-second mark.
Only use a pre-chorus in your song if the verse is short and does not venture very far harmonically.
Don’t use a bridge or instrumental solo until after the second chorus.
Consider starting the chorus directly after the song intro, then Verse 1.
Place the title words in a structurally significant part of your chorus melody: at the start, at the end, or on the highest note. (Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.)
Creativity in Western popular music practices? Or formulas for success? I do feel we need to be careful not to keep perpetuating myths about creativity as only being in the domain of the chosen few. Creativity is a skill which can be developed and nurtured. It will manifest itself in different ways and mean different things to individuals, and needs to be recognised and embraced in this way.
