GENRE RESEARCH TASK

Pop

WHAT ARE THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF THIS GENRE?

The codes and conventions for pop are mainly based around the main image, font, headlines, colour and the masthead. The colour and the font is because in a pop magazine you would expect bright colours that stand out and catch your attention, like, blue, pink, yellow, white and black.

There would also be the photos on the album covers which will most likely be shot in a studio. They are made to look very ‘perfect’ and clean cut.

This could make the albums boring to look at because there is only one person making eye contact with the camera and there is nothing else going on to catch your attention.

WHAT MAGAZINES ARE THERE FOR THE POP GENRE?

Some pop magazines are: -Top Of The Pops

-SHOUT

-Mizz

-Billboard

These link to the above question because they mainly have a studio shot of the featured person looking at the camera with a plain background and very bright colours for their font.

IS POP A MAIN GENRE, SUB-GENRE OR A HYBRID GENRE?

Pop is a main genre.

HOW BIG IS ITS AUDIENCE? WHO ARE ITS FANS?

Pop is a very popular genre. It has a very big audience as it is well know over the whole world.

The fans tend to be teenagers ranging from the ages 10-16, although, as they are growing older they are wanting to read and listen to a more mature version of pop whereas the younger ages will listen to the groups and solo artists that older teenagers will not like.

DEFINE AND CATEGORISE THE GENRE- WHAT DISTINGUISHES IT?

Pop is distinguished by its clean cut, ‘perfect’ looking bands and solo artists who all have a very big fan base and are able to sell out concerts. It is also spotted by its more up beat music that appeals to the younger generations.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE GENRE?

Pop music originated in its modern form in the 1950s in the United States. There are different types of pop, such as: Bubblegum pop Teen pop Traditional pop Power pop Sunshine pop

They founded the word ‘pop’ from the word ‘popular’.

Pop dates back to the Victorian era where people would need a catchy song to be made identifiable.

WHO ARE KEY ARTISTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF POP? WHO ARE KEY

ARTISTS NOW?Who has the biggest profile? How do you know?

Key artists in the development of pop are bands such as; The Crooners, who were around in the 1940’s and 50’s, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

Then came along the bands such as, Take That, The Spice Girls and Backstreet boys.

Then members of the bands realised that they could have solo careers, so artists like Robbie Williams and Justin Timberlake left for solo careers. Some of the key artists now are Sam Smith, Ella Henderson, One Direction and Little Mix.

I think the recent artists have the biggest profile because people are wanting new music to listen to.

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE GENRE- IS IT A POPULAR GENRE WITH

MAINSTREAM APPEAL OR MORE NICHE?

Pop is a very popular genre which is very mainstream as it is known around the whole world and it has a very big fan base. I don’t think there is a good or bad perception of pop because some people like it and some people don’t so it is hard to say what the general perception of pop is.

CROSS MEDIA- WHAT OTHER MEDIA COVERS THE POP GENRE?

Other media’s that cover the pop genre are the radio and TV. Radio’s such as Radio 1 and heart play pop music daily and they have the charts every Sunday which are mostly all pop songs. The TV has music channels where they have programs which play the most listened to pop songs and they are also shown with there music videos.