Song Interpretation in 21st-Century Pop Music

Allan F Moore author Ralf von Appen author André Doehring author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:28th Apr '15

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Song Interpretation in 21st-Century Pop Music cover

Existing books on the analysis of popular music focus on theory and methodology, and normally discuss parts of songs briefly as examples. The impression often given is that songs are being chosen simply to illuminate and exemplify a theoretical position. In this book the obverse is true: songs take centre stage and are given priority. The authors analyse and interpret them intensively from a variety of theoretical positions that illuminate the song. Thus, methods and theories have to prove their use value in the face of a heterogeneous, contemporary repertoire. The book brings together researchers from very different cultural backgrounds and encourages them to compare their different hearings and to discuss the ways in which they make sense of specific songs. All songs analysed are from the new millennium, most of them not older than three years. Because the most widely popular styles are too often ignored by academics, this book aims to shed light on how million sellers work musically. Therefore, it encompasses a broad palette, highlighting mainstream pop (Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Lucenzo, Amy McDonald), but also accounting for critically acclaimed ’indie’ styles (Fleet Foxes, Death Cab for Cutie, PJ Harvey), R&B (Destiny’s Child, Janelle Monae), popular hard rock (Kings of Leon, Rammstein), and current electronic music (Andrés, Björk). By concentrating on 13 well-known songs, this book offers some model analyses that can very easily be studied at home or used in seminars and classrooms for students of popular music at all academic levels.

"This book could be an important first step in shifting the field from entrenched habits of sole-authorship to the incorporation of many different kinds of collaboration, including smaller groups, junior-senior scholar pairings, or single-author analyses with responses and revisions published together. This book reminds us that there is no one way to "do" popular music analysis and is an opportunity to think even more creatively about what effective and fulfilling research can look like."

- Alexa Woloshyn, Carnegie Mellon University

"Taken as a whole, this essay collection not only makes a convincing case for the relevance of musicological analysis in the study of popular music, but also provides us with an impressive demonstration of the myriad ways by which it can be done."

- Nadav Appel, Bar-Ilan University, Israel; Open University of Israel, Israel

"I know of no other instance in popular-music analysis in which multiple authors reconcile their views within the bounds of a single essay, and so this effort should be applauded for its original approach."

- Trevor de Clercq, Middle Tennessee State University

"This book offers an engaging read and presents multiple approaches to musical analysis, which is to be expected given the diversity of its contributors."

- Donna Weston, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia


’The last twenty years or so have seen a marked increase in academic writing about popular music by musicologists and music theorists. Song Interpretation in 21st-Century Pop Music brings together a talented group of scholars to make a significant and much anticipated contribution to this increasingly diverse field of analytical approaches and repertories. It will be required reading for anyone interested in hearing, and then re-hearing, recent popular music.’ John Covach, Institute for Popular Music, University of Rochester, USA ’At last, a new, quality collection of pop music essays that truly values analysis, close reading and listener interpretation. It's refreshing to see the wide range of genres covered as well - it makes for a great post-modern playlist.’ --Justin A. Williams, University of Bristol, UK

'This book could be an important first step in shifting the field from entrenched habits of sole-authorship to the incorporation of many different kinds of collaboration, including smaller groups, junior-senior scholar pairings, or single-author analyses with responses and revisions published together. This book reminds us that there is no one way to "do" popular music analysis and is an opportunity to think even more creatively about what effective and fulfilling research can look like.' --Alexa Woloshyn, Carnegie Mellon University

'Taken as a whole, this essay collection not only makes a convincing case for the relevance of musicological analysis in the study of popular music, but also provides us with an impressive demonstration of the myriad ways by which it can be done.'--Nadav Appel, Bar-Ilan University, Israel; Open University of Israel, Israel

'I know of no other instance in popular-music analysis in which multiple authors reconcile their views within the bounds of a single essay, and so this effort should be applauded for its original approach.' --Trevor de Clercq, Middle Tennessee State University

ISBN: 9781472428004

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 703g

304 pages