Adele

[wired]

So I'm a bit of a music snob in that I abhor pop. (An irrational position to take given my antagonism toward labels, but I end up doing it.) That brings me to this rough question: Adele - what is she? Even if she is pop, I'll stick on board because her music is just so good. But I have a hard time labeling her pop.

Thoughts?

Edit: To be more clear, I should say why I hate pop. I generally just find it un-fulfilling music. It's not so much the image (though I'd lie if I said I didn't mind being classified with teeny boppers) as it is I just generally dislike most music under that label.

[Whistler]

I LOVE Adele.

Story time: I played some My Brightest Diamond music for my songwriting class, and my teacher was like, "that was kind of like art music" (huh?). Turns out art music is what pop musicians call cool music (outside of a specific song form). Kind of like the classical/vernacular distinction. So is pop defined by the music's structure, instrumentation, or actual popularity?

Back to Adele. I would say she could be pop, but she definitely has elements of soul (there's some word for this in non-soul music). And elements of "art" music.

[wired]

I LOVE Adele.

Story time: I played some My Brightest Diamond music for my songwriting class, and my teacher was like, "that was kind of like art music" (huh?). Turns out art music is what pop musicians call cool music (outside of a specific song form). Kind of like the classical/vernacular distinction. So is pop defined by the music's structure, instrumentation, or actual popularity?

Back to Adele. I would say she could be pop, but she definitely has elements of soul (there's some word for this in non-soul music). And elements of "art" music.

I generally think of pop music in terms of its form (structure and instrumentation) as opposed to its reception (popularity). For instance, Rebecca Black is not at all popular, but sings pop music. Vice-versa, The Arcade Fire won AOTY and have a solid following, but I would not call them pop.

Like the story too.

[Dragon Lady]

I always have a really hard time labeling any music except classical, instrumental, and country (even though that is starting to cross boundaries). All other genres (which are most) are all lumped into one category for me.

[Dead Cat]

I don't group my music conventionally. I actually have "We Like to Party!" and "Spem in Alium" on the same playlist. I'm usually pretty accepting of music--my turn-off is bad content or awful technique.

[Yarjka]

I'd label Adele as Pop, but I like Pop, so that doesn't bother me.

[Whistler]

I have been thinking about this. Why would you discount an ENTIRE genre of music based on your non-identification with its target demographic?

[Talons]

Maybe to avoid being ridiculed by peers?
I'm not upset by Hypatia's response to the reader listing Fall Out Boy as a favorite band--I'm just using this to point out that anytime someone says they listen to emo music, most people are going to envision them wearing black, tight pants. Anytime people discover that a person listens to pop music, people automatically think of screaming tweens. If being thought of as immature didn't bother me, or if I was really good at hiding what I listen to from other people, then I guess I would have a few pop songs on my ipod.

[Imogen]

Maybe to avoid being ridiculed by peers?
I'm not upset by Hypatia's response to the reader listing Fall Out Boy as a favorite band--I'm just using this to point out that anytime someone says they listen to emo music, most people are going to envision them wearing black, tight pants. Anytime people discover that a person listens to pop music, people automatically think of screaming tweens. If being thought of as immature didn't bother me, or if I was really good at hiding what I listen to from other people, then I guess I would have a few pop songs on my ipod.

i think this attitude towards pop music is incredibly obnoxious. most music is considered "pop" at some point.

[Portia]

(from Pandora) Similar Artists
Ingrid Michaelson
Sara Bareilles
Duffy
Corinne Bailey Rae
Amy Winehouse

No one is going to think of you as some kind of parvenu gauche for listening to a high-quality British female solo singer. This isn't Glee or something.