SOP #94. The Side Effects of Pop Music with Emily Warren

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Artist: Bob Tozier
School: North Allegheny

Notes:

Emily Warren is one of the great rising stars of contemporary songwriting. Her song "Side Effects" with The Chainsmokers is currently rising up the charts. You've also heard her writing on Dua Lipa's "New Rules." She's collaborated with many of the best performers in music earning her a Grammy and multi-platinum success with "Don't Let Me Down." She's also recently released her single "Paranoid." Emily is a real songwriters songwriter. Her process is as much therapy as art. Together we break down her latest work and uncover her creative process. Her album "Quiet Your Mind" is out on October 5th.

Songs discussed

The Chainsmokers – Side Effects

Bach – Prelude in F# Minor from the Well Tempered Clavier

Emily Warren – Paranoid

bülow – You & Jennifer

Teyana Taylor – Gonna Love Me

Nick Jonas – Touch

Comments

William Wang from: North Allegheny - posted: October 16, 2018
The song she wrote was creative.

Trey Tillotson from: North Allegheny - posted: October 17, 2018

New Rules sort of follows a thing of repetition, where she sings, "1.... 2... 3..."

Repetition for 3 times has a nice effect, especially when the last one of the three has something different. It's used in comedy, music, and other sorts of media.

Aman Khalid from: North Allegheny - posted: October 18, 2018
Warren's impressive songwriting reminds me of how Bizet's opera Carmen was adapted into several fantastic solo violin pieces by various composers, such as Sarasate, Waxman, and Hubay.

Brett McCutcheon from: North Allegheny - posted: October 18, 2018
I didn't like this song at first because I just thought it was pure auto-tune. But then I noticed that I like the suspensions in the chords of the vocals. Thank you Emily Warren, very cool!1

Chelsea Chao from: North Allegheny - posted: October 19, 2018
Teyana Taylor's mezzo-soprano range and usage of light acoustic guitar strums in her song, "Gonna Love Me," reminds me of Tamia's "Officially Missing You." Both Teyana and Tamia have a mezzo-soprano singing range and have a rich, smooth voice. Both "Gonna Love Me" and "Officially Missing You" incorprate gentle acoustic guitar chords into the intros of the songs, and throughout the song. Their lyrics also give off a similar tone.

Mary Katherine Stewart from: North Allegheny - posted: October 19, 2018
Her song "don't let me down" follows a three pattern. Similarly with the rules of three her song "side effects" has the same melody for the hook repeated three separate times but with different lyrics each time.

Reid Suddaby from: North Allegheny - posted: October 22, 2018

It seems that the Pop music follows a very common formula in their songs. According to this study, pop music is becoming more similar in characteristics.

https://mic.com/articles/107896/scientists-finally-prove-why-pop-music-all-sounds-the-same#.5Fdc97rhM

Aman Khalid from: North Allegheny - posted: October 22, 2018
Dua Lipa's stating of her "new rules" before each chorus is executed in a manner commonly found in music: As she states each of her three rules, she is essentially introducing a new idea with the lyrics, while building a crescendo with greater emphasis on each new rule as she leads into the refrain. This is similar to how Edward Elgar builds each new statement in the solo part of his violin concerto in B minor. After a sustained B minor chord, the violin sneaks in by outlining a B minor scale that ends with an unexpectedly bright A; this is the first statement. The next statement starts, this time outlining what appears to be an E minor chord, only to return to the key of B by ending the phrase with the dominant tone. The final statement is a series of rapid semi-quaver scales that climax in a high B.

Jack Lopuszynski from: North Allegheny - posted: October 22, 2018
As far as writers go who's name is on everything, I've seen Adele's name a lot of places you wouldn't expect. Also, Lin-Manuel Miranda's name pops up a ton of places, even outside of Broadway stuff.

Luke Wood from: North Allegheny - posted: October 23, 2018
Picardy third makes the song interesting because it is not in most pop tunes. I also really like the bass line that drives the song. What an excellent jam.

Ainsley Ferron from: North Allegheny - posted: October 23, 2018
The song "Heat of the Summer" by Young the Giant uses this grouping of three in the prechorus durng the lyrics "Go home, but there's no place to rest" by utilizing an ascending sequence.

Emma Hackworth from: North Allegheny - posted: October 24, 2018
In "Side Effects," the way the song is written keeps the listener on their toes and completely unaware of what they might hear next.

Jake Mellinger from: North Allegheny - posted: October 25, 2018
Pop today has become more of a formula than an artistic process in my mind. I refuse to believe that this is due to a lack of talent, but instead think that the same chord progressions, harmonies, lyrics, and of course the rule of three are used so excessively because they work. My ultimate rule of thumb is always "if it sounds good, it works" and truth be told, that is what we call pop music today.

Pavan Otthi from: North Allegheny - posted: October 25, 2018
While there is a lot of people who look at this song and say that it just follows the classic pop outline, I think that Emily Warren was creative by taking this outline and breaking it during different parts of the song. It is evident in the distinct melody change in the middle of the hook, and is accented by the continuous base that really fits in well with the change.

Nicholas Zurchin from: North Allegheny - posted: October 26, 2018
I think pop music will be pretty stagnant in general for the rest of modern time because there ideal characteristics of it that other types of music don't have an option of. 1. Pop music is very safe, risk free, and well formulated over the years. 2. These well formulated ideas and chords will always be liked and catchy towards any average person who likes the sound. 3. The further we move towards pop the less likely more creative styles will form, or you could possibly say that it might be the exact opposite.

Malia Wilson from: North Allegheny - posted: October 26, 2018
The use of the vocoder in Emily Warren's song Paranoid reminds me heavily of Kanye West's Runaway, and both I think use the instrument excellently. It adds a different sort of mysterious layer to the song that I really enjoy.

Yukang Guo from: North Allegheny - posted: October 27, 2018
I really like how side effects is the song title. It fits really well with the song progression from one melody to another very naturally.

melina bowser from: North Allegheny - posted: October 29, 2018

I'm really not into any of the songs that were mentioned on this podcast. I think pop music has become too similar in the way they're written and produced. This podcast did shed some light on the more technical side of things, but artists-- such as The Chainsmokers-- seem to use repetition in the same way so much so that every one of their songs can be blended together into one.

Kellie Smith from: North Allegheny - posted: October 29, 2018
I like this song and the way that Emily Warren takes a seemingly average beat that at first seems like any other pop song, and alters it to keep a unique nature. Her sound is simple and builds nicely.

Emily Vaiz from: North Allegheny - posted: October 29, 2018
Emily Warren uses a normal pop tune and makes it unique to her style, which is why I find it catchy.

Lily Stromberg from: North Allegheny - posted: October 30, 2018
even though i dont really like any of the songs mentioned, i couldnt help but to think about this song for the rest of the day, the means in which it was written makes it really catchy