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Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Is music getting shorter and less complex thanks to TikTok and social media?
Next time an older family member tells you music isn't what it used to be, shine them with these statistics Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Has TikTok diminished the artistry in music in recent years? With the social media platform offering 'clips' of songs rather than 'odysseys,' perhaps music has gotten shorter and easier. You and I would be very wrong, however, and two examples demonstrate how music has gotten more complex. If you're of a certain age – okay, if you're my age – you might have recently started investing more time into TikTok. It seems the answer to almost anything these days is on Reddit or TikTok. From shopping for items to keeping up to speed with current events and live streams, perhaps most notable about the platform is how many musicians are cultivating their fan bases through direct-to-fan marketing as well as shining a light on some of those classics we loved back when we only had MSN Messenger… or Yahoo Messenger. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But there are some curmudgeons out there who think that more and more musicians are tailoring their music to the TikTok crowd, making it shorter and less complicated to become the next viral sensation: a flash in the pan, a one-hit wonder. Has music gotten shorter in recent years, thanks to the advent of TikTok? One study shows it's the exact opposite. | Getty Images/Canva With that comes a lot of 'old anorak' talk, too, about how music, quote, 'back in our day was meatier, lengthier and complex. These days it's all just a clap, a whistle and a crowd hollering during a chorus'. But Startle, who create and manages strategic audio-visual experiences to make retail and hospitality brands unforgettable, thought this to be an unfair assumption and set out to find out if music has gotten shorter and less complex (subtext: lazier) over the annals of time. Sorry, old timers – we might be very wrong in our estimations... Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The science part (Methodology) Startle analysed 300 top-charting songs from the UK, selecting 50 from each decade between 1974 and 2024. They used Spotify to measure song length and manually counted total words, while ChatGPT was used to analyse lyrical complexity based on metrics like syllables, pronouns, and unique words. A "Complexity Score" between 0 and 10 was then calculated for each decade using minmax normalisation, where 10 represents the highest complexity. Has music gotten shorter and less complex in recent years? Well, as it turns out, no. Startle's study found that the average song length in 2024 was 3 minutes and 51 seconds, which is a 20-second increase from the average length in 1974. Eurovision fans might enjoy this example: 'Waterloo' by ABBA, considered a concise and memorable pop track, runs for a mere 2 minutes and 44 seconds. By contrast, 'Too Sweet' by Hozier (who happens to be playing Leeds and Reading this month) clocks in at 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While some would argue that the rise of mumble rap in the 2010s surely demonstrates a lack of lyrical complexity, you would also be wrong about that. The study shows that modern songs are more lyrically complex and use more words and unique language than the most popular tracks from the '70s, '80s, and '90s. To top it off, Startle found that while songs peaked in length in the '80s, they often featured fewer words and simpler structures than today's music. Using the classic '90s hit, 'U Can't Touch This' by MC Hammer, that song runs for 4 minutes and 16 seconds, with a total number of lyrics adding up to 270 words. Compare that to Danny Brown's track, 'Pneumonia,' which lasts 3 minutes and 39 seconds; he spits a total of 360 words in his song, outpacing Hammer by 99 words per minute compared to the 63 per minute Hammer utters. It shows that although some music has gotten shorter, it still manages to provide some dense lyrical content and is pretty much a testament to the adage 'it's not size that counts – it's what you do with it.'
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Is music getting shorter and less complex thanks to TikTok and social media?
Next time an older family member tells you music isn't what it used to be, shine them with these statistics Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Has TikTok diminished the artistry in music in recent years? With the social media platform offering 'clips' of songs rather than 'odysseys,' perhaps music has gotten shorter and easier. You and I would be very wrong, however, and two examples demonstrate how music has gotten more complex. If you're of a certain age – okay, if you're my age – you might have recently started investing more time into TikTok. It seems the answer to almost anything these days is on Reddit or TikTok. From shopping for items to keeping up to speed with current events and live streams, perhaps most notable about the platform is how many musicians are cultivating their fan bases through direct-to-fan marketing as well as shining a light on some of those classics we loved back when we only had MSN Messenger… or Yahoo Messenger. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But there are some curmudgeons out there who think that more and more musicians are tailoring their music to the TikTok crowd, making it shorter and less complicated to become the next viral sensation: a flash in the pan, a one-hit wonder. Has music gotten shorter in recent years, thanks to the advent of TikTok? One study shows it's the exact opposite. | Getty Images/Canva With that comes a lot of 'old anorak' talk, too, about how music, quote, 'back in our day was meatier, lengthier and complex. These days it's all just a clap, a whistle and a crowd hollering during a chorus'. But Startle, who create and manages strategic audio-visual experiences to make retail and hospitality brands unforgettable, thought this to be an unfair assumption and set out to find out if music has gotten shorter and less complex (subtext: lazier) over the annals of time. Sorry, old timers – we might be very wrong in our estimations... Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The science part (Methodology) Startle analysed 300 top-charting songs from the UK, selecting 50 from each decade between 1974 and 2024. They used Spotify to measure song length and manually counted total words, while ChatGPT was used to analyse lyrical complexity based on metrics like syllables, pronouns, and unique words. A "Complexity Score" between 0 and 10 was then calculated for each decade using minmax normalisation, where 10 represents the highest complexity. Has music gotten shorter and less complex in recent years? Well, as it turns out, no. Startle's study found that the average song length in 2024 was 3 minutes and 51 seconds, which is a 20-second increase from the average length in 1974. Eurovision fans might enjoy this example: 'Waterloo' by ABBA, considered a concise and memorable pop track, runs for a mere 2 minutes and 44 seconds. By contrast, 'Too Sweet' by Hozier (who happens to be playing Leeds and Reading this month) clocks in at 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While some would argue that the rise of mumble rap in the 2010s surely demonstrates a lack of lyrical complexity, you would also be wrong about that. The study shows that modern songs are more lyrically complex and use more words and unique language than the most popular tracks from the '70s, '80s, and '90s. To top it off, Startle found that while songs peaked in length in the '80s, they often featured fewer words and simpler structures than today's music. Using the classic '90s hit, 'U Can't Touch This' by MC Hammer, that song runs for 4 minutes and 16 seconds, with a total number of lyrics adding up to 270 words. Compare that to Danny Brown's track, 'Pneumonia,' which lasts 3 minutes and 39 seconds; he spits a total of 360 words in his song, outpacing Hammer by 99 words per minute compared to the 63 per minute Hammer utters.
The Age
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Edgy or offensive? How these early-2000s internet creators kept webcomics alive
It's an average day on the internet in 2005: your friends are changing their status on MSN Messenger, a new Salad Fingers episode has landed, and everyone is blogging. But look, something new – a comic strip about a stick-figure with alcoholism. What is this twisted, yet hilarious, creation? It is the work of Cyanide and Happiness (C&H), a US-based dark comedy webcomics group and one of the unofficial founders of meme culture. Originally developed by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick and Matt Melvin, C&H comics have few boundaries – topics such as religion, abortion, murder, even necrophilia, all feature. Yet, despite their bleak and potentially offensive content, they were attracting over a million daily views by 2012. 'C&H has this shit-post kind of attitude; we've always been meme by nature. That was pretty new and rare [in 2005],' Wilson says. 'We're never intentionally trying to be edgy or offensive, but I think that's a big reason why C&H resonates with people. It's joking about everyone for the sake of it, making fun of everything.' Now, nearly two decades later, the internet has changed. Webcomics are arguably well past their peak, with short-form videos and influencer content dominating. But C&H is still releasing new comics every day and will be in Melbourne for Oz Comic-Con this month. 'We're constantly trying to reinvent the way we distribute our comics,' DenBleyker says. 'We try to adapt to the internet instead of fight against it. The majority of our audience doesn't even go to our website any more. They read our comics on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. As long as people are reading our comics, we're happy. It doesn't matter where.' Unlike many websites in the early 2000s, C&H was not precious. It allowed fans to share and remix its comics – which is what meme culture is all about.
Sydney Morning Herald
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Edgy or offensive? How these early-2000s internet creators kept webcomics alive
It's an average day on the internet in 2005: your friends are changing their status on MSN Messenger, a new Salad Fingers episode has landed, and everyone is blogging. But look, something new – a comic strip about a stick-figure with alcoholism. What is this twisted, yet hilarious, creation? It is the work of Cyanide and Happiness (C&H), a US-based dark comedy webcomics group and one of the unofficial founders of meme culture. Originally developed by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick and Matt Melvin, C&H comics have few boundaries – topics such as religion, abortion, murder, even necrophilia, all feature. Yet, despite their bleak and potentially offensive content, they were attracting over a million daily views by 2012. 'C&H has this shit-post kind of attitude; we've always been meme by nature. That was pretty new and rare [in 2005],' Wilson says. 'We're never intentionally trying to be edgy or offensive, but I think that's a big reason why C&H resonates with people. It's joking about everyone for the sake of it, making fun of everything.' Now, nearly two decades later, the internet has changed. Webcomics are arguably well past their peak, with short-form videos and influencer content dominating. But C&H is still releasing new comics every day and will be in Melbourne for Oz Comic-Con this month. 'We're constantly trying to reinvent the way we distribute our comics,' DenBleyker says. 'We try to adapt to the internet instead of fight against it. The majority of our audience doesn't even go to our website any more. They read our comics on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. As long as people are reading our comics, we're happy. It doesn't matter where.' Unlike many websites in the early 2000s, C&H was not precious. It allowed fans to share and remix its comics – which is what meme culture is all about.
Daily Record
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Charli xcx fans are only just learning the 'gnarly' story behind her name
Charli xcx has been a staple of British pop for years - but some fans are only just learning the meaning behind the name of the BRAT superstar Long before "Brat summer" took over the 2024 music scene, Charli xcx was steadily climbing to fame. Yet, it appears that her fans are only now discovering the unique origin of her stage name. Charlotte Emma Aitchison, known in the pop world as Charli xcx, grabbed headlines in June 2024 upon releasing her sixth studio album BRAT. The album's striking style, unstoppable vigour and a viral promotional campaign catapulted her into public consciousness, significantly amplifying her listener base. She first gained recognition with her 2014 hit Boom Clap and then maintained momentum with the bold single Boys in 2017, which quickly became a mainstay on playlists. Charli also supported Taylor Swift during the 2018 international Reputation stadium tour, occasionally joining the megastar for performances of Shake It Off. Despite her growing body of work and numerous notable gigs, many remain unaware of the backstory to Charli xcx's moniker. A nostalgic trip down memory lane uncovers the truth behind her name. In a 2015 interaction on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Charli told Tanya Rad that her celebrated alias originated from her early MSN Messenger nickname, reports Surrey Live. "XCX was my MSN screen name when I was younger, which was really gnarly of me, I guess," she said. "It stood for kiss Charli kiss. "When I first started playing my first shows, the promoter was like, 'What should I put on the flyer?' I was like 14 or 15, and I was like 'Uh, just put Charli xcx!' And it just kind of stuck from there." She brought up her stage name again at the 2015 Grammy Awards, quipping on the red carpet: "Gotta stick with it... I'm not gonna pull a Prince," giving a playful nod to the iconic musician's well-known switch to an unpronounceable symbol. Years on, Charli xcx has etched her name into British pop history. Hailing from Cambridge and growing up in Essex, she has emerged as one of the UK's most innovative artists, earning both critical acclaim and commercial success. Last year, her album BRAT received widespread praise, bagging multiple honours, including Album of the Year at the 2025 BRIT Awards, Artist of the Year, Best Dance Act, Song of the Year for Guess (featuring Billie Eilish), and Songwriter of the Year. Additionally, she took home Grammys for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Recording Package.
