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On electric avenue

Mainstream artistes are jumping on to the electropop bandwagon

There's a new flavour in the air for the last couple of seasons, and it has a definite electronic feel to it. Take any of the big selling pop acts today, from Madonna's dance extravaganza Confessions on a Dance Floor to Nelly Furtado's "naughty" album Loose to Robbie Williams's wayward tribute to 1980s electropop Rudebox, and you'll find that the electronic sound seems the direction to go in.

As Head of Programming for Channel [V] Luke Kenny, points out, a large section of the top 40s pop machinery, many of whom had more organic sounds in the past, seems to have reacted strongly to another movement headed in the opposite direction. "People have been getting an overdose of rock-oriented bands," he says. "So it's natural that pop should go in the other direction, less rock and more electronic." Agrees T. Suresh, General Manager, EMI India: "When people get bored of certain patterns, then they will obviously innovate."

Hip-hop influence

So soul and R&B that dominated pop until recently seems to have taken a backseat and given way to the production heavy, synth sounds. What many find interesting about this is the shift of emphasis from singing to other areas of music making.

Mili Nair, a musician and RJ for WorldSpace, for instance, finds it interesting that this new sound also comes with a definite hip-hop influence. "Especially with the female stars, the focus is on rapping rather than singing," she points out. "It's not like they can't sing. But that's what their image has become. Fergie was first launched with "Where is the love", in which she doesn't rap at all. So I was quite upset when she came out with Ducchess."

For those who can get past such issues, the new sound promises a lot, says Kenny. The digital sound is easier to produce and it is easier to make the music sound better, sound funkier, he says. "The electronic sound gives a different dimension to song writing. You're not writing verse, chorus, verse anymore. It's like using different media to paint your sonic picture." And this change gives the new pop hits a "new edgy sound that is appropriate for clubs," says Malavika Varadan, an RJ for Radio City. "Promiscuous," she says of Nelly Furtado's latest hit, "might not be the best way to showcase her voice, but it is still a great song."

Much of the credit for that, and for many of the latest pop hits go to the rapper-producers working on the albums, points out Mili. "In the early 1990s, Timbaland would probably have been featured occasionally on an album. But collaborations (on the scale of his appearance on Furtado's Loose) weren't as big then."

RAKESH MEHAR

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