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On electric avenue

Mainstream pop is more digital than ever today, as more and more mainstream artistes seem to be getting on the electropop bandwagon

PHOTO: AFP

NAUGHTY AND NICE Nelly Furtado's new album revels in the new trend

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 80s electropop Rudebox, and you'll find that the electronic sound seems suddenly 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 in a new direction."

Taken a backseat

And so it is that much of the soul and R&B that dominated pop until recently now seems to have taken a backseat to the production heavy, synth sounds of the season. What many find most interesting about this new direction is the emphasis it has taken away from singing onto other areas of music making.

Mili Nair, a musician and RJ for WorldSpace, for instance, finds it very 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. "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 that can get past such issues, however, the new sound promises a lot, says Kenny. The digital sound is easier to produce, he points out, and it is easier to make the music sound better and sound funkier. As far as the musicianship goes, he adds: "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," he says. And that change gives the newer pop hits an "edgy sound that is appropriate for clubs," says Malavika Varadan, an RJ for Radio City. "Furtado's `Promiscuous' might not be the best way to showcase her voice, but it is still a great song."

And much of the credit for that, and for many of the pop hits go to the rapper-producers working on the albums, points out Mili. "In the early 90s, 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," she says. Of course, with so much attention shifting onto high-profile producers, an inevitable consequence is albums such as Paris Hilton's debut Paris, where a crack team of producers and songwriters actually manage to make the hotel heiress vaguely likeable, a mammoth task considering the celebrity in question. But points out, Malavika, for all the bad press, Hilton's debut album is still managing to sell and she is making more than listenable music.

And so it is that aside from a few minor quirks about individual products, electropop is back in vogue. And while not everyone might be gung ho about this new turn in pop, industry observers agree that there is certainly some substance to this latest trend, making it one to watch out for.

RAKESH MEHAR

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