A great example of what Sean and I would define as combination music is Nelly and Tim McGraw's crossover hit "Over and Over." This was also a prime song to look at because its reviews vary, expressing divergent opinions on the country/rap song.
Note: Snapshots of reviews will appear small because of formatting issues, but click on them and they will become large enough to read.
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Here somnambulist reveals one effect that combination music can have; it can open listeners of one genre up to a new one that they may embrace. This reviewer even uses the word "discovered." A takeaway from this review is that one need not necessarily be a fan of all genres that are combined in combination music before hearing it to enjoy it.
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In this review, Mikey the Great aptly points out that for an artist, the risk of dabbling in a new genre is not a fleeting one that fades away quickly. It can impact their image long past the time that a single is released. Mikey the Great doesn't explicitly say "image" here, but his mention of street cred can be used as a substitute. Another key point to denote here is that Mikey the Great was a fan of Nelly before this song came out. Certainly, there will always be listeners who write terrible reviews for artists they already disliked, but the true fans whose opinions change for the worse are really the ones with whom artists must be concerned when attempting to cross over genre lines.
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In comparing country and rap to peanutbutter and pickles, moonshine19's review shows that not all the animosity tied into disliking a form of combination music is placed on the shoulders of the artist or group.
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Here is another example of a reviewer who mentioned image.
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While the examples I provided here were mostly negative, eight out of 11 references to the song in the reviews were positive. There is clearly response bias involved (chances are those who didn't buy it/didn't like it were less likely to respond), but to be fair I included the breakdown.
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To touch on the mashup side of combination music, I looked at reviews of "Frontin' on Debra (DJ Reset Mash-Up)," a combination of Beck's "Debra" and Pharrell's "Frontin.'"
This one struck me because in it, juleshills actually refers to the song as a mashup (rare in these reviews) and outlines what a mashup should do.
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This review shows a major distinction between crossover songs and mashups. When it comes to mashups, artists are not held accountable because their music is fused with another's music often without consent.
Hey, so I think the last point will be an important one for your final - you'll want to discuss the difference between Mashups and crossover songs, and say which you'll tackle. I think this was a creative way to get listener input. I don't know that only people who like it would comment though, just anyone on either polar end of the debate as to whether something was good or bad.
ReplyDeleteI think looking on iTunes was a really smart way to get some fan feedback about these songs. Reading your fieldnotes opened my eyes to crossovers, as I never really considered them a stand-alone genre. I think it would be super interesting to look further into crossovers. Country and rap are two very different genres, and it might be worth while to look at other country/rap crossovers that have become hits and perhaps compare them to "Over and Over."
ReplyDeleteIt would also be cool to look at other crossover fusions. Something with hip-hop and metal for example?
I bet looking at crossovers that combine more similar genres might also be educational. It may perhaps be only the true fans of the scenes that would comment on these songs or complain that the crossover does not work.
I want to agree with the other two comments in saying that getting itunes listener feedback is a great way to get information about certain songs. I also like how it shows the side of mash-ups that can be sold since most mash-ups cannot be marketed due to the fact that the artist doesn't have permission from the songwriters. I also think that this shows a trend in the crossover industry in popular music today. Many rappers are taking old songs and creating new crossovers across genres.
ReplyDeleteThis second set of field notes got my even more interested in learning about your topic. The itunes feedback is definitely great because not only is it beneficial to get feedback from other people with common interests but it also allows you to relate to their responses and infer information that will ultimately help you create an argument. I am interested to see the culmination of all of your information in your final post.
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