Gaga vs. Philosophy: A Defense of Pop Music

Originally written February 2, 2023; unpublished until June 2023 with minor changes

Pop music has always been a contentious topic. From hipsters to haters, there always seems to be a new voice complaining about the songs topping the charts. However, for Theodor Adorno and Julian Johnson, the issue goes beyond a simple difference in taste and takes a turn into philosophical anxiety over the effects from the mass-distribution of music. For Adorno, much of the fear stems from what the commodification of music does to the listener, whereas Johnson is more concerned about what commodification does to the music.

Looking at Adorno, much of the issue boils down to commodified music is made to please the masses and has thus become too formulaic. Music that is a product can never be anything deeper because it must keep the status quo. While groups like Axis of Awesome seem to agree all pop music is formulaic, pop artists have often used those very formulas to break societal norms and shift the status quo. For example, Lady Gaga might be the most banal, generic popstar one could imagine, but it wasn’t always that way. Although her late-2000s songs followed the same structure and instrumentation as other pop hits, the formula held a trojan horse of mold-breaking messaging. Many of her songs included messages like mental health awareness, LGBTQ acceptance, and even anti-exploitation. It might be hard to remember, but only 15 years ago these were very taboo and controversial topics. Lady Gaga was the first time many people were even exposed to the types of conversations which have become normal only a decade later. Pop music, something people were very familiar with, was able to serve as the delivery method for major social change. In this case, as in many others, the formula was the weapon to break the status quo, not maintain it.

Switching to Johnson's ideas, one of the main concerns was that the spread of music into different forms and playback technologies destroys the opportunity to see it as art. The more that music is simply used as the backdrop for other activities (parties, working, shopping, etc.), the more likely we are to regard it as an ambient presence, like the temperature or light. In many ways we lose the ability to consider the meaning or potential of the piece simply because the medium reduces the likelihood we will engage with it on a level deep enough to get anything out of it. This snowballs into a problem where the music that comes after is no longer designed to be examined closely since no one ever will.

To be honest, I don’t entirely disagree with his points. I think music should be appreciated as an art and people should sit down and do nothing but listen more often. I am hardly innocent when it comes to using music as ambience, and I find deeper connections to the music when I permit it to be the only thing in my mind. However, pop music forming a background of our life is far from a bad thing. Much like music, all types of art sometimes take a subconscious role in our lives. Murals become commonplace; architecture is often overlooked; and despite what Johnson claims, it is entirely possible to read a book without paying any attention to the words on the page. However, what all these art forms (including music) share, is that the background they provide make the world better to live in. Wall art makes the walk through the city a bit more colorful; simply walking into a beautiful building can boost your day; and as silly as it might be, a little bit of “Bad Romance” while you wait in line at the store might make you hum along and bop your hips a bit. Although most people are not engaging pop music as a serious art form on a day-to-day basis, it is still making their lives better and happier. As important as it is to have art that teaches us about the dark or mysterious parts of ourselves, I think art that teaches us the answers to one of life’s biggest questions -how to be happy- is just as vital, possibly even more.

Note: This was an assignment in my Writing About Music class. We were to write a response to the ideas of Adorno and Johnson from class readings and defend pop music. Our claims did not need to be extensive, but they were to include at least one example of a song or artists that supported our claims. These pieces were written with the understanding that there would be some generalization of social issues, philosophies, and concepts. However, the main point of this exercise was to show understanding of the two thinkers' ideas and be able to engage with them. Target 500-700 words.