By Last spring, pop artist PinkPantheress sparked minor controversy over stating her opinion that she does not believe songs need to be longer than two minutes and thirty seconds. She elaborated on this, stating that bridges, outros and repeated verses are simply not needed.
This sparked heated debate online, with masses of people calling her opinion lazy and a result of the “TikTokification” of music.
In reality, it seems that the shortening of songs can be attributed to multiple factors, and not including a bridge in a song is not only indicative of the public’s growing preference for shorter tracks, but an intentional creative choice.
In a study done in 2021, it was found that the duration of songs over the last 20 years has been on a steady decline, going from around four and a half minutes to three minutes and 15 seconds.
The music industry is currently experiencing its most rapid and visceral change in the digital age, with the combination of digital streaming platforms, social media and artificial intelligence having a major impact on how music is made and consumed.
Unfortunately, this has resulted in an overall lower expectation on the quality of the music we are listening to and the production process itself.
The “TikTokification” of music is a real phenomena that we can definitely hear.
However, what PinkPantheress and similar artists like Laila! and lil hero are doing in omitting bridges in many of their songs, represents the many young artists who were raised in the Internet era experimenting with production and songwriting.
Thanks to software like GarageBand, even children with Internet access and a hint of tech savviness are able to create a new age of bedroom pop and dance pop that sounds like it was truly birthed from the digital age.
Short, sweet and heavily produced pop is not “lazy” or uncreative, but instead an indicator of the landscape under which many Gen Z and Gen Alpha aged artists were brought up under.
