MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
What makes a hit song a hit? The answer often comes down to you know it when you hear it. But a researcher set out to try, through scientific method, to explain our emotional connection to popular music, and along the way, she made an interesting discovery. The vocal arrangements in today's most popular songs...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A BAR SONG (TIPSY)")
SHABOOZEY: (Singing) Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey. They know me and Jack Daniels got a history. There's a party downtown near Fifth Street. Everybody at the bar gettin' tipsy.
MARTIN: ...Are much simpler than hits from decades past.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MONA LISA")
NAT KING COLE: (Singing) Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you.
MADELINE HAMILTON: We found that the complexity of melodies in the most popular music has been decreasing steadily since 1950.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Madeline Hamilton is a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London. She analyzed more than 1,000 pop songs to show how the vocals have gotten less sophisticated over the years.
MARTIN: One older song in particular stands out.
HAMILTON: "You Belong To Me" by Jo Stafford. I believe it is the fourth most popular song of 1952.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU BELONG TO ME")
JO STAFFORD: (Singing) See the pyramids along the Nile. Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle.
HAMILTON: When you listen to the vocal melody, what you'll notice about it is it's rhythmically very free. It's very complex.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU BELONG TO ME")
STAFFORD: (Singing) I'll be so alone...
HAMILTON: There's a beat that's underneath it, but she's not really following it. She's just kind of floating over it. She's not constrained by a particular rhythm or beat or anything.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU BELONG TO ME")
STAFFORD: (Singing) Fly the ocean in a silver plane.
HAMILTON: It's very beautiful.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU BELONG TO ME")
STAFFORD: (Singing) See the jungle when it's wet with rain.
MARTIN: OK, now let's hear a more recent song.
HAMILTON: Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" has a pretty simple melody.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POKER FACE")
LADY GAGA: (Singing) I want to hold them like they do in Texas, please.
HAMILTON: Iconic song, great song - there's a lot of interesting things about "Poker Face." But the melody, what she's actually singing...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POKER FACE")
LADY GAGA: (Singing) P-p-p-poker face.
HAMILTON: ...Especially in the verse is pretty simple.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POKER FACE")
LADY GAGA: (Singing) I wanna roll with him, a hard pair we will be - hey. A little gambling is fun when you're with me - I love it.
MARTÍNEZ: Hamilton says, It doesn't mean today's hits lack complexity. She says advances in music recording and production are allowing for more sophisticated instrumental arrangements.
HAMILTON: Pop songs today have so many layers. There's so many different textures of sounds. I think what is probably happening is melodies are getting simpler to compensate for that. And I don't think that's really a bad thing. I just think it means that our attention as listeners is shifting to other aspects of music.
(SOUNDBITE OF LADY GAGA SONG, "POKER FACE")
MARTIN: I'm just going to admit this - I can't sing. Simple or complicated, it's all the same. Nobody wants to hear it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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