Do you remember artists disappearing for a year or more? I do but soon that will be a distant memory, there are still artists that disappear for over 365 days but it is becoming a rarity. Nowadays, if you are music lover you find yourself feeling bloated after Thursday and Friday's releases because there is so much to digest.
Coronavirus
Coronavirus, a disease that has disrupted the world for the best part of two years, definitely had a major effect on this acceleration of music. My reason for this, is because many of us were forced to spend a lot of time inside, which means that people had more time to stream music; there was an 8.2% increase in album purchases in 2020 according to the BPI. With listeners more tuned in than ever, it meant their demand increased, so rappers/singers were dropping music more than ever, with deluxe editions sweeping the rap industry. Now deluxe editions are not new to the industry but 2020 definitely saw a resurgence of them. It was cool at first, but it eventually became suffocating.
Deluxe Albums
Suffocation is the vibe I'm getting from the music scene right now. Young Thug, Lil Uzi, and Migos all dropped their deluxe editions only one week after the official album released. This is bananas. The whole idea having something to 'sit with' is being abolished. My purist mindset loves the idea of an album representing a stage in an artists life so it becomes a moment. A moment that you can study because it signifies a certain time period. UK artists like Fredo and D Block Europe are now starting to drop two tapes a year but it is hard to enjoy when the projects the same subject matter as the tape that dropped four months ago, the music isn't bad, but not very progressive. It's just playing up to listeners ever so short attention spans. You feel lucky if you listen to a song over 3 minutes these days, it gives me a feeling that a lot of these songs are rushed and just thrown out to appease blood thirsty fans.
Last year Roddy Ricch said to GQ magazine" I could work for two or three days and make 50 songs. And then I’ll step away for like a week. Less is more. Spending more time figuring out how I feel and figuring out different things around me." This mindset excites in an artist. He wants to go through life a little bit and then give us a project to round off the time period. Wizkid currently has his album (which dropped las year) Made In Lagos on everyones lips. Wizkid focused on showing the world the best cultural representation he possibly could and that's why people are going crazy about it nearly a year after because the album has timeless messages about true love and receiving blessings. After that album Wizkid could have left the scene for years and come back but again he fell victim to the deluxe trend, it just too much right now.
The Future
The music scene right now represents the world that we are in right now, fast paced. So the music is being treated like fast food. But don't think you think that music should be escape that slows us down in this Usain Bolt-like world we are living in? I just want more music that focus on the timeless things in life like, love, blessings, family, heartbreak, culture. Music like that can't be made quickly because there is so much more to cover, so if artists were to do this you would see the rate of music releases decrease. I understand you need the party bangers, but I just want a balance, there is no balance now. Hopefully all this time inside is making creatives dig deep and plan to give us great music.
Comments