The Millennial Whoop – Why most pop songs sound alike
A video posted by Quartz (a news outlet) describing the theory behind the millennial whoop has gone viral. It’s an interesting perspective on why modern music feels comfortable and familiar to most listeners.The phrase was coined by musician, Richard Metzger. It is a sound caused by a shift from the fifth note in a scale to the third, and then back to the fifth.
If you don’t listen to a lot of pop music you probably wouldn’t have noticed the millennial whoop. But then again, if you do listen to a lot of pop music you most likely do so unconsciously. Therefore, the whoop probably hasn’t been apparent to you either.
The formula
Upon watching the video, the evidence of the favoured millennial whoop is everywhere in pop music. While it’s fascinating it’s also a little creepy; classic, shimmering, superficially uplifting, and emotionally charged. A lot like the magic made by Walt Disney for kids.
It’s a formula that triggers certain brain responses in the listener and the familiarity of the track with the millennial whoop is what helps the song get into the charts. It’s not much of a secret and thanks to this new video mapping it out, even more people will be turned onto this one of a kind formula.
“Music, especially pop music, is based on patterns. It makes new songs feel familiar because you’ve basically heard them before.” said Quartz
While the whoop is a lot more widely used now, it isn’t an altogether new music trend. The pattern is visible in Beethoven’s Concerto No. 5.
According to the video…“This is a very specific interval and sound that has become incredibly common over just the past few years.”
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