Channel surfing the other night and Saturday Night Live comes on just as the guest artist starting performing the first set, so I give it a go. There was a sexy young singer backed up by an all-girl group wearing business like men's suits. First impression was 'typical new pop stuff'. After about a minute, they starting hooking me in with this "Boom-Clap' hook. By the end of the song, I kind of liked it. Very tight band that played this style (teeny-bop?) really well. The second set impressed me again with a song 'Break The Rules'. Subsequently I find out it is 'Charli XCX'. I guess this British performer has broken into the pop-charts this past year and her second CD is getting a lot of attention (including mine). Yes, it is 'poppy' and the lyrics are high-school-ish, but I found her, the band, and the songs to be refreshing. Not necessarily something I would listen to all the time, but rather, just fun tunes. The whole performance caught me by surprise and left this cynic with some hope that there are some young capable performers and musicians out there.
 
If curious here's one link to the performances:
 
http://www.stereogum.com/1724898/watch-charli-xcx-play-snl/video/

Not a fan, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. I think we sometimes get the hypocritical notion that it is bad to like pop and , worse yet, pretend the stuff we do like is somehow better and any less contrived. Every now and then I hear something catchy on the radio and find myself bopping along even though i know it was some formulaic hit churned out en masse by the hot producer of the moment. There are tons of young capable performers out there.  i have even argued that there is probably more musical talent than at any point in history due to exponential increase in accessibility to instruments, instruction and recording that did not exist when i was a child. Show me your favorite  classic guitar solo and I can likely find a pre-teen Korean that can play it lick for lick on Youtube. I find , at least in my experience, the differences between pop of yesteryear and pop from now is more of a degree of how it is produced and marketed rather than a difference in raw talent. From a purely technical stance, is Justin Bieber a measurably worse singer than say, Shaun Cassidy or even Paul McCartney? Are the lyrics to your typical pop hit that more inane than such "classics" as "my dingaling", "The lemon song", "tooti fruiti", "open the door Richard" etc?  The glut of available pop may make it seem like there is more garbage than ever before but I believe that we just have more access to everything now and thus the amount of what we don't like is increased along with what we do like.  Humans are more likely to harp on the negative without objectively measuring the ratio of actual change. I think I got off to a bad start with Charli, because her big break was doing a song with Iggy Azalea and I just can't shake the connection lol.

Old dude drools over young chick pop star?

bapu
Old dude drools over young chick pop star?

I was trying to give him the philosophical high road and not attribute it to dirty oldman-itis but you just had to go there!!

I saw that SNL show and commented to the wife that she sounded like a poor Gwen Stefani impersonator doing drunk kareoki. (sic?)
 
Yeah, I realize that music isn't intended for me, but I do appreciate the eye candy.
 
Randy

 
> Old dude drools over young chick pop star
Subconsciously, this may have gotten me to stay with the channel longer than I might had.   They had a lot of good marketing going on with their performances; the way the band was dressed; even the fact the band was an all-girl group. Curiosity can be a great marketing technique.
 
>  i have even argued that there is probably more musical talent than at any point in history due to exponential increase in accessibility to instruments, instruction and recording that did not exist when i was a child.
Good point. I am amazed sometimes at the unknown talent out there just on YouTube videos. I agree that the amount and ease of getting good instructional material is so much more available today. And so much of a vey high quality. Seems like a lot of new/young 'pop' groups are not really showing that off though. My impression is that all recent year pop songs are probably done with great studio players. So the talent stays hidden. Seems like all the pop stars today are just solo singers and boy-bands that can barely harmonize.   
 
> she sounded like a poor Gwen Stefani impersonator doing drunk kareoki. (sic?)
Probably can't argue with that Randy. I think it was her energy and attitude (and the bands) that caught my attention. I am still a little stunned that this performance caught my attention as much as it did. I would expect her career to do well and wish her the best.
 
...Ken