Mindless pop music embraced by the masses is nothing new. Musically, Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” is literally four mindless chords over meaningless lyrics about a about a dog crying all the time. And teenagers loved him for it, selling a billion records and launching a massive career. The same recipe for pop success applies today: A couple easy chords through a synth that invoke some emotion and some lyrics that make everyone think about their equivalent to “a roommate back in Boulder” and, voilà!, you have a smash hit from someone like The Chainsmokers. And they’re laughing alllll the way to the bank, surrounded by hordes of fans that will continue to love them and embrace their every musical move.
And honestly, my philosophy is this: Good for them. There’s no easy path to the mountaintop And good for their fans who love it. You should never apology for the music that you love.
This dude went on Snapchat and deconstructed your typical Chainsmokers song. It’s pretty amusing, with him throwing around lyrics like “your hair reminded me of tide detergent when we were young.” The video was so successful that he turned it into his own thing: