Well, this isn’t something you hear every day. A prominent artist from the past has actually stood up for today’s pop music.
Pet Shop Boys‘ Neil Tennant was questioned about his thoughts on “the current pop landscape” during an interview by Noisey. He mentions Zayn Malik, The Weeknd, Skrillex, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift as some of the people who are having an affect on the pop music industry.
“I think the current pop landscape is pretty good actually,” he said, with a smile. “I thought last year we arrived at a place where mainstream pop music started to, for the first time in ages, take in influences from what would be underground if it wasn’t underground, if it hadn’t gone mainstream.”
He is revealed to be a huge fan of Malik, referring to his latest single It’s You as “the most beautiful record”. Malik stands out in the pop charts as a successful mixed-race, Muslim artist, paving the way for more like him to step through the barrier and share their talent.
He then goes on to talk about some of the female artists in pop music, likening Taylor Swift to Margaret Thatcher. “I think Lady Gaga’s been interesting. Taylor Swift is a sort of Mrs Thatcher of pop music in that she seems to be about economics. But, you know what, at least someone is interested in that,” he said.
He does, however, mention something he believes is an issue in pop music today. “There’s a problem in pop music, in spite of what I just said, which is subject matter of pop music. There’s currently only one subject matter and that is the singer, and possibly their emotional life, or their issues with fame. There’s not a lot of role playing going on.”
Many artists of the past previously haven’t been so kind to today’s artists. Morrissey expressed his distaste for the pop scene last year, dragging singers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith in the process. Sheeran was quick to stand up for himself and Smith after the comments were published. The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards also spoke about pop stars and their habit of hiring songwriters, saying that “they can’t rely on themselves.”
Tennant’s open-minded thoughts were as refreshing and informative as the rest of the interview. Watch it in full below.
Image: The Telegraph UK