by Sean Kang ’14

My parents have never been fans of the music that plays from my room. Whether it’s a rap album, R&B record, or even the radio, they always seem to disapprove. Most of the time, I attributed their distaste in my music to the 40 years that separate us, but not once had I considered the possibility that it was the music that was deteriorating.

For years, I listened to the same radio station and never realized that I had been hypnotized by a wave of terrible music. A lot of people would be in disbelief if they were told that teens enjoy listening to bad music, but they’d be surprised to see how low teens’ expectations have become. When we’re exposed to bad music at a young age, we become accustomed to music that we perceive to be good, but is actually quite the opposite.

Back when our parents were younger, a song or album was judged by how soulful and passionate the singer’s voice was, along with how deep and meaningful the lyrics were. Nowadays, a song just has to be catchy and “fun” for it to end up on a teenager’s iPod. But to understand how such a dramatic change occurred in the musical tastes of the popular audience, you have to be familiar with the pioneers of this awful-music movement.

In the last few years, the world has been introduced to musical acts such as Rebecca Black, Trinidad James, Lil’ B and Kreayshawn, all infamous for being terrible artists. Despite their lack of talent, these “artists” (a term I use very loosely) have garnered millions of views on YouTube and received offers from major record labels.

Anyone can upload a video of themselves to the Internet but the chances of their video becoming a viral hit is very slim. So what separates the Rebecca Blacks and Trinidad James from the rest of the millions of videos on YouTube? Social Media. Through the use of Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, these overnight stars were able to spread the news about their videos and amass a great Internet following.

What’s even worse is that a few veteran artists are starting to follow the trend and are creating low-quality music as well. 50 Cent, a rapper who acquired international fame after the release of his debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” has been fading from the world of music as he ventured into acting and entrepreneurship. Attempting to renew his popularity, 50 Cent released new singles from his upcoming album that not only poorly reflect his early music but also feature no substantial content.

Aside from the untalented and recycled artists that compose the majority of mainstream music today, there are a few artists whose music strongly reflects the traditional sounds of their respective genres. Frank Ocean and Kendrick Lamar, whose music resembles that of R&B legend Marvin Gaye and West Coast hip-hop king Tupac, respectively, are among the few who give hope that music can still be saved.