Dance-pop
Encyclopedia
Dance-pop is dance
-oriented pop music
that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco
, it is generally up-tempo music intended for club
s with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey. Dance-pop music is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which are generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions.
Dance-pop is a popular style and there are several artists and groups who perform in the genre. Notable ones include Madonna
, Kylie Minogue
, Rick Astley
, Mel & Kim, Michael Jackson
, Janet Jackson
, Bananarama
, Spice Girls
, Christina Aguilera
, Katy Perry
, Britney Spears
, Rihanna
, Lady Gaga
and Kesha
amongst others.
, which tended to be more experimental, electronic
and producer/DJ-driven, often using sequencer
s and synthesizer
s. Dance-pop music emerged in the 1980s as a form of dance, or post-disco, which was up-tempo, club-natured, producer-driven and catchy. Dance-pop was more up-tempo and dancey than regular pop music, yet more structured and less free-form than regular dance music, usually combining pop's easy structure and catchy tunes with dance music's strong beat and up-tempo nature. Dance-pop music was usually created, composed and produced by record producers who would then hire singers to perform the songs. In the 1980s, dance-pop was closely aligned to other up-tempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG
. Prominent producers in the 80s included Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who created Hi-NRG/dance-pop for artists such as Kylie Minogue
, Rick Astley
and Bananarama
. Prominent dance-pop artists and groups of the 80s included Madonna
, the Pet Shop Boys
, Whitney Houston
, Paula Abdul
, Mel and Kim
, Janet Jackson
and Michael Jackson
.
By the 1990s, dance-pop music had become a major genre in popular music. Dance-pop music borrowed influences from other genres which varied by producer, artist and period. Such include contemporary R&B
, house
, techno
and synthpop
. Since dance-pop music tends to be simple, it often varies and borrows in style from its period. Several dance-pop groups and artists emerged during the decade, such as the Spice Girls
, Britney Spears
and Christina Aguilera
. By the late-1990s, electronic
influences became evident in dance-pop music; Madonna's critically acclaimed and commercially successful Ray of Light
(1998) album incorporated techno
, trance
and other forms of electronic dance music
, bringing electronica
into mainstream dance-pop. Additionally, also in 1998, Cher
released a dance-pop song called "Believe
" which made usage of a technological innovation of the time, Auto-Tune
. An audio processor and a form of pitch modification software, it became commonly used as a way to correct pitch, as well as to create a special effect. Ever since the 1990s, Auto-Tune became a common feature of dance-pop music.
At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, and was highly electronic in style, influenced by genres such as trance, house, techno and electro
. Nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop
music became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban
music. Dance-pop stars from the 80s and 90s such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna and Kylie Minogue continued to achieve success at the beginning of the decade. Whilst a lot of dance-pop at the time was R&B-influenced, many records started to return to their disco
roots; Kylie Minogue's albums such as Light Years (2000) and Fever
(2001) contained influences of disco music, or a new 21st century version of disco known as Nu-disco
; hit singles such as "Spinning Around
" (2000) and "Can't Get You Out of My Head
" (2001) also contained elements of disco music. In Madonna's case, her Music
(2000) album contained traces of Euro disco
, especially the successful eponymous lead single
. Nevertheless, it was not until the mid to later part of the decade that dance-pop music returned greatly to its disco roots; this can be seen with Madonna's album Confessions on a Dance Floor
(2005), which contained strong disco influences, especially from 1970s artists and bands such as ABBA
, Giorgio Moroder
, the Bee Gees
and Donna Summer
. Britney Spears' Blackout contained influences of Euro disco music. The mid to late-2000s saw the arrival of several new dance-pop artists, including Rihanna
, Kesha
and Lady Gaga
. This period in time also saw dance-pop's return to its more electronic roots aside from its disco ones, with strong influences of synthpop and electropop music; Rihanna singles in the dance-pop genre such as "Don't Stop the Music
" and "Disturbia
" contain electronic influences, the former of which contains elements of house music, the latter electropop; Lady Gaga's singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face
" are also heavily influenced by synthpop and electropop music; Kesha's debut single, "Tik Tok
", is also highly electronic in style and employs a video game beat.
The 2010s so far have, similarly to the late-2000s, seen strong electronic influences present within dance-pop music. Dance-pop artists such as Kesha, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Rihanna remain very popular, and several new dance-pop artists have or are starting to emerge.
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
-oriented pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco
Post-disco
Post-disco refers to a historically significant period in popular music history beginning with the commercial death of disco music in the late 1970s and ending with the mainstream appearance of house music in late 1980s.The stripped-down musical trends followed from the DJ- and producer-driven,...
, it is generally up-tempo music intended for club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey. Dance-pop music is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which are generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions.
Dance-pop is a popular style and there are several artists and groups who perform in the genre. Notable ones include Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Rick Astley
Rick Astley
Richard Paul "Rick" Astley is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries...
, Mel & Kim, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
, Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...
, Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
, Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
, Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
and Kesha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
amongst others.
History
As the term "disco" started to go out of fashion by the late-1970s to early-1980s, other terms were commonly used to describe disco-based music, such as "post-disco", "club", "dance" or "dance-pop" music. These genres were, in essence, a more modern variant of disco music known as post-discoPost-disco
Post-disco refers to a historically significant period in popular music history beginning with the commercial death of disco music in the late 1970s and ending with the mainstream appearance of house music in late 1980s.The stripped-down musical trends followed from the DJ- and producer-driven,...
, which tended to be more experimental, electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and producer/DJ-driven, often using sequencer
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
s and synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s. Dance-pop music emerged in the 1980s as a form of dance, or post-disco, which was up-tempo, club-natured, producer-driven and catchy. Dance-pop was more up-tempo and dancey than regular pop music, yet more structured and less free-form than regular dance music, usually combining pop's easy structure and catchy tunes with dance music's strong beat and up-tempo nature. Dance-pop music was usually created, composed and produced by record producers who would then hire singers to perform the songs. In the 1980s, dance-pop was closely aligned to other up-tempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
. Prominent producers in the 80s included Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who created Hi-NRG/dance-pop for artists such as Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Rick Astley
Rick Astley
Richard Paul "Rick" Astley is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries...
and Bananarama
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English female pop duo who have had success on the pop and dance charts since 1982. Rather than relying on a two part harmony, the duo generally sings in unison, as do their background vocalists. Although there have been line-up changes, the group enjoyed their most popular...
. Prominent dance-pop artists and groups of the 80s included Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
, Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B hits...
, Mel and Kim
Mel and Kim
Mel and Kim were a British pop duo, comprising sisters Melanie and Kim Appleby. They achieved success between 1986 and 1988 before Melanie succumbed to cancer.-Biography:...
, Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
.
By the 1990s, dance-pop music had become a major genre in popular music. Dance-pop music borrowed influences from other genres which varied by producer, artist and period. Such include contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
. Since dance-pop music tends to be simple, it often varies and borrows in style from its period. Several dance-pop groups and artists emerged during the decade, such as the Spice Girls
Spice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
and Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
. By the late-1990s, electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
influences became evident in dance-pop music; Madonna's critically acclaimed and commercially successful Ray of Light
Ray of Light
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 3, 1998 by Maverick Records and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. After giving birth to her daughter Lourdes, Madonna collaborated with Patrick Leonard and William Orbit in developing the album...
(1998) album incorporated techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
and other forms of electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, bringing electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
into mainstream dance-pop. Additionally, also in 1998, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
released a dance-pop song called "Believe
Believe (Cher song)
"Believe" is a song by American recording artist Cher. It was released on November 24, 1998 as the lead single from her twenty-third studio album of the same name. It was written by Brian Higgins, Stuart McLennen, Paul Barry, Steven Torch, Matthew Gray, and Timothy Powell and produced by Mark...
" which made usage of a technological innovation of the time, Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
. An audio processor and a form of pitch modification software, it became commonly used as a way to correct pitch, as well as to create a special effect. Ever since the 1990s, Auto-Tune became a common feature of dance-pop music.
At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, and was highly electronic in style, influenced by genres such as trance, house, techno and electro
Electro (music)
Electro is a genre of electronic dance music directly influenced by the use of TR-808 drum machines, Moog keytar synthesizers and funk sampling...
. Nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
music became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
music. Dance-pop stars from the 80s and 90s such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna and Kylie Minogue continued to achieve success at the beginning of the decade. Whilst a lot of dance-pop at the time was R&B-influenced, many records started to return to their disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
roots; Kylie Minogue's albums such as Light Years (2000) and Fever
Fever (Kylie Minogue album)
Fever is the eighth album by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was released 1 October 2001 by Parlophone Mushroom Records, and Capitol Records. Minogue began work on the album in 2001, working with famous songwriters and producers like Cathy Dennis, Rob Davis, and Tom Nichols, moving into a...
(2001) contained influences of disco music, or a new 21st century version of disco known as Nu-disco
Nu-disco
Nu-disco is a 21st century dance music genre associated with a renewed interest in 1970s and early 1980s disco, mid-1980s Italo disco, and the synthesizer-heavy Eurodisco aesthetics. The moniker appeared in print as early as 2002, and by mid-2008 was used by record shops such as the online...
; hit singles such as "Spinning Around
Spinning Around
"Spinning Around" is a song by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It was written by Ira Shickman, Osborne Bingham, Kara DioGuardi, and Paula Abdul, and produced by Mike Spencer. It was originally intended for Paula Abdul's "comeback" album. However, as the album never came into fruition, it...
" (2000) and "Can't Get You Out of My Head
Can't Get You out of My Head
"Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a song by Australian recording artist and songwriter Kylie Minogue, which was released from her eighth studio album Fever . The song was released worldwide as the lead single from the album, which was released on 8 September, 2001. The song was written and produced...
" (2001) also contained elements of disco music. In Madonna's case, her Music
Music (Madonna album)
Music is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on September 19, 2000 by Maverick Records and distributed by Warner Bros. Records...
(2000) album contained traces of Euro disco
Euro disco
Euro disco is an all encompassing colloquial term used to describe a variety of European electronic dance music that first originated from disco in the 1970s; incorporating elements of pop, New Wave and rock into disco-like continuous dance atmosphere...
, especially the successful eponymous lead single
Music (Madonna song)
"Music" is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 8th studio album Music and was released on August 21, 2000, by Maverick Records. It was also released on DVD single, a debut in this format by Madonna. It earned two Grammy Award nominations in 2001, for Record of the Year...
. Nevertheless, it was not until the mid to later part of the decade that dance-pop music returned greatly to its disco roots; this can be seen with Madonna's album Confessions on a Dance Floor
Confessions on a Dance Floor
Confessions on a Dance Floor is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 15, 2005 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was a complete departure from her last studio album, American Life . It included influences of 70s and 80s disco as well as...
(2005), which contained strong disco influences, especially from 1970s artists and bands such as ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
, Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
, the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
and Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
. Britney Spears' Blackout contained influences of Euro disco music. The mid to late-2000s saw the arrival of several new dance-pop artists, including Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, Kesha
Kesha
Kesha village is a small village nestled in the mountains of Yongshun County, northwestern Hunan province, China, located at latitude 29 05' 50", longitude 109 57' 9". The name is pronounced in Standard Chinese. The official language is Manderin Chinese....
and Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
. This period in time also saw dance-pop's return to its more electronic roots aside from its disco ones, with strong influences of synthpop and electropop music; Rihanna singles in the dance-pop genre such as "Don't Stop the Music
Don't Stop the Music
Don't Stop the Music is the third and only studio album that was recorded with the second line-up of the Swedish girlband Play. It is the first and only album by the group to feature vocals from then new member Janet Leon, who replaced founding member and lead singer Faye Hamlin...
" and "Disturbia
Disturbia (song)
"Disturbia" is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna, taken from the re-release, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded , of her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad . The song was released as the third single from the reloaded edition of the album, and seventh overall...
" contain electronic influences, the former of which contains elements of house music, the latter electropop; Lady Gaga's singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face
Poker Face (Lady Gaga song)
"Poker Face" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga from her debut album, The Fame. Produced by RedOne, it was released as the album's second single in late 2008 for some markets and in early 2009 for the rest of the world...
" are also heavily influenced by synthpop and electropop music; Kesha's debut single, "Tik Tok
TiK ToK
"Tik Tok" is the debut single by American recording artist Kesha. The song was produced by Benny Blanco and Dr. Luke and co-written by Blanco, Dr. Luke and Kesha. It was released on August 7, 2009 as the lead single from Kesha's debut studio album, Animal...
", is also highly electronic in style and employs a video game beat.
The 2010s so far have, similarly to the late-2000s, seen strong electronic influences present within dance-pop music. Dance-pop artists such as Kesha, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Rihanna remain very popular, and several new dance-pop artists have or are starting to emerge.
Characteristics
Dance-pop music generally contains several notable characteristics, which are listed here:- Up-tempo, upbeat music intended for clubs, with a danceable or dancey nature.
- Catchy songs with an easy, pop-based structure
- A strong emphasis on beatBeat-Film:*Beat , the smallest unit of dramatic action in a play*Beat , a film about writer William Seward Burroughs*Beat , a 1998 Japanese film*Directorial beat, an exchange of behavior between characters in a screenplay...
s and grooves - Prominent hooksHook (music)A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
- Simple lyrics
- Polished productions