I keep seeing posts about how music is subjective, and calling a song good or bad is just about personal taste. Or that critiquing an artist’s music is about being a “hater”. But I have a different take on this – basically what the title says.
You’re allowed to love any kind of music. Listen and love to whatever you like – hyperpop or noise music or death metal or bubblegum pop. But then music is also about craft. And craft is not just about taste or vibes. Craft can be judged. This is true for most art, but especially music which is one of the most commercialized and mass produced forms of art.
- Variety: If every song sounds like a remix of the last one, that’s not just a “signature sound”, that’s a formula. Artists who play with sub-genres, tempo and different types of instrumentation and song structures are doing more work, and are objectively better.
- Lyrics: Sure, not everything has to be deep. We can have fun bops that are just about being in the moment. But if an artist can also have meaningful lyrics? Then that’s objectively better. Metaphors, storytelling, wordplay, emotional honesty all show more skill.
- Artistic involvement: Singers / rappers who write and produce their own music aren’t just performers they’re creators. If you’re involved in shaping the sound, the lyrics, the theme, you’re a more involved and better artist. If you’re showing up to sing what someone else wrote, and you’re a great singer / performer – that’s fine too. But it’s not the same level of craft, and it’s ok to appreciate artistic involvement on its own (assuming the output quality of that artistic involvement is also good)
- Discography depth: Having a decent amount of depth in your discography to showcase your skills is objectively better. And over time there should be growth, experimentation and evolution in your discography to be considered a good artist.
- Performance skill: This is quite self explanatory. Pitch, voice control, hitting notes correctly, splitting bars while rapping, being able to sing / rap live without loud backtracks, delivering emotions – all of these are objective criteria that can be used to judge quality of music.
Anyway, you can love a song that’s objectively kind of mid. I do too. And no one should judge you or me for it. But if we’re gonna talk about quality in music, we have to admit that some artists put in more effort, have more talent and show more complexity than others. And it’s ok to judge / critique artists based on the quality of their music.
All this is to say – enjoy what you like. But don’t confuse subjective taste with objective quality of craft. What do you think?
(I hope this doesn’t ruffle any feathers but then who am I kidding)
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