Call Me Maybe
1. Justin Bieber
Musical acts have had vanity labels for eternity, whether it be Sinatra with Reprise, the Beatles with Apple, even the Youngbloods with Raccoon. But the difference is those entities functioned within the usual system. They didn’t translate to the mainstream because said musical artists did not have a direct connection with the public.
2. Twitter
Fans are literally hanging on every word. Which is why your feed really needs to be written by you, why it can’t be ghost-composed. Because it’s less about information than connection. Your fans are now your best friends. You’re not above them, but with them. Justin Bieber controls an army. Just like the Internet giants organized and got the public to stop SOPA, entertainers with huge social media followings can draw attention and create hits.
But this power must be used wisely.
Then again, one can gauge reaction and act accordingly.
3. The Track
It’s a hit. The soaring keyboard figure in the chorus is infectious.
What’s wrong with the non-Top Forty music business is it’s de-emphasized hooks. Hell, listen to the Beatles, they were the masters of hooks! They didn’t stray from this formula until everybody was on board. But today, musicians want fans to rally around their non-hooky productions. You almost can’t stop listening to "Call Me Maybe". But it’s almost impossible not to tune out everything else, despite the protestations and ministrations of the sad-sack, chip on the shoulder wannabes.
4. It Started Out As A Folk Song
A great song can be produced in many ways. One can argue "Call Me Maybe" isn’t great, but it’s certainly serviceable.
5. Nothing’s Overnight
Bieber tweeted about the track at the end of last year. But it was only when the big boys, Scooter Braun and Interscope, got behind the track, had it featured on "Ellen", that it truly gained traction.
b. The gatekeepers are all from Missouri, the Show Me State. Now, more than ever, no one goes on their gut, they need proof before they take a chance.
6. Spreading The Word
Radio and TV made "Call Me Maybe" gigantic. But that doesn’t mean Bieber’s fans didn’t keep it alive in the interim.
7. Ubiquity
Despite those paying attention, there are tens of millions of people who still haven’t heard "Call Me Maybe" and never will. This is unlike the sixties/seventies or the eighties/nineties eras, the original Top Forty and MTV heydays. Back then, everyone was paying attention. Today, Carly Rae Jepsen is bigger than most everybody in the pool, but she’s not as big as she once might have been.
8. Career
No one listening to Carly Rae Jepsen thinks she’s forever. This is just a trifle. Once upon a time, music was about careers. But the Top Forty audience has been burned too many times. You’re only as good as your last hit. So, unless Carly Rae Jepsen delivers many more, she’ll fade into obscurity.
9. The Lyrics
Over the last few decades, women have gained power in the dating world. It’s de rigueur to be aggressive and ask a boy out. The embodiment of this concept in the lyrics, the fact that the female protagonist is taking a chance, appeals to girls and is also embraced by boys, who too often are shy and inhibited.
The lyrics are a great change from the I’m rolling on huge rims and am gonna kick you to the curb of hip-hop and the platitudes of rock.
10. YouTube
108,285,437 plays and counting. The images are secondary to the ability to hear the song on demand. YouTube is the new radio, especially amongst the financially-challenged younger generation. Used to be you had to save your pennies and/or nag your parents to buy the single, which required a drive to the store to boot. Now you just fire up your computer and watch. As a result, everybody "owns" the song, revenue might be down, but songs are nearer and dearer to one’s heart than ever before.
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CONCLUSION
Music has become a business of sour grapes. Everybody complaining. Whether it be the oldsters bitching about "Napster" or the wannabes saying they just can’t get traction, just can’t break through.
Well, first and foremost you’ve got to pay your dues. Carly Rae Jepsen is not wet behind the ears, she’s twenty six years old, she was on "Canadian Idol" in 2007, it takes just that long not only to get in the public eye, but find your voice, and by that I mean more than your ability to sing! Many can sing, few are artists.
Top Forty is professional. Lowest common denominator professional, but imagine if those in other genres paid attention to its game and used some of its clues. Now, more than ever, it’s hard to gain someone’s attention. So you’ve got to make it easy for them. By hooking them almost immediately.
Carly Rae Jepsen has achieved this. She’s become an Internet meme. Covered on YouTube and embraced in a Jimmy Fallon production. But one meme is replaced by another, never forget that.
CONCLUSION 2
I want to EMPHASIZE that the key here is the track itself. Everything else is secondary. This is a hit song. Yes, it was lucky to be embraced by Bieber and promoted by Interscope, but you’ve got to be in the game long enough to get lucky, having driven down many blind alleys beforehand.
If you’re too smug to see the charm in "Call Me Maybe", I feel sorry for you. Yes, it’s far from groundbreaking, but it just sticks in your brain, it makes you feel good, you want to hear it again and again.
That’s a hit.
P.S. There are 155 versions of "Call Me Maybe" on Spotify.
b. Everybody’s a lowest common denominator bottom-feeder, they want to get in on the action.
c. The barrier to entry is incredibly low, credit GarageBand and Tunecore.
d. Just because you put it up on Spotify, that does not mean anybody listens to it!
