I won't bite
2026 Mix 21: Melodies of varying strength, several pop songs of the year with or without the “six seven” meme, and requisite check-ins on Ibibio Sound Machine, Zuchu, and Uncle Waffles
I saw an interesting video the other day on the spread of a specific melody line that a YouTuber refers to as “the gen alpha melody” — a melodic motif in a minor key that builds its melody around consistent intervals: from the minor sixth down to the second, up to the fifth, and then back down to the root.
Two older songs that the YouTuber points to as precursors are Anastacia’s “Left Outside Alone” (“ALL my life I’ve been WAITin’ for you to bring a FAIRY tale my WAY”) and the Beatles’ “It’s Only Love” (“it’s only LOVE and that is ALL, why should I FEEL the way I DO?”) To me the most obvious referent is Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”—the intro and post-chorus phrase “ohhhh…caught in a bad romance”—though that melody phrase technically lands on a different note because it ends in the relative major chord.1
The melodic anchors themselves are pretty common, and there are lots of ways to hit them without directly copying a specific melody. I also don’t love the phrase “gen alpha melody,” as it doesn’t describe the melody itself and precludes the possibility of identifying other common melodic motifs. I can’t resist a counter-neologism, so how about the “tritone swoon,” which focuses on the most notable part of the melody, going from the minor sixth down to the second.
Despite this melodic phrase being used in dozens of songs, to my ears none of the contemporary examples have great melodies outside of the motif. The motif itself almost feels like a placeholder, a pretty phrase that signifies melancholy before moving on to some other point of interest in the song—and rarely further melodic interest. One clear example is its use in ROSÉ’s “APT.,” where the melody features in a pre-chorus to provide some texture before the song’s real hook: the “ah-puh-ta-puh-tuh” chant.
This got me thinking about melody in contemporary chart pop more generally. There are a lot of weak melodies in pop hits, though there has been a recent resurgence of smaller songwriting teams re-centering traditional pop structure in the long aftermath of the EDM boom. By weak melody, I mean the melody doesn’t really develop or conclude; it’s often distinctively undistinctive, impossible to remember, a kind of anti-earworm. There are exceptions that show up on the US charts: Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish, “Golden” from KPOP Demon Hunters.2 But more often I almost wish it were easier to get popular songs stuck in my head.
I’ve written before about structural changes to pop melody that have happened in the past 15 or so years. In the ‘10s, rappers introduced restrictive melody patterns into their music in a way that opened up possibilities for mildly improvisatory melodies. In some sense these melodies are “weak,” but in another sense they are just doing something different from what melody does in other forms of songwriting. I wrote a long piece about Taylor Swift’s melody strategies along these lines a few years ago, suggesting that something similar has happened in a lot of other pop music.
However, I don’t include rap and R&B melodies like that here, and think “minimal” might be a better framework for the impact of this style rather than “weak.”
I should also note that (1) there have always been weak melodies in pop music (the bigger point I’d make is that right now there are just not a lot of strong melodies to compare to the weak ones) and that (2) having a “weak melody” doesn’t mean the song is bad, while there are many songs with strong melodies I really dislike—including that allegedly foundational Anastacia song. Lots of artists have a mix of songs with strong melodies and weak ones, used for different purposes in different places.
So just think of this as a bit of a riff on some melodic moves I notice in chart pop right now. Some of my examples I don’t like, and some I do. Every example has plenty of historical antecedents, versions of it that work really well, etc.
Phrasal battering: one of the most common melody strategies, this is where a half of a melody line (or less) just gets repeated over and over again without any resolution. “Ordinary” by Alex Warren is an example.
Fleetwood suspension: A very close and cyclical chord progression—between two chords formed on the same bass note or maybe a note apart—allows the singer to meander around a few notes in a pleasing way that is in no hurry to go anywhere. Here it’s the chords, not the melody itself, that never seem to resolve, so there’s always some tension in the melody without the melody itself having to do much work. This move works in lots of songs (I once wrote a long essay on The-Dream’s “I Luv Your Girl,” one of my favorite songs ever, which uses a pattern like this). But I think it’s hard to really knock you out with a melody at the same time—that’s something Fleetwood Mac was good at (like in “Dreams”), balancing the sway and the knockout. Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” and Lola Young’s “Messy” are good examples of it working with perfunctory melodies.
Timbre swap: This is where a change in octave, performance, or vocal timbre obscures how little melody is actually happening in the song. Olivia Rodrigo does this a lot, changing her vocal sound or rhythm, jumping up an octave, or going back and forth from speak-sing without actually changing up her melody very much.3 Taylor Swift is the queen of timbre swap, which I’ve written about a lot (maybe too much?). This is a place where I’d be interested to think through the direct influence of hip-hop more.
Genre illusion: The use of a traditionally melodic genre—piano ballad, American songbook standard, country music—to suggest that you will be met with a memorable melody, but no such melody arrives. This describes a lot of Laufey’s songs, all of the Sienna Spiro songs I’ve heard, and…probably “Choosin’ Texas.”
Half-borrowed melody: This is where one melody vaguely recalls a different melody without really adding anything new to it, but not always as an interpolation or reference. This has always been a feature of pop music, and I only include it here because it particularly stands out when there aren’t lots of other contemporary melodies to compare it to. Chappell Roan half-borrows a lot—I think one reason “Pink Pony Club” has some of the endurance it does is because it feels unborrowed. Ed Sheeran does it all the time.4 “Half-borrowed” results aren’t always bad—in some cases the result might be better than the original—but the melody scans as an imitation of something else.
The good-enough hum-along: Honestly, the most common problem I hear in pop melodies right now is a lack of interest in crafting melody at all, a feeling that melodies are a bit of an afterthought to atmospherics, as if someone were humming a melody somewhat randomly around the production. I was really struck by an interesting new album by Eli that does explicit Max Martin Y2K cosplay, but it sounds like someone making up melodies around all of the old hits, or maybe singing the harmony parts. PinkPantheress has a more conscious melodic strategy around this, making it part of noticing samples and allusions in her songs.
I think the “gen alpha melody” slots into these strategies because it is a way to tip one’s hat to the idea of having a strong melody in your song without bothering to actually come up with one. Unlike the YouTuber, I don’t believe there is an obvious source; I think it’s more broadly memetic, drawn from lots of sources of contemporary inspiration because it signifies a strong melody quickly in a minor key. It’s like ticking something off of a checklist so that you can return to what you really want to be doing, which is (seemingly) anything else.
This is a fairly long-term trend, if you trust the results of a recent study on melodic complexity on the charts that Tom Breihan wrote about skeptically in the Guardian in 2024. The short story is that over time, there are more words conveyed in pop songs within a more restricted range of notes, which seems plausible to me.5
I love strong melodies, but plenty of the music I love doesn’t need a strong melody to win me over, and not all strong melodies make for good songs. There are a few US and Anglophone artists who do seem to have a consistent gift for putting strong melodies in good songs, including Billie Eilish, Debbii Dawson, Willow, and <checks notes> huh, sombr, whattaya know.
If I had to guess, I would say that the previous era of Strong Melodies in US chart pop are connected to EDM and more broadly what I’ve called “pop mirage,” which had a mercenary and oddly detached approach to melody-writing, often farmed out to a top-liner who had no reason to connect a strong melody to the rest of the song.
The ‘20s has seen a resurgence of songs with fewer noticeable sutures, and are probably better overall, melody strength notwithstanding. I think the blunt-force melodic approach of the previous decade generally had much worse results than the weak but holistic melodies we get in US chart pop in the ‘20s, and the idea of a Sia-style unholy melody graft has rightfully become unfashionable. But I do think we should find a few more new stars out there who are in tune with the spirit world, who wake up with a melody in their head along with all those pesky words.
1. Cannelle: Stereo
France
Can you believe how many great pop stars there are out in the world right now that do not get write-ups in aggressively myopic Guardian thinkpieces about “trash pop”?? This isn’t even my favorite pop song from this year! It might not even be the best pop song I heard this month! (Hm…it probably is, though.) I am pleased to find that I wrote about Cannelle after I heard her for the first time (at the end of 2024) that she could remain nobody forever or could be the hugest star in the world by 2026. Not a nobody, not yet the hugest star in the world. Fingers crossed!
2. Ibibio Sound Machine: Return to Sender
Nigeria-UK/UK
My yearly-ish Ibibio Sound Machine banger, I guess? It’s good!
3. Natasha Kay: Entasi
Greece
I don’t hear enough Greek pop to know if this is Marina Satti-fication or just a random attempt to keep up with electro trends. Gonna continue to tell my kids that [literally anything that’s not Charli XCX] is Charli XCX. I’d hate to admit to liking Dad Rock.
4. Zuchu: Aye
Tanzania
Zuchu is back—last year’s “Amanda” was a bongo flava barnstormer, with poor Amanda trapped inside the barn, while this one merely…uh, singes a silo? But sparks still fly.
5. QINGA: Do Rana
Poland
Euro-thump juiced with extra accordion, very much up my street. You will probably know within the first five seconds whether it is up your street.
6. Joalin: Toke
Finland-Mexico
Finnish-Mexican reggaeton-pop is exactly as light (and brief) as it needs to be to get the job done. Cursory research revealed her participation in Simon Fuller’s Now United, a global girl group scheme I should probably look into more even if just for morbid curiosity’s sake.
7. MilliMax: Instagram
South Korea
8. Dean Turnley: Actin’ Tough
Australia
Two trifles before the six-seven sequence. First, the closest you can get to hypertrap elevator music from South Korea, and then a particularly grim grinding down of a load-bearing vocal sample, from an Australian producer who probably should have capped the length at 2:00.
9. Laurinha Costa, Dj Cabello, Dj Tchouzen: Six Seven
Brazil
10. Malcriada, NIÑOS GÓTICOS: Six Seven
Mexico
My kids inform me that the “six seven” trend is now horribly dated (school years are still useful hype cycle limiters), but don’t tell Latin America, where a viral Brazilian funk hit and a viral-ish goth-pop hit with the aptly named all caps NIÑOS GÓTICOS have found new stores of energy in a seemingly passé meme. Fad frackers!
11. DJ JEJEDAZS, Malu Silmon, DANNA, MC Kenny RP: Rock Perverso
Brazil
Get your double-digit YouTube view funk on one of my mixes with this one weird trick: add a guitar.
12. Trim: Coconut Water
US
Yes, we are in a golden age of Joyful Rap by Women, and yes, even the minor stuff sounds great, and yes, the Myaap album is probably my album of the year, more on that next week.
13. Minyo Crusaders, Frente Cumbiero: Hanagasa Ondo
Japan/Colombia
Interesting project where a Japanese group mixes Japanese folk with international styles and collaborators, emphasizing Latin and Caribbean pop forms. Took me ages to find the right placement for this thing on a mix but glad I found a spot for it.
14. Vlntna B: A Mi Manera
Chile
That’s Valentina B, dreamy if somewhat insubstantial Chilean reggaeton-pop.
15. Jenevieve f. Freddie Gibbs, SALIMATA: Flight Risqué
Cuba-US/US
16. Paco Moreno: Enamorado de ti
Spain
17. Güneş Özgeç: Üzdü
Turkey
Three very different varieties of ultrasmooth, or maybe I’m just calling that the common thread to save email space. First, boom-bap like butter and strong rap features help give substance to Jenevieve’s post-SZA wispiness, which I think works in contrast here, but I haven’t checked out the rest of her album. Then some Spanish indie pop with little flecks of AM gold, and finally Turkish indie pop that, whattaya know, has a perfectly lovely little melody, not too weak, not too strong.
18. Uncle Waffles, Royal MusiQ f. Zee Nxumalo, Shakes & Les, Shoes Meister: imission
South Africa
A holdover amapiano collaboration I didn’t have room for last week but am happy to feature here—not sure how often Uncle Waffles has worked with Zee Nxumalo, but I haven’t heard them paired together before.
19. Dames Brown, Amp Fiddler: Take Me As I Am (Moodymann Remix)
US
20. goat (JP): Orin - Ricardo Villalobos Variation
Japan/Chile-Germany
21. Octo Octa: Survival Groove
US
Not much space for any more words this week, but plenty of time on the mix for three long dance tracks from reliable house virtuosos—Job de Wit clued me in to this great Moodymann remix with Dame Brown, Ricardo Villalobos works his minimalist magic, and Octo Octa makes the dorkiest synth sounds seem cool as hell.
That’s it! Until next time, try to keep your melodies strong but your ideas stronger.
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title translated from Cannelle: Stereo
The minor third in a minor scale is the root tone of the relative major; unlike the “gen alpha melody” examples, “Bad Romance” lands on the relative major at the end instead of the minor chord. For what it’s worth, the Anastacia song also lands harder on the minor third than it does on the root tone (she sings “WAY” across both notes).
“Golden” has a powerful, if overworked, melody which aims for a Broadway-ish ascent to its climactic high note—which is so high that it even features in the movie as a sign of the lead character faltering (which is funny because even when she “nails it” she doesn’t really hit the note that hard). But it builds to that note clumsily enough that you might pass out unexpectedly trying to sing it in karaoke, like a pilot who’s dangerously lost track of the altitude.
She has exceptions to this— “Vampire” has a great melody. I like “Deja Vu,” too, but it only actually swipes half of the melody from “No Surprises,” and not even the better half.
In fact, he has been sued over it. To be clear, suing over this is in all cases nuisance suit behavior, and I’m glad he fought and won the case to the benefit of songwriters everywhere. That said, I also think Sheeran makes himself more vulnerable to comparison-spotting than other songwriters do.
In the study, the authors share four measures across three different time periods: average pitch interval (i.e. the average distance between two sung notes), general range of semitones in two-thirds of all pitches (a general measure of pitch range), notes per second, and notes per bar. The average interval and general range of sung notes decrease in each successive time period while the number of notes per second and notes per bar increase.
From the study:
In the first era, 1950–1974, melodies have relatively high pitch-related (PIC) and rhythmic (RIC) information-theoretic complexity, an average pitch interval of about 2.3 semitones (with two-thirds of pitches lying within an approximately 7-semitone range), about 1.8 notes per second, and 4.2 notes per bar. Second-era melodies (1975–1999) have lower pitch-related and rhythmic complexity, an average pitch interval of about 2.1 semitones, about 2 notes per second, and 5 notes per bar. Two-thirds of pitches lie within a 6-semitone range. Finally, in the third era from 2000 onward, melodies have the lowest pitch-related and rhythmic complexity, with an average pitch interval of about 2.0 semitones, two-thirds of pitches lying within a 5.5-semitone range, 2.8 notes per second, and 6.3 notes per bar.
Thanks for the heads-up on new ISM (um, Ibibio Sound Machine)! Might you have a book marinating?