How “Perfect” Pop Music Trains Us to Reject Difference
Modern pop music has become technically perfect. Every beat and vocal line sits exactly on the grid. In this essay, I trace how this gridification of sound reshapes our perception of difference and, more importantly, our capacity for coordination across difference. Using Susanne K. Langer’s philosophy of art and a tempo-map analysis of Taylor Swift’s Opalite and Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams, I explore what’s lost when music becomes perfect.
