It's so funny to see how far we've come in music. I remember back in 2005 when I heard "don't cha" by Tori Alamaze and I was at the edge of my seat thinking "change is coming..." and remember when Rihanna first popped on the scene...
Now look at where we are and the type of hits that are making it to radio, gaining mass acception, and topping the charts!
I surely hope we do get a good eight to ten years out of this phase before it all passes. Judging by what happened and the way things went with hip hop, I'd say if evolution repeats itself the same way, those eight to ten years should start this year. Actually, it's more like ten to twelve years I'd say for hip hop (not including the time when the hip hop era was still in a transitional phase from the old school pop and pop rock sound, using those old school multiple beats patterns as heard in some old school freestyle and disco...etc).
The only things that make this difficult to gauge is the fact that unlike with hip hop, dance is not making it's FIRST big break, but making a COME BACK, and, the phase started off with a much slower than normal start to the trend. It took nearly four years just to evolve to where we got today, only to have this sudden mass of dance influenced hits start popping up recently within the last few months or so. It's kind of like how things were progressing along on the planet, but then suddenly when the 19th century hit, BOOM! A mass explosion of modernization and technology took place. Since we are dealing not only with an "abnormally slow" start to a trend in music, but also a resurfacing of a genre, it's hard to judge and predict how things will unfold by comparing it to hip hop, which only experienced a first time of having it's big break and peak. It's safe to say that if this were the first time dance were topping the charts, then ok - maybe the same exact evolution process would take place and we could compare and predict accordingly, but who knows what will happen or what the time period will be for a phase that's returning after a sudden "death", and is doing so in a somewhat new modernized way and sound. Also, don't forget, what we are hearing and experiencing now may just be the very early stages of an actual dance trend, that may not even really pick up until 2012 or 2013 or even later this year. Where we are right now is still within the transitional period, where the older sound is still trying to linger around a bit as the new sound is beginning to take over and mark its territory in music history. We still have not had a pure dance hit make it on a nationwide scale on top 40 or rhythmic radio yet, and by pure dance, I mean an artist who is considered as dance first, but can also be labeled as other things instead of vice versa, successfully releasing a straight up dance track. Right now, if you listen closely, you'll notice we are still within a transition from the hip hop and rap era to the electro-pop and dance era, which is a good example of why many of these dance styled songs today seem to all have rap or r&b styled elements among them. The same way many old school sound elements were brought in to the early hip hop and modernization of r&b days, where you could still hear remnants of disco, breakdance, freestyle, and even rock & roll elements, we are now in a time where rap elements are still heavy while we transition into electro-pop, dance, and house. We will once again look back years down the road and see where the evolutional changes were at its peak, between two generational phases of music. Just notice how as time goes on, you are no longer going to see every song that comes out having to have a rap verse or a remix with a rap verse on it to make it hot...
Also, think about what top 40 sounded like 15 to 20 years before 2000, and keep in mind that by 2020, it will sound completely different, once again, from what it sounded like in 2000-2005. What we are hearing now IS the sound that's going to evolve into that future top 40 sound. Hip hop will be the "Light rock" and "classic rock" of that generation, only difference, it will be "classic hip hop" or maybe even "light rap".
Anyway, all that truly matters at the moment is that doors are so wide open right now for ANYTHING to happen. No one would have thought that Sean Kingston would've been able to get away with something like this today. By the way, just look at his track record and how he started. Think about the sound of some of the songs he started off with, while still managing to break in successfully. That alone says something. Now listen to Red One productions. It was obvious where Red One was trying to go with their sound these past months, but who would've thought they'd go straight to dance like that? There's really no need for me to type anything more - just listen to the Sean Kingston's "Fire burning" song and pay attention to all the elements within it. There is a lot happening there!
Sometimes it's too funny how we see music because in reality, music is just music, and it's all always present, all the time. However, it's we the people, the industry, radio...etc that make it all what it is by setting these laws, limits, and all types of things to make it seem as if certain things are really going on. Like time, certain belief systems, sometimes distance, and the way we think, all these phases in music are just an illusion that we create, while in reality, it is all always happening at all times, and the only thing keeping it all from being timeless is our illusion of time.
