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pop music

pop music

36 1.0
Songs with a catchy tune that many people like
  • noun
  • /pɑp ˈmjuzɪk/
translation icon : música pop
  • Many teenagers enjoy listening to pop music because of its catchy melodies and themes about love.
  • pop music star
  • rock and pop music
  • movies and pop music

In fact, most pop music uses these four chords.

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Examples

  • In fact, most pop music uses these four chords.

  • We have a daughter who is a singer-songwriter studying pop music out at USC.

  • And pop music, oh, pop music was my best friend at this time.

  • It's what I do for a living, though I write about pop music and comic books, mostly.

    Academic text (2009)
  • The role of the sound engineer and producer in pop music recording is crucial.

    Academic text (1999)
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic is one of the most exciting new artists in pop music today.

  • The schoolchildren were sent home to bed, and the band began to play pop music.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • I'd like to think that I make pop music that is adventurous.

  • In 1943, Broadway music still sounded much the same as pop music and was still sold to the same broad audience.

    Academic text (2007)
  • Bernstein's frequent references to pop music created an immediate reaction with the audience.

    Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

pop
vspop music
315 1.4

A type of popular music with simple tunes and a strong beat

is the full two-word label rather than the shorter form
popular music
vspop music
19 1.0

Music that many people like and often hear on radio

is a specific catchy, rhythm-focused genre often about romance

Antonyms

Music that is formal and often played by orchestras, mainly from Europe since the 1700s

How Mainstream

corporation pop
  • Literature
7.7
pop music
36 1.0
indie
  • Jargon
75 5.1

Surface Forms

pop music singular
pop musics plural

Morphology

pop + music

The meaning is directly compositional: 'pop' (short for popular/popular music) combined with 'music' yields the genre of popular music. The concept maps transparently onto the constituents, is cross-linguistically common, and would be readily inferred by a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Pop music comes from shortening the phrase 'popular music' to pop. It labels songs with bright, catchy tunes that seem to 'pop' into your head and please many people, so today it means music with a catchy melody and wide appeal.