Every Friday morning we enter Walpole High School and make the journey to our first period class. We take our seats and the first period bell rings, signaling the start of the day. The morning announcements come on, and the news crew never fails to put a catchy yet annoying pop tune at the end to “brighten” our mornings. These people have obviously had an abundance of coffee to start their days, because unlike many students and most faculty, the songs do not seem to bother the news crew very much.

All of these songs that are being produced and slapped onto the pop music scene share share several common elements. The use of auto-tune is becoming a key factor when both producing and writing pop music. With no concern for the artist’s voice, the artist’s say in creating the lyrics has also become non-existent, which ties into the second common factor  of the artist not writing their own lyrics. This leads to no passion for the music the artist sings, causing the song to eventually become not only annoying, but hated.

One example of these songs is the latest pop hit to come onto the music scene, “Call Me Maybe”, which has been highly rated by critics with no obvious taste in music. The song by Canadian Idol star, Carly Rae Jepsen, was placed 24th on the Billboard Hot 100 and 1st on the Canadian Hot 100. After placing third during the fifth season of Canadian Idol, Jepsen hit it big in the music industry by releasing her album “Tug of War” in 2008. Now, four years later, she released the single “Call Me Maybe.”

With a catchy tune and little to no creative lyrics, the song has become an obsession for teenage girls around the world. Jepsen is a part of the new generation of pop singers that we are seeing with no creativity or originality in their music, and it is evident that they just don’t have any passion for what they do. Some may have good singing voices— Jepsen is one of these few— but most use the latest technology to enhance their voices.

With auto-tune becoming more and more prevalent in today’s music industry, many find themselves asking, “Could I become a pop star?” With so-called “entertainers” such as Rebecca Black (“Friday”), and LMFAO (“Party Rock Anthem”), it makes it seem that if you are rich or know how to use synthesizers and computer technology, then you can easily become highly popular in the once difficult-to-mesh-with music industry.

When you listen to the tune, you get the idea that Jepsen did not write the lyrics for her song. If you do a simple google search, you find your idea to be valid, as the song was written by Ryan Stewart– her lead producer. Most modern day singers do not write their own lyrics, which is why today’s music has no passionate sound to it. Between auto-tune and synthesizers, music isn’t even music anymore. It has a catchy tune, but nothing more. Of course the tune will make you want to listen to again, but once you have heard it for the 100th time, you begin to realize that there are no real lyrics and the song has little worth.

Carly Rae Jepsen has been gifted with the talent to sing, but she is using it incorrectly. She should begin to write her own lyrics and music. If she does this, she will gain more popularity because she will have a more passionate sound to her music. Jepsen should consider switching genres from pop to a genre where her voice will matter more to the producers and they won’t ruin the beauty of it. “Call Me Maybe” just doesn’t cut it when it comes to the music that she should be producing. Auto-tune and synthesizers don’t qualify as music and should not be identified as such.