The intelligence behind pop gets time to shine

You could say that pop music is in a lull right now. Smart-alecky readers may quip that it’s always in a lull, but there’s no denying that the present Billboard pop-scape is particularly devoid of tabloid-cover-caliber stars. The days of the once-invincible Backstreets and Britneys are all but numbered and today’s stars (Lisa Marie Presley, Avril Lavigne) are hardly worth our time. And yet, the transience of today’s idols is not the only thing responsible for their decreasing weightiness and popularity. Stars are simultaneously finding themselves less popular because they must share the spotlight with the increasingly hot people behind-the-scenes known as music producers.

In fact, producers as a whole have never been more visible or more popular than they are now: these album-overseers, beat-crafters and general vibe-instillers are as omnipresent as gray skies in Ohio. And to put it bluntly, you ain’t nothin’ these days unless you’ve got the right producer. It’s the reason that a large portion of the preliminary hype surrounding rapper-of-the-moment, 50 Cent, touched on Eminem and Dr. Dre, the duo that produced much of his first album. It’s also the reason that Britney Spears’ new CD will feature the electro-house stylings of Daft Punk, who are arguably among the most acclaimed and talented producers in dance music. Thus, we’ve reached a time when Britney can’t stand on her own (not that she ever really could) — she must instead mooch off of others’ fame to prop herself up.

But somewhat amazingly, the producers don’t necessarily need the favor returned. Two of the most anticipated albums of last summer were those of producers, namely sample king DJ Shadow and trance god Paul Oakenfold. DJ Sasha’s full-length production debut was also the talk of the town. And if you take a look at critics’ top ten lists from 2002, you’ll find that almost all of them mention In Search Of… by N.E.R.D., an entity better known as hip-hop’s incendiary production crew, The Neptunes. (Not coincidentally, they also produced much of Justin Timberlake’s solo debut.) If this doesn’t indicate that producers are working their way into the mainstream music limelight, I don’t know what does.

And yet, producers’ exploding popularity signifies so much more than just a foot in the door. A meta-perspective on music — a producer’s perspective — is rapidly developing, and how you play something is now almost as important as what you play. Is it any surprise that turntables outsell guitars? Is it any surprise that the market for samplers is expanding? Is it any surprise that country-pop, pop-rap, rap-rock, rocktronica, jazztronica and other hybrid musical genres are now springing up like weeds? It makes perfect sense once you realize that, in the present generation of music, music itself is the raw material for creativity.

Thus, it was inevitable that producers would come to the forefront because they are uniquely equipped with the capital to shape and exploit this new musical frontier.

Does this mean that the age of the pop star is behind us? Not quite, even though some “talents” are finding their spotlight a bit crowded. Pop stars as a concept are not going anywhere, but producers are picking up more and more of their slack. And if you don’t think that producers have what it takes to become superstars, remember that the music industry has never had trouble creating icons, regardless of their talent (Afroman stands out as a perfect example). So while individual performers may find themselves sharing their stardom, there will still be plenty of stars around — they might just not be in the place, or of the type that you’d expect. Pop music as a whole will continue to make money and remain healthy.

In fact, it may emerge from the present lull healthier than ever. If pop idols are the equivalent of high schoolers, working with building blocks of larger concepts, then producers are undergraduates (and beyond), who are capable of extracting something much greater from these concepts. In the same way high schoolers learn about the content of the news while college students learn about news itself and its presentation, producers work at a deeper and more abstract level than superficial pop performers. In other words, with production being given more attention and respect, pop music may get more mature, and the genre stands to get a lot more complex, refined and interesting. Kentucky frat boys that live for the poseur guitar-crunch of Limp Bizkit and preteen girls that shriek for Britney Spears have never had it so good.

It will only be a matter of time before pop finds its next big thing — after all, music is a business and stars and sales can only remain in a drought for so long. Until then, fans of the genre will have to settle for the perpetual chart dominance of performers like Cher and Celine Dion. But I’d bet my money that once truly gossip-worthy idols reappear in the spotlight, their producers will be right there beside them.