What even is original?

What is originality? By the dictionary.com definition originality is the following:

A Noun:
the quality or state of being original.
ability to think or express oneself in an independent and individual manner; creative ability.
freshness or novelty, as of an idea, method, or performance.

Now that we have that settled, is popular music original? In my first week of back at college, my History of Popular music class started a discussion about this and it really got me thinking how much pop music can I think of that is original and what really qualifies something as being original in the first place? This seems like an awfully involved question with some deep philosophical responses to it which I am sure in this blog I wont actually be able to answer as the jury for me is still out. As far as popular music goes, honestly though just how much of it is original? Can anything really be original anymore?

At this point I think we are all so influenced by our surrounding and our worlds and we incorporate the things we like from our surroundings being other people, music, the sounds, etc and we create what sounds good to us incorporating the things we liked from others. That to me in its own way is somewhat original because it is its own take and take away from the things we specifically liked which is something we see a lot in popular music. Is it dictionary original? No not really, but also we live in a time with almost unlimited access to anything we could need or want so coming up with a completely original idea is a lot harder than just coming up with something that is more of a variation on an original idea.

I have always found this four chord song to be a true demonstration of the fact that though they use the same chords each song is in its own way original. Great songs, but are they really that original or are they just variations on one another? Each have their own singers, themes, instrumentation, but the same four chords.

What do we think? Original or not? And what even is originality anyway or is it all overrated? My jury is still out so let me know what you think!

Gabs

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