Musical Evolution & Remixing - Blog Post 3 (DTC 356)

I think using samples shouldn’t be seen as stealing, even though most of the time it can be, because just like any other kind of fine art subject, references will always be your friend. In my mind, samples are just the reference type in music, while pictures are the reference type in drawing. As long as the artist can take a sample, add their own twist, and make it their own, it is all so creative.

A great example of an artist taking a sample and making it match their own genre, beat, and feel, also known as their signature, is Dua Lipa’s Love Again. Thirty seconds into her song, it’s clear she uses a sample from Lew Stone & the Monseigneur Band’s My Woman, where in Dua Lipa’s song, she includes the old-timey, record playing sound of the sample. But, after that short clip, she immediately transitions the old-timey sample into her signature up-beat, smooth, pop genre. Throughout the song, the listener can hear the slight violin and similar rhythm from the sample, which just adds the perfect melody to her signature drumbeat and bass. Thus, this shows how an artist can successfully take a sample and make their own original music from a small sample of an old song, and barely make it noticeable to the listener.

From our readings and videos in the last week, we discussed how culture and music are everchanging. While these two things are not always mixed, they morph similarly to each other in the context of evolution. No one 100 years ago would have ever guessed that music would have evolved so much. Even John Phillip Sousa, who was mentioned in Larry Lessig’s TED Talk about Laws That Choke Creativity, was not found of the “talking machine” technology and stated, “These talking machines are going to ruin artistic development of music in this country” (Sousa, John Phillip). This was during the year 1906, where, at the time, it was normal to see and hear people singing their own songs in-person, rather than through a machine, so the thought of music evolving technologically was out of the world for them. The people of this time believe “the vocal cords will be eliminated by a process of evolution” (Sousa, John Phillip). Indeed, this was a process of evolution, but not in the way they thought. Yes, some machines don’t do the best job at playing music, but artists are still making new songs, we just have a better way of preserving the music and sharing it with generations to come.