Pop music (English: pop music from popular music; slang: pop music) is a field of mass culture, covering

various forms, genres and styles of entertainment and applied music of the 2nd half of the 20th - early
21st centuries[2].

The main features of pop music are the simplicity of the instrumental part, rhythm, and emphasis on
vocals. The main and practically the only form of composition in pop music is the song.

Music critics identify the following criteria for pop music as a musical genre.

The songs are structured according to a conservative verse + chorus pattern. Pop songs require simple,
easy-to-understand melodies. The main instrument in pop music is the human voice. The
accompaniment is given a secondary role: accompanying pop musicians do not play solos and, most
often, are neither songwriters nor band leaders. Rhythmic structure plays an important role in pop
music: many pop songs are written for dancing and have a clear, consistent beat.

The basic musical unit in pop music is the single song. The average length of a song tends to be between
2 and 4 minutes, which is a standard radio format. Long compositions with extensive instrumental parts
are almost never found, as are concept albums.

Lyrics in pop songs, as a rule, are devoted to personal experiences and emotions: love, sadness, joy. The
visual presentation of songs is also of great importance: concert shows and video clips. Therefore, many
pop artists have an extravagant image. A pop artist's group often includes dancers, extras, and other
people who are not involved in the performance of the music but play an important role in the concerts.

The most popular pop singers

Ariana Grande-Butera is an American singer, actress, songwriter, record producer, and Grammy Award
winner. I'm sure everyone is familiar with her work. And here is her most popular song. On YouTube you
can see the mark of 1.3 billion plays.

Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001) is an American singer and songwriter. She
gained first popularity in 2016 after the release of her debut single “Ocean Eyes” on the music
distribution platform SoundCloud.

Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994, Redditch, UK) is a British singer, songwriter and actor, best
known for the band One Direction (2010-2015). Since 2017 he has been performing as a solo singer. He
also appears in films (Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk", "Don't worry darling", "My policeman") You can
hear one of the most popular songs now. About 54 million views on YouTube.
Ashley Nicolette Frangipani, better known by her stage name Halsey, is an American singer, songwriter,
and activist. I started writing songs at the age of 17, in 2014 I signed a contract with the Astralwerks
record company and released a mini-album of five tracks called Room 93. I won’t say that it’s the most
popular, but it’s one of my favorite songs.

As I said at the beginning, pop music is a genre that includes subgenres such as k-pop, europop, latin,
synth-pop, disco, dance music and others.

And now I wanted to quickly tell you about the history of pop music.

The term “pop song” was first used in English in 1926, but the roots of pop music go deeper into history.
The immediate predecessor of pop music was folk music, as well as later street romances and ballads.

Modern pop music was formed in parallel with other genres, such as rock music, and was not always
separable from them. In the 1950s and 1960s, its most typical form was the so-called. "traditional pop"
Traditional pop is performed by a solo singer with background accompaniment. In the USA, pop music
was closely associated with jazz (Frank Sinatra), in France - with chanson.

A real breakthrough in pop music was the emergence of the “disco” (eurodisco) style in the 1970s. Pop
music now replaces rock and roll as the main dance music in discos, and from now on dance music is
one of the main trends in pop music.

Thanks to the advent of music television, the culture of video clips was formed in the 1980s. At this
time, such stars as Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna appeared in the USA. Pop music during this
period was influenced by hip-hop, soul and rhythm and blues. In the 1990s and 2000s, electronic dance
music (rave) was added to this.

That's all I wanted to say. Thank you for your attention.