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You have your big groups and your indie bands, your classical composers and your jazz legends. You have the pop stars who have been around for decades and the Latin hits that consistently rank high on the charts. And then there are the music tropes: the common and overused songwriters’ clichés that seem to make their way into every single genre, from rap to rock ’n’ roll and hip-hop.
If you’re into songwriting and music production, you know how hard it is to come up with fresh ideas. Every chord, drum fill, melody, and even lyrics get recycled over and over again, and it’s getting harder to find something that hasn’t already been done or doesn’t sound suspiciously familiar. You’ve surely been there, listening to a new tune and thinking, “Hey, doesn’t this sound like that song?”
We all have music formulas that we secretly like, while others have gotten so boring and annoying that we’re ready to rip our headphones off and throw them across the room. So which tropes in music are trite to the point that people explicitly said they couldn’t stand them anymore? That’s what we’ll find out today, thanks to a Reddit thread that asked people to name the music clichés they’re sick of hearing. From the classic “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back” love story to excessive auto-tune, we’re calling out all the overused music elements that make people want to hit the skip button!
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#1
"Naming oneself after a mobster, a god, or having the name Lil'."
RELATED:
#2
"Love songs normalizing cheating... Like the singer saying they can't help it, dont tell my xyz, lines like "i know it's wrong but it feels good". Please stop.
Oh and kids choir."
StrangeOne 1 year ago
"Every morning there's a halo hanging from the corner my girlfriend's 4 post bed..." Kill it with fire.
#3
"Hearing the "All I want for Christmas is you" song every christmas."
Missy Corron 1 year ago
I sing it with shoes (started as a joke with my littles) jewels (joke with hubby) but IRL I can't stand her!! She isn't a good person in any way!
#4
"When singers start randomly start listing location names in songs. Most of the time it has nothing to do with the rest of the song.
The one that bugs me the most was when Jennifer Lopez said it in one of her songs. She once sang:
"Brazil, Morocco, London to Ibiza Straight to LA, New York, Vegas to Africa."
What kind of dumb arse flight plan is that? You start off in Brazil and then go to Morocco. From Morocco, you go to London. That's not too bad so far. But then you go back down to Ibiza. Then you go all the way back to LA. Then, rather than to Vegas first, you fly all the way to the other side of the USA and then head back Vegas. And then, fly all the way back to Africa. Which, by the way, you have already been to because you went to Morocco. Makes no sense."
#5
"Girls like Mariah Carey who think that because they can warble all over the range, think that they should and that it improves a song. It is like the singing equivalent of a car skidding on ice, all over all the lanes and you are just wincing waiting for it to end."
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
Carey once stated in an interview that while she inherited her mother's operatic singing range, she never really learned to control those wild notes. So she just worked it to advantage.
#7
"DJ Khaled screaming his name."
#8
"Sirens. Screw anyone who puts a siren in their song, that is not an instrument."
Caroline Grova 1 year ago
I can't agree. But then my daddy was a cop....from the east side of Chicago....
#9
Adventurous_Yak_9234 wrote:
"Pop remixes of old songs."
asking--questions replied:
"But what if it's a painfully slow, stripped down version with flat, melodramatic vocals? That's always great art, right?"
#10
"Saying who you are at the beginning of the song or something along the lines of "You already know who it is!" No... we really don't..."
#11
"This is specifically about Contemporary Christian, but these 3 minute songs are getting stretched out to 10 minutes. The song runs its course, but then goes back into the bridge and spends 5 minutes repeating it, lowering the instrumental until it's acapella, and then just when you think it's faded out, the drums start going again and it swells back into the chorus, and then the cycle REPEATS???? It's ridiculous. I might understand it if it only happened when the songs were played live, and everyone was really feeling it, but this happens in the recordings, which is simply unacceptable. There's a few songs that I really like but always skip after the first 3 minutes because there's only repetition from there."
#13
"In the early 2000’s I don’t know why everyone found it necessary to fit the word "tonight" in to the song as much as possible."
#14
"I hate handclaps. I also hate excessive use of chanting, ESPECIALLY when they get a group of children to chant lyrics. Seriously, wtffffff."
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
🎶You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need 🎶
#15
"Beautiful intros that resolve into a totally predictable and boring maintro."
#16
"Everyone has to use some extreme inflection but it just kills it. That's why I hate remixes and modernized covers of old songs."
#17
"That raspy whisper indie female voice... idk how else to describe it. It’s typically paired with just an acoustic guitar."
#18
"Constant songs about relationships. How about some new topics? That’s one of the reasons that I like “Lights” by Ellie Goulding. It’s a pop song about her childhood fear of the dark."
Imperial Guard 1 year ago
Yeah! I like when songs are used as a storytelling medium, or an emotional outlet, rather than dissing your ex
#20
"The annoying hi-hat beat found in many modern rap songs. Old school rap had a variety of beats, but I swear I hear the same one in half of rap songs today."
#21
"Whenever the song stops halfway through and the singer starts doing a really long, dramatic monologue. That one Alicia Keys song is like that and I always turn it off."
Luke Branwen 1 year ago
"One general law leading to the advancement of all organic beings is multiply. Therein, let the strongest live and the weakest die. Eventually, a species can become complacent. At that point, a de-evolution can occur. A spiral downwards signalling an end of that life form." (If you know what song is it, I automatically like you)
#22
"Songs with whistling, ukuleles or mandolins, clapping, and shouting “hey”! Lately I’ve also noticed what I call the bro version of the clap-heys, which is a stomp-whoa with some guitar riffs. Used most often with “reality” show trailers geared towards men."
#23
"Corporate "inspirational" music. So soulless it makes me wanna plug my ears with forks."
Blaze Fitzwater 1 year ago
Like when my co-worker got fired and grabbed his box and beta fish bowl and walked out singing "We are the Champions?" 🤔
#24
"If you sing about tractors, pick up trucks, very hot girls, in new country music."
#26
"Need two more syllables in this next line? "Today" or "Tonight" are your best friends."
#27
"Using a song to promote something based solely on the chorus without listening to any of the lyrics or reading the title of the song.
Examples:
Anything patriotic that plays “Born in the USA”
Your school or summer camp video collage set to “Good Riddance” by Green Day."
#28
"Slow covers of songs. Sounds like they were made for trailers."
Paulo Freitas 1 year ago (edited)
Yes and no, there is a slow cover of Cris Isaac song " Wicked game " ( yes it even slower than the original ) and its frikking stunning. ( Ursine Vulpine - Wiked Game )
#29
"Being told to put my hands up in the air, like I just don’t care."
Caroline Grova 1 year ago
Right? What if I'm stranded on a desert island and trying to flag down a passing aircraft and they assume I just don't care?
#30
"The voicemail bits usually before or after a song imo."
#31
"Using "woah" to replace any sort of expression or use of basic vocabulary."
#32
OldMuley wrote:
"Obvious autotuning."
NoLogicBot replied:
"Sometimes the auto tuning is just part of the “sound” of the song just like how a distorted guitar is.
If it’s on every single song with no variation then there’s a problem."
Paulo Freitas 1 year ago
Im with this guy, you use autotuning ( i don't care if its intentional or not ) we are done.
#33
creepiest-greek-myth wrote:
"I hate overdone rhymes. Give me some creativity! Think a bit harder!"
an_ineffable_plan replied:
"Every time I hear a new song rhyme "girl" with "world" I want to throw a shoe at whoever thought they had a shred of creativity while writing those lyrics."
#34
"Cuts like a knife.
It's crazy, but it's true.
All night long."
#35
"The river... runs to the sea. Never to a lake, or underground."
StrangeOne 1 year ago
But does it?... Like there's that one waterfall that leads to somewhere underground and know one has discovered where yet.
#36
"I know pretty much nothing about non-classical stuff but here's some annoying things in opera:
the Generic Opening Chorus (belcanto / early Verdi is especially guilty of this. I stg they all sound the same)
baroque da capo arias. b*tch we already heard it why are you repeating
Staccato Chorus Of Sneaking Around
"someone's coming we must part" "goodbye" "goodbye" "goodbye" (repeat at least 8 times)
villain loudly sings about his plans like 2 meters from everyone else yet no one hears him."
#38
"Most rap songs would talk about how they started from the bottom and now they're at the top, to the point where I feel like they're just rubbing it on my face. It was something that I thought was pretty genuine the first time until it got overused in a ton of songs to the point where I just find it cliche."
#39
"I love you so and I'm never gonna let you go.
Rhyming girl with world or pearl."
#40
"The "pub rock" ending (everyone plays noise until the leader signals to stop). Hate it live, hate it even more recorded."
#42
"My pet peeve is when the singer says his/her own name. Has annoyed me since Sugar Ray did it in "Every Morning." Even more annoying when multiple artists are in a track and start naming themselves. It's a song, not a roll call!"
#43
"95% of the time when someone is singing about 'eyes', they try to de-emphasize the harsh sounding nature of the word by drawing it out, and putting a down-pitch on the y. So it sounds like a posh british person saying 'a*s'.
So now whenever I hear people singing about eyes, all I hear is them saying ass."
William Dennett 1 year ago
This reminds me of one of my voice lessons years ago. I was learning a *groan* Matchbox 20 song with the word “hassling,” in it, and my instructor said H sounds can sound rough, so she said to just sing “‘assling” instead. 😄
#44
"Needless fade-out endings, children that can't sing and are most likely only being paid in chocolate, slurring words so no one can understand the lyrics the first time around, and rap segments in songs they have NO BUSINESS being in."
William Dennett 1 year ago
I’m a big fan of rap music, but rap bridges have ruined so many great pop songs. Thank goodness there is often a version of the song without the rap part.
#45
"In metal, the relatively quiet intro for 4 bars followed by an abrupt yell or growl, then followed by the basic riff. e.g. Every nu-metal song."
Paulo Freitas 1 year ago
Lolol, true, but then after the rift, you get the flute, violin, and bagpipes, and the the 4 arms drummer kicks in, with the melódic sound of the preety redheaded Singer, and its amazing ( talking about Eluveitie )
#46
"Singing about love, relationships (starting, having, or ending) and sex, as though that were the sum totality of human experience. I find myself drawn toward musicals and comedy songs just for the variety. There's more to life than finding the right fluids to wet particular parts of your anatomy.
Let's have a song about when you're running late to work only to discover that your car won't start, or how comforting it is to come home on a Friday night from a very busy week to the home where you live alone knowing that you have absolutely nothing planned whatsoever until Monday morning. Or a song about that time you confidently taught your kid cousin the names of the all stars and constellations you could see in the sky one night, only to look them up later and realise that you got every single one of them wrong. These are relatable experiences to most people and humanity would benefit from having them immortalised in a catchy anthem."
#47
"Ending the chorus with “tonight”
Most producer tags, Generic upward key change in the last chorus, Quiet verses, then explosive choruses (not really bad, just kind of predictable)
Also not really a cliché, but it annoys me when people only focus on Freddie Mercury, and completely ignore that Brian May John Deacon, and Roger Taylor are all also phenomenal musicians."
Bored Retsuko 1 year ago
"Generic upward key change in the last chorus" YES!!! I've always hated it sooo much, makes me cringe.
#48
Beastyboyy1 wrote:
"Chords. So overrated. I like the classics, back when it was just sticks on mammoth vertebrae. Then it all went downhill with those damn “Baroque’s”"
ManPiaba replied:
"Sticks and vertebrae are for posers, grunts are where it’s really at."
William Dennett 1 year ago
Dude, grunts?! 🙄 Newfangled garbage! I preferred it when it was just the wails and howls of saber-toothed tiger victims.
#49
"Having music videos or lyrics that are inherently suggestive in nature when it's really unnecessary. I find the suggestive videos with perfectly normal lyrics the most annoying, as it's unneeded, and it's not like it's going to make me want to watch it more."
#50
"When the lyrics say "stop" and the music stops for a couple of beats. So clever, not."
Caroline Grova 1 year ago
I believe this is meant to give listeners time to collaborate and listen.
#51
gozba wrote:
"How a lot of songs use the same chord changes. Yes, I know what the blues is, but that doesn’t mean all pop songs need to follow those changes. Be creative."
My_dog_is-a-hotdog replied:
"It’s not just blues though, the same chord changes have been used since the invention of the Motet."
#52
"That "pat-boone-debbie-boone" drum fill."
#53
"Crowd singing songs."
Donkey boi 1 year ago
To be fair, the Green Day crowd singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was pretty fire!
#54
"When the chorus is just the title repeated over and over."
#55
"No longer a thing, but The Loudness War that dominated rock and metal in the late 90s and 00s.
I don't know why people thought compression and amplification made their music better... but it's made much of that music from that period straight up unlistenable. The thing is, you can accomplish a "wall of sound" type of vibe for your music, if that's what you want, without loss of fidelity. Just look at someone like Devin Townsend... even during that period when he was still with Strapping Young Lad and had one or two solo albums out... He had that "loud" presentation of his music, but it sounded so good... because he didn't go into the sound file, cut out his lows and highs... and put out what is essentially butchered music like most of his peers in the genre."
#56
"In black metal, the use of intros. Its way overdone and so outdated, just get into it, already!!!"
#57
22poppills wrote:
"Whatever Imagine Dragons is."
Commenter No. 2 replied:
"It's like their music was made for commercials or tough dudes on tiktok."
Paulo Freitas 1 year ago
I frikking love Imagine Dragons, love most of their músics, i don't get this post.
#58
"The electronic drum machine snap/clap that’s increasingly popular in country music."
#59
"Rhyming “fly” with “high” (even switching it up and throwing in a “sky” in there)
Rhyming “night” with “light”
Rhyming “away” with “stay”."
#60
DonovanMcLoughlin wrote:
"Any time a musician says "I don't know..." in their lyrics."
DismalChance replied:
"Ozzy Osbourne has a song you're really going to love."
#61
"Key change towards the end of the song (usually up by a tone I think?). I'm glad it's not as popular anymore."
#62
"Songs being less than 3 minutes, sometimes 2 minutes."
#63
"When I listen to rap music off of a music video, it’s usually a prty good video with the song at a fitting length to the video without stopping, but when I listen to country music there’s suddenly a need for the artist to make a 10:00 long video with talking parts in the middle of verses and random sounds from the video in the background, as if I was listening to the song for the sake of the video and not the song."
#64
"Songs that start or end with some kind of “bit” tacked onto the song so that I have to hear it every time it comes up in a Spotify mix. Like the end of Killing Me Softly by the Fugees. Beautiful song. Ends with some guy yelling at me about the family gonna rat on me. Or Queens of The Stone Age’s No One Knows that ends with a Mexican radio station ad. They’re never clever or endearing or a meaningful addition. Just some weird stuff the band comes up with that makes no sense to anyone else."
#66
"In hiphop when they just repeat the hook over and over and over for literally half the song."
#67
"I hate it when they start with 'let me tell you a story...'"
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
'Bout a man named Jed, a poor country farmer barely kept his family fed...
#68
"This one's kinda weird, and I'm probably the only one who hates it, but it sounds so bad when audio engineers limit trap beats and squash all of the transients instead of just letting it clip independently from the vocals. One example of this is kid cudi's man on the moon 3. I would've liked the album if it wasn't for the mastering on the beats."
#70
"In country the dumb hickhop bridge before the predictably slightly louder last chorus and outro."
#71
"Songs that have very little music and is literally just the singer saying something with no tune. Feels like I'm having a conversation with someone. Have some beats in the song atleast."
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
Fitting a whole sentence into one long note. Proof that the performer can't sing.
#72
"More to do with fans but I hate how people think new music sucks. If you’re not going to try to find the good stuff you have the wait a few years(or more) for the good stuff to be found for you."
User# 6 1 year ago (edited)
That's not how it works, though. Take it from an old man: there comes a point in your life when you're just done with new music. Not that all new music is bad, it's just that you have enough of a library of 'old' music to last you the rest of your life. It may come early or late, but at some point you just can't be bothered with new artists anymore.
#73
"That old recorder sound in every punk - rock or grundge song that last 13 seconds just kills all the vibe before the song even starts playing."
#74
"Rhyming 'knees' with 'please.' We... we get it. You're on your knees, it's dramatic, blah blah blah shut up."
#75
"The blatant pandering to any particular demographic. That's not to say that people can only sing songs about stuff from their personal lives. But it's really hard to take any of that "life of emotional turmoil and struggle" stuff seriously when it's coming from somebody who has been a world-famous entertainer for like 10 years."
StrangeOne 1 year ago (edited)
Nah. I find it more hard to enjoy and relate to a song singing "I'm just a kid and my life is a nightmare".
What do you think ?
Emily Chandler 1 year ago
I absolutely hate music that has the beat louder than the tune. With lo-fi, for example, it's always that damn snare drum.
Emily Chandler 1 year ago
I absolutely hate music that has the beat louder than the tune. With lo-fi, for example, it's always that damn snare drum.
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