Review of Ralf von Appen, André Doehring, Dietrich Helms, and Allan Moore, eds. Song Interpretation in 21st-Century Pop Music (Ashgate, 2015)

[1] How should we analyze popular music? It seems this question has plagued music scholarship for decades (e.g., McClary and Walser 1990; Covach 1999). The answer, of course, is that there is no single valid method. But despite the variety of available approaches, researchers often confine themselves to their respective corners: music theorists working on issues of harmony, rhythm, and form; music historians working on issues of social, historical, and cultural context. In an effort to bring diverse vantage points such as these together, the editors of Song Interpretation in 21st-Century Pop Music present in this book a collection of thirteen essays--each devoted to a single song, and each utilizing a different analytical tool (or set of tools). The book thus offers a broad overview of popular-music studies, highlighting various methodological approaches within the specific framework of individual song analyses.[2] The somewhat pedagogical bent of the book derives from its origin in the five-day "summer school" held during September 2011 at the University of Osnabruck, Germany. At this gathering, senior scholars gave keynote presentations in the mornings, while in the afternoons junior scholars formed small groups to collaboratively analyze a single song. The book's organization follows a similar plan: the first part, entitled "Listening Alone," includes eight single-authored essays by senior scholars; the second part, entitled "Listening Together," presents five essays, each co-authored by five or six junior scholars. All told, this volume represents the work of thirty-four authors who hail not only from a wide range of countries (e.g., Brazil, UK, Germany, USA, Australia) but also from a wide range of academic disciplines, such as media studies, music theory, ethnomusicology, sociology, and sound recording. The selected songs, all of which were released after 2000, represent a broad spectrum of music styles as well, from indie rock to contemporary R&B to synth-pop.[3] With such a diversity of perspectives, the book will undoubtedly expose readers to a variety of new music and analytical approaches. That said, the strength of the book may also be its weakness. As a PhD in music theory, writing this review in a journal of music theory, I find that many of the essays (although certainly not all) suffer from a somewhat deficient knowledge of mainstream music theory, especially as it relates to popular music. For example, none of the thirteen essays cites any work by Ken Stephenson, John Covach, or David Temperley. Perhaps I am guilty here of the exact myopia that the editors hope to prevent, in that I am focused more on concerns of music theory than on other interpretive avenues. In some cases, the lacuna may simply be a function of the analytical needs given the song at hand. But the consistent omission of standard reference works points to an underlying concern. Thus while the book's editors pitch this collection of essays as prioritizing "the song"--in contrast to prior collections (e.g., Covach and Boone 1997, Everett 2008, Spicer and Covach 2013) that ostensibly "focus on theory. . . and discuss parts of songs only briefly as examples" (2)--I cannot help but feel that many of its analyses would benefit from a bit more of the theorization that its editors so ardently eschew.[4] To be fair, my own academic training is relatively limited in terms of how to address matters of social or cultural context. Thus for music theorists, this book offers valuable insight into the current field of popular-music studies, especially as it exists on an international and interdisciplinary scale. Indeed, academic cross-pollination is precisely what I believe the editors of this volume hope to achieve. Seen in this way, the book can be considered a success, as there is evidence of that cross-pollination at work in the volume itself. For example, Walter Everett and Brad Osborn--both participants in the summer school--are the most cited American music theorists in the five collaborative essays, implying that their ideas gained traction with the other participants. …