Modern Jazz, Old School Rap, & Fade Out Hate
I hate fade outs, so you'd think I'd be happy about their decline. But sometimes you don't know what you got until it's gone.
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Where Have All The Fade Outs Gone?
You know the fade out. As a song nears its end, it gets quieter and quieter and quieter, until you can't hear it anymore. Fade outs used to super common. In fact, between 1960 and 1980, 68% of number one hits ended with a fade out. But then around 1985 the fade out began to die.
This was the result of technological improvements. For decades, fade outs were often necessary. If your song was running too long to fit on a piece of vinyl, you had to fade it out. If you tried to squeeze a long song on a piece of vinyl, the sonic quality could degrade. Once those limitations were no more, the fade out began to, well, fade out.
I was generally happy about this. I don't like fade outs. I think they are almost always lazy. But then things went too far. Between 2010 and 2017, zero number one hits ended with a fade out.
Fade outs are sometimes necessary. In fact, I used one on a song that I just put out. When used correctly a fade out represents endlessness or continuity, like on Lorde's 2017 masterpiece “Supercut”. If your song doesn't need to convey that idea, then don't use it.
Luckily, things have corrected again. Between 2018 and 2020, 5 of 46 number one hits (11%) have ended with a fade out. That's a small sample, so I wouldn't take it to mean that the fade out has risen from the ashes, but if 10% of number one hits ended with a fade out until the human species faded from the Earth, I'd be a happy camper.
A New One
"Valentine" by Laufey
2022 - Vocal Jazz
Many of the sounds you hear circulating on TikTok are purposefully distorted and meant to make you feel unsettled. But there exists an alternative side of TikTok where Gen Z'rs can't get enough of slow, jazzy melodies. Laufey fits into that latter category.
The mononymous singer-songwriter was born in Iceland and first gained prominence after participating in both her home country's version of The Voice and America's Got Talent. Not only can she write stunning melodies and play multiple instruments, but her voice sounds like it was plucked from a 1940s jazz club.
And despite the old-timey nature of her compositions, Laufey has managed to connect with a younger audience. The ultimate proof of that is all of the sped-up versions of her songs that have been posted to YouTube by random people. As we , that's a sign that a record is catching on among younger people.
An Old One
"Step to My Girl" by Souls of Mischief
1992 - Alt Hip-Hop
If someone asked me what I love about hip-hop, I might point to this song. The raps are laid back, easy to digest, and baked with some humor (e.g. "You try to, play me like Milton Bradley"). Plus, you get to taste a few different flows because there's a new rapper on each verse.
“Step to My Girl” is also baked with history. It interpolates some lyrics from YZ’s “Who’s that Girl”, and the music is also built around a sample from saxophonist Grover Washington Jr.'s “Aubrey”, an instrumental cover of the 1972 Bread song of the same name.
Years later, A-Plus, one quarter of the group, commented that the song is "kinda cool or whatever. But now it just reminds me of a corny young kid." And the song is corny. It was made by braggadocios young men who were still figuring themselves out. But when you combine that starry-eyed corniness that only a young person could buy into with an instrumental that reaches further into the past than those that put it together, you sometimes stumble into something special.
Not stepping to your girl,
Chris Dalla Riva
Want to hear the music that I make? Check out my new EP.
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