Taylor Swift, AutoTune and Consistency
Bite Sized Musical Insights
Exploring this musical data recently has caused me to think about matters of the bigger picture. Like the idea of what it is to improve over time. Should it be defined by measurements of quality? Or maybe consistency? And of course, with time always comes change. If you’re new, you can find details about me and this project here.
Taylor Keeps Doing Better
Last week I shared a chart showing the improving performance of Ye’s material in the Hot 100. This week we see in Taylor Swift’s performance even stronger improvement over the past several years. Doubly impressive since she’s both increased her presense in the charts and her average chart performance. Quantity and quality.
Luke Combs Doesn’t Quit
This surprised me. For almost an entire decade, the artist most consistently in the Hot 100 has been Luke Combs. My custom ChatGPT chose to answer the question of chart consistency by counting which artists had at least one song in the Hot 100 most often. I was surprised not only by the identity, but also by the margin! It’s not even close. Luke may not have as many smash hits as some other artists, but his consistency is unmatched.
Changing Winds
The sound of AutoTune-As-Effect has become familiar since the early days of its popularization by T-Pain and others. But it may be on the way out as seen in the chart below. Since 2022 AutoTune-As-Effect has been used in fewer and fewer songs appearing in the Hot 100. I’ve decided to pull on this thread for an upcoming article so stay tuned for a deeper dive into this changing trend.
