NPC or non playable character is
a term used to describe the simulated people
you interact with in video games. They're often one note, almost uncannily
robotic and often very entertaining. But I hear this term used more often today
than ever before. Not to describe video game characters,
but to describe real people in the real world. As our society
becomes increasingly digital, I see more and more of these NPCs
being documented in the wild. I think it's disgusting that you're
working part time on this someday. Okay. Wait.
So what does this have to do with music? Look, in our modern dystopian world,
there's more genres of music today than ever before. Like what is hyper pop or dubstep? A pilgrim would be terrified
of these words, but there's one genre of music
I hear people talk about more and more every day, a classification that
almost doubles as an insult and PC music. Chances
are you've heard this term tossed around in a comment section, maybe on Tik Tok,
but what is NPC music? And more importantly, why is NPC music? Does that make sense? Let me explain. When people call something MBC music, they're usually referring
to the kind of soulless corporate pop that you hear playing in a target
or an Apple commercial. So there's your answer.
NPC music is pop radio music. Except not quite as well as easy
to boil it down to that definition. It's important
to remember that the Billboard charts have held both songs
that are commercially successful and also critically acclaimed, or at
the very least beloved by a group of fans. For every Dua
LIPA or Brendon Urie Taylor Swift collab, there's a sizzle putting out and seeing the commercially successful
but also widely beloved songs. Okay, so it's not a type of song,
so then maybe it's a type of sound. Let's take, for example, Oliver Tree's
new song with K-ci, the sports Drink guy. I've heard a lot of people describe this song as NPC music,
and I can't help but agree. Well, partly because it's a typical
and blatant attempt at a vanilla pop hit, but everything from the verse to the chorus and hook felt like a verse
and a chorus and hook. If that makes sense. It was catchy, it was energetic. But yeah, there's something about it there
that just felt generic and something that also made
it feel soulless, which is a word
I'm going to use a lot in this video. So strap
in. Look, I'm a huge fan of Oliver Tree. I don't even want to include them
in this video. And this is a pretty brutal example.
Like there's a lot worse offenders. Let's go over them now. Maroon five is one of the most successful
bands of all time. Love them or hate them. Very genre
defining once in a generation act. They sell out arenas. They top charts. They've been famous for two decades. And yet, when do you hear anybody say,
I can't wait to go to that Maroon five concert, or I just put my latest
paycheck on Maroon five merch? In my case, literally never. So who are all these people? Maroon five has more hits than I or
anybody knows. I can go through their catalog
and find songs that I didn't even know I knew radio hits
that were always on in the background brewing into my brain, but never
interesting enough for me to say, Hey, who is this?
I think that's the root of NBC music. There are countless songs like this. Charlie Puth is another great example. Everybody agrees he's a musical genius. He's had success
that few artists have seen. And yet every single Charlie Puth song
I hear has this empty feeling to it like you've heard it before, or
rather would be indifferent to hearing it over and over and over and over again. Like the Oliver Tree song,
it feels like it's trying to be a song. More often than not, it works. But this kind of soulless factory
made music is exactly what makes something feel like empty music. There, too polished to organized,
they sound manufactured. Marshmallow. Another great example. So much commercial success. But what is his cultural impact
besides like Fortnite? It's creative
being pleasant background music, but just inoffensive enough
that you don't really even notice. Most of these NPC songs seem to work on sound and catchiness
first and lyric second. And if you break down these lyrics,
they're just cookie cutter concepts
that anybody could relate to. Most of these songs are either about love
or heartbreak, sad or happy. And I'm not a music critic, but come on,
some of these songs who wrote this? So there we go. NPC Music is overly produce pop music
that caters to the lowest common denominator in order to maximize
reach ability and commercial success. Except, come
on, of course, is a tick tock section. Look, I thought that was a wrap, but I've
barely even begun to scratch the surface. That's because a lot of ABC Music
and a lot of the people that are calling music NPC music, are online on
apps like Tok, Classic Offenders, or all of those Disney or Bad
songs, nursery rhyme parodies, and more recently, the whole song from the perspective of anxiety,
just got absolutely dragged. All of these have been heavily criticized
for being NBC Music, but why? Unlike the other songs we covered,
these are just people making music from their bedrooms,
not major pop acts like Maroon five. Well, ignore the fact that
a lot of these people actually do have major label backing and are kind of
just deceptively masquerading as just another person on TikTok
making music, which is definitely evil. That's a whole other video. These songs still have the same soulless,
manufactured pop sound. The biggest problem with these songs
is that they're committing the same lowest denominator every song offenses,
but they're trying to wink, wink, their way into being like,
Oh, I just mean this song, guys. Should I drop this? Which ironically makes it worse. I'm not here to say these songs are good
or bad. That's up to you. But there's an undeniable feeling here,
something derived of personality or authenticity here that with the fact
that these songs are often trying to take on extremely personal and emotional issues
like anxiety or heartbreak, and you get the perfect mental it's like,
Let me open up to you guys. Let me be fragile. And then immediately showing what is an
obvious attempt at just making a radio hit or the next viral sound. And I would argue this is the greatest
artistic contradiction. Music isn't a corporate invention. It's an expression
and one that's not bound by culture or language
and has existed as long as humanity has. You don't need a Spotify subscription
or be born with perfect pitch to find yourself casually humming
to yourself or singing in the shower. It's a human activity. So when you take something
so genetically baked in our brain and run it through this paint by numbers
corporate process, something that creates the most vanilla and inoffensive product
possible, only to take that and try to just paint on a shiny coat of humanity
in relatability at the last second. And you have something
that just feels like fake sugar, fake sugar being a perfect example. We have so many artificial sweeteners,
but no matter what we do, we can never perfectly recreate the exact taste
or feeling that real pure sugar gives us. Our brain just unconsciously knows. I would argue, just like this music. So I think we have our answer. NPC Music are songs
that are trying to be songs. They're made in a vacuum to hit
every single mark correctly but fail to actually resonate
or impact our emotional brain. The exact part of the brain
that makes music sound so good. I'm happy with that.
I think that's I think that's good, guys. I think, above
all else, music is subjective, right? A lot of this music is still mocked by the general public,
but they still have their fans. Go to the comment section
of any of these songs and you'll see a lot of people that
genuinely love and support the artist. Are these people just NPCs? Well, I would argue we all are. I've definitely been an NPC before.
I can't lie. There are times where I've driven
for like a half hour and then I kind of just wake up when I'm done and I'm like, Did
I just do that drive? I don't have any memories of that drive.
Oh my God, did I hurt anybody? Or there's times
where I'd just go shopping and like, my brain doesn't turn back on
until I'm leaving the grocery store. Even scrolling on my phone
is a distraction, giving my brain a rest
so I just don't have to think, Am I any better than the people
mocked on the internet? Am I any better than Maroon five fans? Music is not a precise thing. Not even Marshmello
can be boring to everybody. And honestly, that's pretty cool. At the end of the day,
not everybody is even into music. Some people barely listen at all
in that case say they're just like a working class
mother of three. Of course, their favorite song would be
That's What I Like or Sugar. What motivation does she have to go
discover her duster or Glitch Pop? She's got three kids
and Bruno Mars is hot. So even though I went into this
trying to define NPC music, I kind of look at it differently. Still, this phenomenon is not going away. In fact, I think it's going to actually
get worse as music tools become more accessible and people can make
radio quality songs from their laptop. More and more of this soulless music
can be made from people whose tools technically outpace their understanding
of what makes a song truly great. Also, A.I. music is going to be a thing,
and that's going to be even worse. But I think there's an inspiring takeaway
from all of this. This kind of music can motivate people
to go out and discover songs they actually like that do things
differently that they think are cool. So at the end of the day,
maybe NPC music is good after all. Except no, a lot of it still sucks. That being said, guys,
this is a rabbit hole I did not think I'd fall down into,
but I hope you found it interesting. Let me know those comments on below. What are some songs that you think is
NPC music or do you disagree
with some of my takes in this video? Let's get a conversation going. I love making this content for you guys,
so please consider just giving the like and subscribe
to this channel. Send this video to your friends. Even I want to keep making stuff like this
so any support is greatly appreciate it as always, guys. Thank you so much for watching
and I'll see you next time. Peace.
