Defining Cheesy Pop Music

Have you ever been at a club, absolutely loving the tunes – only to discover it’s cheese night? Well, it looks like you’re a cheese fan, friend.

But what exactly is cheesy music? How’s it defined? And what makes a song cheesy in the first place? This is one of those highly subjective – but super interesting areas that we like to explore, especially in music PR. So, let’s dive deep into the seas of cheese (an image less pleasant when it’s written down, we’ll admit), and figure out how something so subjective can be so unanimous at the same time.

What in the Wensleydale?! – How are we supposed to define cheesy music?

If we’re going to lump every song that’s overly formulaic, or predictable to the point of being clichéd – well, isn’t that 99% of music with four beats in a bar?

Maybe it’s overly sentimental lyrical content that makes a song cheesy – in which case, every love song ever is doomed to become a ripened wheel of parmesan.

Maybe it’s an age thing. Older songs, even classic hits, have been sampled, imitated and overplayed to the point of forming curds. Certain synths and drum samples have reached the point of overuse and familiarity that, just by hearing them, you expect to have a cheesy experience.

Is it… maybe all of the above?

One thing’s for sure; there’s a kitsch appeal to cheesy music that is basically unanimous – even if the material itself is broad and varied.

What makes a pop song cheesy?

This is hard to nail down. There are a ton of variables. But, generally speaking, cheesy music is uplifting – possibly too uplifting – and this is achieved in innumerable ways, over countless genres.

The N-Trance classic Set You Free is absolutely one of the cheesiest productions in music history. It’s euphoric in the extreme, despite occupying minor (AKA depressing) scale territory for much of the track. The thunder sample, the spikey piano, the lead synth, the completely inverted energy of the drums – the belting vocal. It all adds up to an emotional blender of things that shouldn’t work on paper, but totally do in practice.

But it’s cheesy as heck. You could put it on a cracker and serve it with pickle.

What about Sweet Caroline? There’s one you could slice. What about something a little more current – like Justin Timberlake’s new crop of songs? This one’s a lyrical offender, if you ask us, in a similar way to Sweet Caroline: lyrics that are easy to grasp and sing, super familiar – but overtly so.

Subjective… but unanimous?

Cheesiness in music is highly subjective. It can vary based on cultural context, personal preference, time and demographic – and what one person finds cheesy and unappealing, another might find nostalgic and enjoyable.

Herbie Hancock’s Rockit was once the freshest, most exciting sound on the planet. A massive hit after his label gave him a courtesy “farewell” budget for a final record, that reignited his career and made him a global sensation.

There wasn’t a gram of cheese to be found on this record – arduously crafted on analogue gear by a young Michael Beinhorn, with a modest budget and a DIY attitude.

But the thing with fresh sounds is, everyone jumps on them and starts imitating that sound. It still happens today – and there’ll be a ton of cheese in the future as a result.

It’s how eras of music are defined; like how the Roland TR-909 shaped the sound of the 90s. Hancock’s signature moves – the scratches, the synth brass, the bouncing bass – would be imitated to the point of chliché in the years to come.

And so, Herbie’s once funky fresh jam ripened in less than a decade, to become one of the cheesiest tracks in existence. Not that he minded at the time.

But, “one man’s cheese is another man’s meat”, as members of The Darkness not-so-eloquently once put it.

Despite this subjectivity, certain songs achieve a level of cheesiness that is undeniable – a cheesiness that transcends all preferences and contexts, to stand as a pillar of cheddar. Often, it’s because they embody the characteristics we’ve already mentioned.

Take Summer of ‘69.

Basically everyone in the world agrees that Summer of ‘69 is a cheesy song. It has aged terribly, soaked in reverb and 80s nostalgia. It’s formulaic, predictable to the point of being clichéd, even with that key change. It’s definitely rocking some overly sentimental lyrical content (that’s the whole point of the song, actually).

But… It’s a total anthem. Good luck finding a wedding party without this song on a playlist. Even nearly 40 years after its release, Gen Z is falling in love with it. It’s the old school cool effect, we’d guess; just old enough to have gone through the cultural cycle of cool, deeply uncool, then cool again.

And this leads us on to our last point – that cheesy doesn’t equal bad.

Most people think cheesy music is delicious

Cheesy music is not inherently bad.

The most cheesy songs ever have achieved immense popularity, and most have become classics. The simplicity, the catchiness – the sheer euphoric infectiousness of these songs make them accessible and enjoyable for just about everyone.

Could you really call Dancing Queen rubbish because it’s (admittedly very) cheesy? Or deny Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up your energy, when you know for a fact you’d be the first one to shout “OHHHH!” if it came on at a party?

Sure, these songs are labelled as cheesy. But they’re utterly cherished around the world. It’s not just a nostalgia trip, either. They are ingrained within our collective culture, as human beings – a positive, beautiful note in our history.

They’re among the best achievements of our species; creations we all more or less agree on, even if it is just that we all agree they’re cheesy.

How could that be a bad thing?

Urban Rebel – pop music PR

Urban Rebel does pop music PR for the most exciting emerging talent and established acts – and occasionally, the cheesiest, too!

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