(March 2023) There have been lots of odd trends in music over the years, but one of the oddest – now seemingly reaching its peak – is the “sped up” song. Simply put, these are popular songs that find new life not with clever remixes, but simply re-issued in a form sped up by 1/3 or more. For those of you over age 50, it’s kind of like when you used to take your 33 1/3 RPM albums and accidentally play them at 45 RPMs.
As with most musical trends right now, this lastest fad began as a fun trick on TikTok, but it has taken off, with the Spotify “sped up songs” playlist now boasting 1.2 million followers. Actually, the real origin of sped up songs is perhaps found in the work of some niche electronica artists of the 90s or possibly even in anime soundtracks. Or, if you go back far enough, maybe even in the Alvin and the Chipmunks songs of the 50s.
(March 2023) There have been lots of odd trends in music over the years, but one of the oddest – now seemingly reaching its peak – is the “sped up” song. Simply put, these are popular songs that find new life not with clever remixes, but simply re-issued in a form sped up by 1/3 or more. For those of you over age 50, it’s kind of like when you used to take your 33 1/3 RPM albums and accidentally play them at 45 RPMs.
As with most musical trends right now, this lastest fad began as a fun trick on TikTok, but it has taken off, with the Spotify “sped up songs” playlist now boasting 1.2 million followers. Actually, the real origin of sped up songs is perhaps found in the work of some niche electronica artists of the 90s or possibly even in anime soundtracks. Or, if you go back far enough, maybe even in the Alvin and the Chipmunks songs of the 50s.
In any case, the sped up sound is hot again. And while it has mostly been limited to hip-hop, country and in pop, it is now edging into classic R&B. Last week the Grammy winning Dazz Band hit “Let It Whip” hits the streaming services in sped up form. When I saw that there was new music out by the Dazz Band, I was actually pretty excited, until I saw what it was. The floodgates opened this week, with new sped up versions of classics from Peaches & Herb, The Four Tops and Blue Magic. The labels involved, many which appear to own rights to re-recorded versions of the originals, appear to be the culprits here, hoping to squeeze a few more spins out of old recordings -- especially if they're dealing with re-recordings that never had a great first life. We’re not seeing a lot of artistic merit in this choice.
Here's hoping that this annoying fad passes soon and doesn’t clog our Release Radar playlists further. In the meantime, here is the sped up “Shake Your Groove Thing.”
By Chris Rizik