The 'Millennial Whoop' is all over modern music... and the internet
Is the same musical phrase cropping up over and over again?
Intro image: ©Amanda Schwab/StarPix/REX/Shutterstock
Trends in pop music come and go, and it seems that the latest to arrive is the so-called 'Millennial Whoop'.
In the recent video posted by Arnaud Druot (above), this shocking new musical pandemic is confirmed. The Whoop has burrowed deep into the minds of songwriters, singers and producers everywhere, and it's spreading fast.
The Millennial Whoop manifests in many forms - everything from the notable "whoo-ooah-whoo-ooah" or the commonplace "ooo-ooah-ooo-ooah", right down to the lesser-heard "eeeyy-oooh-eeeyy-oooh".
While there are regional variations, sufferers do share some common symptoms. The Whoop always seems to appear as a two-note phrase based on the third and fifth degrees of the musical scale. These two notes, when combined with the root note of the scale, create the basic and oft-used major or minor triad, meaning the Whoop is spreading like wildfire.
Fortunately, there is a cure: get out there and buy yourself a copy of Computer Music issue 234. With its massive 16-page no-BS guide to music theory, musicians everywhere can immunise themselves against the Whoop and stop spreading it to the people they care about.
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A former Production Editor of Computer Music and FutureMusic magazines, James has gone on to be a freelance writer and reviewer of music software since 2018, and has also written for many of the biggest brands in music software. His specialties include mixing techniques, DAWs, acoustics and audio analysis, as well as an overall knowledge of the music software industry.
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