Interpolation

[john]

Hi Gang

 

What are your thoughts on Interpolation?

 

I would have thought that this was theft, plain and simple.

 

It seems to be a fairly common practice in recent years, yet it seems to be pretty well ignored. It’s not just a new practice, for example it the Beatles “All You Need Is Love” they interpolate “La Marseillaise”, and even their own song 

“She loves you” amongst a bunch of songs. That was 1967!

 

Often it is because a label refuses to license a sample, but also if the licensing cost is thought to be too expensive.

 

Cheers

 

John

[MisterB]

I heard this word for the first time (in this context) recently... I think it was Rick Beato brought it up, with some examples - two of which were by Dua Lipa, and one by someone else... maybe Miley Cyrus or someone like that. My recollection is that Dua Lipa credits the original writers, and maybe Miley doesn't? Or maybe it was that she credited them on one song but not another (which would seem to indicate that she probably got caught and did it to avoid a law suit). 

 

I only recently got interested in the music of Dua Lipa, and having listened to her latest album A LOT, I hear a lot of throwbacks to the 1970's and 1980's, and around that that kind of time. Most are a lot more subtle than Break My Heart (and some are really not), and they make me smile. They're brilliantly integrated into her work, which I think is largely very original. If she hadn't done Break My Heart, I would honestly think that what she does, is a brilliant throwback, that's subtle and includes an older generation in the enjoyment of her music. Break My Heart (and one or two others that I know) is too in your face with it, and honestly, as a result, I don't like the song.  

 

So for me, that's where the line is.  If it is blatant, then I hate it.  If its subtle, then I love it.

 

I feel that the term Interpolation in this context, or at least this particular definition must be recent.  Afterall, sampling as we know it, didn't exist in 1967. I don't know where that definition came from (I have heard it elsewhere though), but I think that its a bit of a simplification - there are lots of reasons why someone would want to nod to something from the past.  

 

Ethically, I kind of feel the same way as I do personally (if its subtle, it should be ignored, and if its blatant, then it deserves to be taken down), and think that generative AI should be treated in the same way, as cases of Interpolation.  Of course the line of subtle vs. blatant is going to be a tricky one to draw.

Edited September 8 by MisterB

[john]

Hey nice reply.

 

I find acceptable and like are a little different for me. I’d define acceptable much the same, but like for me, I like when it is evocative, borrowing some of the feel and sound, but in a way that it is more like a subtle homage rather than a cookie cut with some tweaks. I can’t remember what song it was, or the modern artist and song it was, but I heard one that had interpolated a song by Sly and the Family Stone. It was so refreshing to hear that sound being revisited, but it was more like a shade of paint on a new building than anything else. I guess that is part of why I struggle to remember the song exactly but do remember the sensational blast from the past it gave!

 

Cheers

 

John

[MisterB]

It's funny, me and my wife were talking about it recently (probably after I saw the Rick Beato video), and when I pointed out a couple of the more subtle ideas on Dua Lipa's latest, she couldn't hear them at all, and even though she's not a musician, her musical vocabulary is huge compared to mine. I definitely hear some 10cc and Abba in there. 

 

Jazz musicians borrow a lot, and use references in solos.  When I was a performer, I used to play in a pit band quite often, doing musicals and variety shows.  The musical director, who also played keys, was a genius at off the cuff referencing in response to a vocal line. Interpolation is only really a slight extension of this idea.