As I was procrastinating blithely on a final paper that I still haven’t finished writing, I paid more attention to the music cycling through my headphones rather than the words on my outline.

“Stronger” is an international hit, breaking #1s, sales, records, all sorts of lofty milestones that a million artist can only hope to have in their wildest dreams. And yet, listening to it, the song is only made up of a handful of components plopped on top of a sample of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” cycling throughout:

-a drum beat
-occasional keyboard/synthesizer notes
-occasional electric guitar toward the end

and Kanye’s dubious rapping.

That’s it.

…

I mean, granted, most songs don’t have many layers, simplicity is an art not easily mastered, and too much clutter is auditory pain. But “Stronger” isn’t particularly innovative; everything’s on beat, minus some random synth bits, and it wouldn’t take too much to come up with it.

But he did come up with it, it’s a winning formula, and hey– whatever the reason, it’s a hit. It’s not particularly groundbreaking, or even that original, though most people haven’t had this much exposure to (a) Daft Punk’s genius and (b) the sharp, steady drum beat accent that sounds like a snare drum tap and is such a trademark of some types of Japanese and European techno.

All that I personally need to notice is that it’s a fantastic dance song.