Music fans around the world count down the days until their favorite artist releases new music. The anticipation is quickly shattered when the date comes after months of waiting to be met with only half an hour’s worth of new music.
In recent years, albums seem to be getting shorter and shorter, leaving listeners with endless months of waiting only for 10 songs that are maybe three minutes each. The amount of music that has been coming out has made fans wonder if artists are focusing more on the quantity of album releases than the actual quality of the albums.
This year, almost all of the popular releases have anywhere from 10 to 15 songs, only enough for an average of 67 minutes. While this has become the norm most fans are not happy with the lack of new music.
The hottest albums that have been released have been nothing short of amazing but each one is shockingly short. “Short and Sweet” by Sabrina Carpenter stays true to its title with only 12 songs creating an album that only totals 36 minutes in length, with the hot songs “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” breaking records and becoming viral. While these accomplishments are impressive, there are many fans that are wishing that the record itself was longer than a half hour.
This is not the only record to be shorter than many have expected. The newest Fontaines DC album “Romance” is 11 songs long and only one minute longer than Carpenter’s most recent release. This record has received so much love specifically in the UK but why stick to shorter album times?
Billie Eilish’s “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” is only a total of 10 songs and a total of 43 minutes. While the length of Eilish’s album may be longer than Carpenter’s and Fontaines DC’s, it does not take away from the fact that the album could have a few more songs and still be a masterpiece. This album itself has been loved and praised since its release with no critiques on the song content but many are left wondering why stop at only 10 songs.
“BRAT” by Charli XCX is one of the longer releases of the year being 15 songs but still only meeting the time of 41 minutes. This album has taken the world by storm for being a Brit-pop club album yet solidifies the fact that listeners are being led to believe that they should be content with shorter times.
Fans are happy to be receiving any music at all but in what way are these going to be considered full-length albums and not EPs?
An EP is defined as any music release of more than a single song that time ranges less than 30 minutes. However, many artists are twisting that and releasing almost 40-minute records and claiming that they are not full-length albums.
Gracie Abrams released “This Is What It Feels Like” in 2021 with a run time of 37 minutes which is claimed as an EP while her latest release “The Secret of Us” is 47 minutes long.
With this year being a full force of pop music, there have been some exceptions to the short album epidemic. Taylor Swift’s “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY” is a total of 31 songs and is over two full hours’ worth of new music. While this release was essentially a double album release, Swift was relentlessly made fun of over the sheer amount of music that she released at one time.
There seems to be no happy medium anymore. There are no hour-long albums being released and it seems like that is how the industry is starting to lean. The amount of songs that have been released that are under three minutes is a new phenomenon that fans are just having to be content with.
Bring back the albums that leave you begging for more new songs even though the release is more than 15 songs. It is a problem that is being fed into too much and needs to be changed for the better.
