u/Illustrious_Oil_3200

The New York Times recently published a list of the 30 greatest living songwriters, and what fascinated me wasn’t just the names themselves, but the definition of “songwriting” the list seems to propose.

It places people like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Springsteen next to Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliott, Young Thug, Taylor Swift, The-Dream and Bad Bunny, not as separate categories, but as part of the same evolving canon.

The article argues that modern songwriting is no longer just about lyrics or acoustic tradition. It now includes:

• vocal phrasing
• production architecture
• emotional structure
• rap technique
• hook design
• and even the way artists build cultural mythology around themselves

It also raises interesting questions through its omissions:
Neil Young, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Billy Joel and others are nowhere to be found.

I wrote a piece breaking down the categories in the ranking and what they reveal about how popular music criticism is changing.

Do you think the definition of “great songwriter” has fundamentally changed in the streaming era?

https://slavetomusic.com/i-30-greatest-living-songwriters-according-to-the-new-york-times-and-what-this-list-really-says-about-modern-music/