Good, solid craftsmanship. The Baroque and Classical eras are full of this kind of thing. Pop music always pretends to be special, but a lot of it is just decent craftsmanship too:
In the pop music field there are lots of unfortunate performances. This one is just mediocre, but it combines a formulaic video and predictable choreography with uninspired songwriting.
So that is the neutral and the bad. The neutral takes the basic methods of creating music and executes them in a workmanlike fashion. Nothing great, but nothing to be ashamed of either. Bad music usually is a mixture of bad choices. Poor musical structure, indifferent execution and random gratuitous elements. What, for example, is Hindu Goddess/Shakira doing in that last one?
Good music is created by making good choices. The composition itself has a unique, individual character. It is based on some fundamental musical truths, but comes at them from a new perspective. Every element is activated to create musical purpose. There are no extraneous or unnecessary details. Here is an example:
You may not like it, but it fulfills the criteria I mentioned: all the elements are precise, tightly focused. The video is stark black and white and the choreography is focused on a few elements. The lyrics are on a single theme (heh) and the musical accompaniment is spare. The song is tightly structured with just the traditional elements of verse, chorus and bridge. There are an absolute minimum of jump cuts in the editing and the set is minimal. Nothing gratuitous! The equivalent in classical music might be something like this:
A single theme of great simplicity unfolded in invertible counterpoint and perfectly done.
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