GoKawiilMusical Form Institute defines 'gridification' trend in pop music production
The Musical Form Institute has introduced the term 'gridification' to describe how recorded pop music has changed over the past 25 years, moving away from the small timing imperfections heard in songs like Captain & Tennille's 1975 hit 'Love Will Keep Us Together' toward tightly quantized, grid-aligned production. The institute compares Billboard Hot 100 top five lists from 1975 and 2025 to illustrate how rhythmic looseness and idiosyncratic playing have been edited out of contemporary mixes.