It seems that at the dawn of the 21st century, popular music has reached an entirely new phase of development. To write a song, one no longer needs to play the guitar virtuously or possess poetic talent, and to sing it, a powerful voice is not required — welcome to the age of autotune! However, creating a simple song is one thing, while crafting a hit that can instantly make a performer famous and its author a millionaire is another. By the way, who creates all these masterpieces?

In his book "The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory," John Seabrook, an American cultural critic and journalist, explores the phenomenon of popular music, its influence on modern society, and meticulously analyzes the "anatomy" of a hit. He arrives at an intriguing conclusion: in the creative process of songwriting, originality is not essential. Everything follows a strict logic, a "mathematics of melody," and behind it stands a whole team of professionals — producers, top-liners, beatmakers, and lyricists.

By studying the history of hit songs, Seabrook leads us to another equally astonishing thought: it has almost always been this way.