Andrew Mall 10/4/21 Andrew Mall 10/4/21

‘The Jesus Music’ Is a Love Letter to Fans

Christianity Today (2021). Author Kelsey Kramer McGinnis quotes from God Rock, Inc. in her review of the just release feature-length documentary about CCM, The Jesus Music.

Andrew Mall 3/16/21 Andrew Mall 3/16/21

“God Is My Girlfriend”: Christian Rock and Niche Genres with Andrew Mall

Money 4 Nothing podcast (2021). Christian music and especially Christian rock is a world of its own, a self-contained universe that mirrors the trends and styles of the mainstream. But how does it work? And what can it tell us about the interactions between audiences and industries that structure popular music? We talk to Andrew Mall, the author of God Rock, Inc.: The Business of Niche Music, to explore everything from the Jesus People to Christian metalcore, while discussing how the complex relationship between sacred and secular pop can help us understand the ethics, aesthetics, and boundaries that define musical genre.

Andrew Mall 2/3/21 Andrew Mall 2/3/21

Professor Andrew Mall’s Recent Work in Popular Music Studies

Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media + Design (2021). Recently, Prof. Mall’s work engaging other scholars in popular music studies in an open conversation to address several challenges that they have encountered in their teaching, researching, and writing has resulted in three separate but related initiatives, including a symposium, a co-authored report in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and a co-edited forum in the journal Twentieth-Century Music.

Andrew Mall 10/16/20 Andrew Mall 10/16/20

Catching Up with CAMD’s Andrew Mall: Creativity During the Pandemic, the Importance of Being Nimble, and What He’s Working on Next

Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media + Design (2020). We recently caught up with Professor Mall to talk about how the creative industries have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic, how Northeastern teaches students to embrace the flexibility that is necessary to thrive in these changing conditions, and what he is currently working on. Read more below.

Andrew Mall 2/14/20 Andrew Mall 2/14/20

Going Viral Helped Catapult Roddy Ricch and 'The Box' to No. 1 — But There's More to the Story

TIME (2020). It’s barely two months into 2020, but it’s already been a big year for rapper Roddy Ricch. The 21-year-old Compton artist has claimed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top 100 for the past five weeks with his viral earworm of a rap song, “The Box,” from his debut album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, which is the longest-running No. 1 debut rap album to be on the Billboard 200 in nearly two decades since 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ in 2003.

Andrew Mall 11/19/19 Andrew Mall 11/19/19

'A Low-Key Bop.' How Dancing to the Home Depot Theme Song Became the Internet's Unlikely Obsession

TIME (2019). An unlikely yet catchy melody took the Internet by storm in recent weeks, bolstered by the looping, highly meme-able nature of TikTok, the social media platform that brokers in 15 second clips. The song? The humble Home Depot theme song, which, up until now was only prominently featured in commercials for home improvement, like installing tile or building a patio.

Andrew Mall 11/1/19 Andrew Mall 11/1/19

How Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' Became the Holiday Gift That Keeps on Giving

TIME (2019). The temperatures are dipping and twinkling lights are being hung, but nothing confirms that the holiday season is in full swing as cogently as Mariah Carey’s now-iconic holiday classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The festive track, a veritable pop masterpiece written and performed by Carey (with a co-writing assist from her longtime collaborator at the time, Walter Afanasieff) has consistently dominated not only the holiday music charts, but the zeitgeist since it made its joyous debut in 1994.

Andrew Mall 8/22/19 Andrew Mall 8/22/19

‘Old Town Road’ defied a 20-year trend in hit music. Math explains why

PBS Newshour (2019). For more than two decades, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men could not be knocked off their U.S. Billboard throne. From December 1995 to March 1996, their ballad “One Sweet Day” spent 16 weeks at the top of the charts, setting a record that outlasted the megahit-makers that came after them: Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Outkast, Green Day, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z and Adele. Then “Despacito” and “Old Town Road” arrived.

Andrew Mall 6/5/19 Andrew Mall 6/5/19

How iTunes changed music

News@Northeastern (2019). Apple’s music platform, iTunes, changed the digital music landscape when it debuted in 2001. It “proved that digital music could be profitable,” says Andrew Mall, an assistant professor of music industry at Northeastern University. Now, 18 years later, Apple is retiring the music service in favor of three separate apps for music, video, and podcasts.

Andrew Mall 9/7/17 Andrew Mall 9/7/17

Despacito and One Sweet Day: How pop culture “reflects the fabric of our society”

News@Northeastern (2017). This month, “Despacito” came precipitously close to being the longest-running No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Andrew Mall, assistant professor of music industry and ethnomusicology, said that the increasingly heterogeneous listening patterns of an increasingly diverse U.S. population means it’s not surprising Carey held on to the title for so many years. He added that this new, splintered listener base means that more variety is showing up on big charts like the Billboard Hot 100.

Jenna Reed 12/9/16 Jenna Reed 12/9/16

Defining the Mainstream of Music with Professor Andrew Mall

Northeastern’s College of Arts, Media + Design (2016). Andrew Mall, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Music and a coordinator of the MS in Music Industry Leadership program at CAMD, researches the classification and analysis of popular mainstream music, and how it affects his current project around Christian rock.