Genre Research

The genre that me, David Wardle, Charlie Davies and Chris Day have chosen for to create our final Digipak and Music video is Singer song writer. To fall in the genre of singer song writer the artist must compose and perform their own original songs.


Examples of singer songwriters are Ed Sheeran, Jack Johnson,
Bob Dylan, Adele and Robbie Williams.


Paolo Nutini is an example of an artist who writes and performs his own songs. Paolo was brought up in Paisely, Scotland by his Italian parents who moved to Scotland before deciding to settle down there. Throughout 2006, Paolo played a number of sold out shows around the U.K. before getting a record deal from Atlantic Records. Through this record deal he received the financial backing to release his first album "these streets" whcih included singles such as Jenny don't be hasty, last request and the song we chose for our preliminary New shoes. "These Streets" reached an impressive number 3 in the album charts.
After touring his debut album he then released "sunny side up" in 2009. This peaked at number 1 in the album chart and then received "best international album" at  the 2010 meteor awards.

Another example is Jack Johnson, Jack was born in Oahu, Hawaii and a lot of his music is considered to be influenced by the Hawaii life and growing up there. Jack Johnson debut album "Bushfire Fairytales" was released in 2001 and has moved from strength to strength since then while he's released a further 4 albums more. "On and on, in between dreams, Sleep through the static and To the sea"
Notable tracks from Jack Johnson's back catalogue are Sitting waiting wishing, Better together, Upside down and Taylor.




The concept of a singer-songwriter can actually be traced to ancient Bardic culture, which has existed in various forms throughout the world. Poems would be performed as chant or song, sometimes accompanied by a harp or other similar instrument. After the invention of printing, songs would be written and performed by ballad sellers. Usually these would be versions of existing tunes and lyrics, which were constantly evolving. This developed into the singer-songwriting traditions of folk culture.