The world of music is ever-changing. With the rise of streaming services, more pressure from social media and constant connection to fans, artists must consider their project’s length as an important factor before releasing.
In the middle of the 20th century, the vinyl LP became the preferred medium for artists to showcase their work and the physical capabilities of vinyl records helped establish the 45-minute standard that is seen today. This expanded slightly with the invention of the cassette tape, CD and even more with digital formats and streaming services.
45 minutes remains an industry standard, as shown by artists like Doja Cat, Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish, but many artists have recently released albums outside those standards; Kanye West’s “Donda” and Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” clock in at 108 and 86 minutes respectively and have dominated the charts for the past few weeks. Tracks like “Knife Talk,” “Hurricane” and “Fair Trade” are beating out many songs from the aforementioned artists.
Both of these albums have had incredible commercial success already, but have also faced controversy for being too long and prioritizing profits from quantity and not quality. Oftentimes, production worsens with longer tracklists, as artists don’t put as much effort into so many songs.
So, what do University of Rhode Island students consider the perfect length for albums?
“Nothing more than an hour is perfect,” sophomore Luke Piquol said. “If I can’t listen to it in the car [while] driving somewhere, then I probably won’t.”
Piquol highlighted Baby Keem’s latest release, “The Melodic Blue” as a perfect length with a total runtime just under 54 minutes.
“40-50 minutes is good for me,” sophomore Riley Italiano said. Italiano explained that if albums continue for too long, she loses interest.
Like Piquol, sophomore Lucas Gomez noted how many artists choose to include “worse” songs in order to lengthen their albums. West and Drake’s latest releases both have filler songs like “Donda Chant” and “F******g Fans” respectively that do very little for the general feel or theme of their respective albums, but were included by the artists anyway.
“I prefer shorter albums because it’s easier to find songs I really like,” sophomore Lucas Gomez said. “I favor albums around 50 minutes to an hour at most, after that I can’t focus on the music.”
Many URI students favor their artists to release albums under an hour, which I personally agree with. Anywhere around 45 minutes is ideal for me. Artists can showcase their talents on many songs, but don’t risk becoming washed out with too many tracks. Songs tend to get lost in the mix when the tracklist is too heavy. As a person who loves making playlists, long albums can be challenging
A few exceptions in my opinion include A$AP Rocky’s “At. Long. Last. A$AP” (66 minutes) and Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” (78 minutes). One of the best examples of shorter albums in recent memory is Vince Staples’ self titled album which clocks in at a mere 22 minutes, but all 10 tracks are exceptionally crafted and all work well within the theme of the album.
Overall, the standard 40-50 minute runtime seems to be popular for artists and fans alike. Rhody students are no different, so what are your thoughts on the best length for albums?
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