Study shows 20% decline in songs that are like 'whoa-oa, whoa-oa-oah'

OTTAWA, ON—A study tracking independent and major label releases over the past two years has highlighted an unexpected trend in 2017: a decline of as much as 20% in the number of new songs released that are like, "whoooa-oa, whooaa-oa-oah".

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The study, commissioned by ASCAP in conjunction with SOCAN, has found that while they remain exceedingly popular, songs with choruses either featuring men emotionally belting out "whooaa-oah, whoooa-oa-ohhh-ooahhh", or a large group of people enthusiastically going like "whoooa-oah, a-whoa-o-o-oah" in unison, have experienced a steady if not necessarily noticeable decline (songs where a woman with a ukulele goes like "a well a whoa, a-whoa, a-wah-ah-oh-oh-oh" continue to appear with the same frequency).

Transcending genres from pop to rock and dance, being like "whoaaa-a-ohh-ohh-ohhh" has become a cornerstone of modern music, but as its influence seemingly begins to ebb, the study suggests a paradigm shift on the horizon for the music industry as a whole.

"It was only a few short years ago that virtually every new song released sounded like it was written at summer camp for the sole purpose of playing during a commercial for a travel agency," said SOCAN representative Colleen King. "Now, instead of all songs being like that, a mere most of them are like that."

While the associated report largely attributes the decline to an overall shift in musical trends, it also strongly suggests that the musical community may have simply run out of different configurations of notes that people can go like "whooooa, whooooa-a-ohhh-ohhh" to.

"Obviously from here, the real question becomes: what's going to take the place of 'whoa-oa-oah'," explained King. "We might just be cycling back around to every song being like 'hey hey yeah yeah' like they used to be. Or, by this time next year, everyone could be going like 'squoop woop woop' or something. Nobody knows. That's what makes the music business so exciting."

At press time, Woo-Woo Squoo-Woop (The Squoop Song), by Bruno Mars featuring Imagine Dragons, is steadily climbing Billboard's Hot 100.

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