Adult contemporary music (AC) is a style of music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, rhythm and blues, quiet storm, and rock influence. Adult contemporary is rather a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music.
Adult contemporary tends to have lush, soothing and highly polished qualities where emphasis on melody and harmonies is accentuated. It is usually melodic enough to get a listener's attention, and is inoffensive and pleasurable enough to work well as background music. Like most of pop music, its songs tend to be written in a basic format employing a verse–chorus structure.
Adult contemporary is heavy on romantic sentimental ballads which mostly use acoustic instruments (though bass guitar is usually used) such as acoustic guitars, pianos, saxophones, and sometimes an orchestral set. The electric guitars are normally faint and high-pitched. However, recent adult contemporary music may usually feature synthesizers (and other electronics, such as drum machines).
Soft or SOFT may refer to:
Soft! is a novel by British writer Rupert Thomson, written in 1998 London.
Apparently acting as participants in a sleep experiment, the protagonists of this novel find themselves the unwitting word-of-mouth advertisers of 'Kwench!', a new soft drink.
Soft is an American indie rock band from New York City.
Soft formed in Brooklyn in 2003, but the group did not begin performing live until more than a year afterwards; for this reason, they were not well known on the New York music scene despite receiving critical acclaim elsewhere. Prior to forming Soft, lead singer John Reineck had previously played in a band called The Siren Six! at the University of Minnesota, and spent a year in Osaka working for a noise music record label after college. The name "Soft" was given to the group by Mickey Madden from Maroon 5, who suggested it after the group opened for one of their shows. The group also opened for such acts as Kiss, Phantom Planet, Hot Chip, and Voxtrot. After releasing several EPs and an LP in Japan, the group's debut full-length, Gone Faded, was released on October 23, 2007. The band recorded a follow-up album in early 2008 with producer Chris Coady which was released in 2011 as Dogs.