About two minutes and 30 seconds into “Future,” the final track on Paramore’s 2013 self-titled album, you can hear it: a small chime that sounds like an iPhone notification. The same thing happens in Rihanna’s “Pose” at around 1:07: the sound of an iMessage being sent. And in Childish Gambino’s “Telegraph Ave” and Frank Ocean’s “Start”: an iMessage received.

Whether you like it or not, the iPhone’s SMS bleep and jittery ringtones have become as recognizable as the MGM lion’s roar or the 1-800-Mattress jingle. For Apple, these sounds are an immediate callback to the brand. For the producers who turn them into the backbone of a beat, they’re a way to anchor the song in a particular setting, or a way to poke fun at our obsession with our…

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