Fall of pop music

perspectives v Art by SAMANTHA HO The end of an era HOW POP MUSIC IS EVOLVING WITH THE TIMES

IT’S 2013, “WANT U BACK” BY CHER LLOYD is playing wave of artists have brought fresh influences to the music industry. on the radio. Life is good. These times are long past, and So, what is the “new sound” we are transitioning towards? the world has changed a lot since then. This year especially, I am looking forward to a more diversified music industry and I we have seen cultural shifts in almost every aspect of the doubt that there is going to be another period where everything world around us, from the way we interact with technology to the sounds the same — at least for me. Though I would never increase in sweatpants-wearing. voluntarily listen to “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, I recently found One of the more gradual changes has been myself circling back to pop music through the “indie-pop” genre. pop music. While it is characterized by what “Indie” music just means that the is “popular” and has been evolving since songs are made by independent artists the Jazz Age, to our generation, the who aren’t signed to a label, which epitome of pop might be Katy Perry, makes it super stylistically broad, but

Meghan Trainor there is still a certain sound associated and Justin with it. What I think makes

Bieber — indie music as a genre is its with the hair creative and experimental swoop. But the 2010s essence, which challenges the

“pop” sound has been 2010s’ formulaic success. transitioning away from One of my first the vibrant and upbeat encounters with indie-pop style we know and love. was with Conan Gray; I fell

For me, pop music in love with the whimsical started losing its magic layering from his vocals when I was in middle and remember how excited school. I was spending I was to see him grow, less time in the car especially with his song so I wasn’t listening “Maniac” now. to the radio, and Artists now everything on the top charts started to can have a sound the same — this was when I went through lot more my anti-pop phase where I listened to a little too connection with their audiences since we can watch them much emo music. It was the first time I ventured grow their platforms from little YouTube videos or releasing away from mainstream music and found my own music on SoundCloud to the Billboard Top 50. songs. Despite indie music priding itself for being niche and

The emergence of streaming services like Spotify underground, it is undoubtedly making its way into the and Apple Music reshaped the way I consumed music. mainstream. It’s no longer a “little secret,” and we have seen many

Not only did it affect my music taste, but the transition beloved pop artists embrace new styles. from downloading songs from YouTube and listening to the One example is Taylor Swift — she seamlessly evolves with radio to having almost any song at my fingertips revolutionized the the times. From“You Belong With Me” to her most recent songs, music industry as a whole. By drastically expanding the different including “illicit affairs,” she has held a special place in my heart songs, artists and genres available, these streaming services have since the first concert I attended, on her 1989 tour. Several other exposed me to countless styles and also allowed me to discover artists such as Harry Styles and Tyler, the Creator, have brought smaller artists. an experimental spirit to pop music and propelled this sense of

Another game-changer in the music industry has been social creativity and individuality into more mainstream spaces. media. Along with streaming services, social media platforms have Pop music, as we know it, is not necessarily dying, but made it much easier for smaller artists to “blow up” without the changing and evolving. I’m not sure what the next few years are help of a big record label. TikTok has become a major influence on going to look like, but we can look back nostalgically on the the top charts, and artists like Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, and BENEE bubbly dance music of the 2010s while still embracing the new gained a lot of their early success through the platform. This new era to come. v