Damn, I Was So Right About This
Pop music is BACK, baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trigger warning: SA
Something shifted this year because pop music is back with a vengeance.
I’ve been vocal about my disappointment in modern (2019-2023) pop music. We’ve had great artists like Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa establish themselves during this time, however, not in the way we’ve seen with previous emerging artists.
As hard as these enigmatic artists tried, they couldn’t capture the zeitgeist like pop peers decades prior. Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga all saw massive success as debut artists. With Olivia Rodrigo as an exception, we haven’t really had a stadium pop star in the past five years. Instead, we’ve searched for comfort in nostalgia.
During the pandemic’s first few years, listeners preferred already-established artists. A comfort artist for many, Taylor Swift’s already-bright star became white hot. In July 2020, her folklore album gave fans something new while still clinging to a familiar voice. Similarly, Lady Gaga’s “Rain On Me” with Ariana Grande became a pandemic anthem, harkening back to the empowering “Born This Way” era.
Instead of uplifting new musicians, pop music has held tight to the artists and sounds that made it so vibrant and exciting during the early 2000s. But we are not in the early 2000s anymore. We’ve grown up and pop music has not grown with us.
Until now.
Summer 2024 has been the biggest summer for pop music in a long time. We no longer have the song of the summer, we have songs of the summer. Seriously. I could name five that are viable contenders. For music lovers, this is the beginning of an exciting era.
I often think about music’s evolution, with modern rock’s mediocrity on my mind recently—but that’s for another essay.
Earlier this year, however, my mind was on pop music.
At the end of my April piece, “9/11 and the Launch of Pop Radio’s Greatest Era,” I pondered about pop’s future, alluding to a large, open space ready for the right artists to fill.
Knowing music ebbs and flows, I don’t believe pop music’s golden era is gone forever. Digital media has given listeners the power of choice. TikTok sounds have launched years-old tracks to number one and Sophie Ellis-Bextor is seeing a new generation embrace “Murder on the Dancefloor,” thanks to its inclusion in the film, Saltburn.
Right now, I think listeners are learning what they want out of pop music. They’re in discovery mode, allowing one track to stick at a time. It’s a refreshing way to engage music, as it has put more power into the artists and listeners, as opposed to labels. Artists culturally pushed aside are seeing a new fan base and once-panned bands are getting respect.
We may no longer be in pop music’s prime but we are in the middle of an unpredictable moment in culture, and isn’t that kind of exciting?
Well, past Lindsay, we’ve reached the point you’ve been waiting for. Pop music is currently exciting and unpredictable. Listeners have learned what they want out of pop music and we’re seeing it play out now.
It’s all the things you thought were around the corner, my dear past Lindsay, just a few weeks after your prediction.
Here comes Chappell
Pop culture shifted significantly in mid-April during Coachella, one of music’s biggest annual festivals. It brings in thousands of attendees from miles away and adds even more viewers through its live-streaming feature. For a first-time Coachella performer, a set has the potential to be career and life-changing.
This year, one performance changed everything for Chappell Roan, a queer pop artist whose live performances are vivid and mostly inspired by drag. While new to many, Roan has been working on her persona and stage presence for years, putting her in the perfect position to break out. People seeing Roan for the first time are witnessing years of hard work and thoughtfulness culminate.
Roan’s Coachella performance mirrored that hard work, helping the set go viral and leading new fans to other performances.
Her NPR Tiny Desk Concert from the previous month helped build momentum for Coachella. Showcasing the same professionalism, theatrics and vocals, the clip was its own viral sensation. Naturally, fans discovered that performance shortly after Coachella. As of this writing, the NPR video has 5.1 million views.
At the same time, Sabrina Carpenter saw her biggest career success with the single, “Espresso.” A Disney star and not new to pop, Carpenter has, like Roan, put in the work. She’s released five studio albums, with her upcoming release her sixth. Prior to ‘Espresso,” Carpenter was (unfortunately) best known for her role in Olivia Rodrigo’s past romantic relationship.
Not anymore!
By May this year, Carpenter’s “Espresso” was a ‘song of the summer’ candidate. Since then, her second single, “Please Please Please” has surpassed “Espresso” on the charts.
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Carpenter has the pop-star look down.
Petite with long and thick blonde hair, she fits in perfectly with early-’00s pop stars like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. In 2024, a year where people are searching for something more authentic, she simultaneously fits in and stands out.
Carpenter, whether she intends to or not, fits the male gaze, pop music’s prior standard for women. She is confident about her ability to make men’s heads turn, which nicely balances her pop peers. Rodrigo’s songs, for example, channel teenage angst and getting dumped. And then there’s Roan, who simply doesn’t want to make men’s heads turn at all.
For a while, it seemed like Carpenter had ‘song of the summer’ locked down. That was until an established club artist came through and broke all the rules.
We’re all brats
Charli xcx is one of my anchor artists. You know, the artists you can’t quit, the ones you feel like you’ve always loved.
David Bowie, Fiona Apple, Lady Gaga, of Montreal, Sharon Van Etten, Carly Rae Jepsen and Iggy Pop are my others. As you can tell, I like my music dramatic, emotional and theatrical. With her latest album, brat, Charli xcx incorporates all three to the max. I anxiously anticipated its arrival and loved it instantly.
brat is a polished album but the brat vibe is anything but.
In her aesthetics, Charli xcx promotes the messy-girl lifestyle. It’s a hard left turn from the carefully constructed personas of other pop stars. (Especially Taylor Swift, who may or may not be the inspiration for “Sympathy is a knife.”)
Using wine stains on a white tank top as an accessory, Charli xcx pushes back at pop’s perfectly manicured reputation. She reminds us that yes, pop stars do have flaws. And she’s ready to put them on display.
brat is “fuck it, do you” in music form. Throughout, Charli xcx highlights her conflicting feelings, hypocrisies and insecurities with confidence and paired with an intense sonic background.
When the album’s bright green cover was released in March, fans questioned their favorite artist’s choices. Charli xcx gagged them all, saying the cover is a response to “the constant demand for access to women’s bodies and faces in our album artwork…”
What were we saying about the male gaze earlier?
A star that endorses party drugs and doesn’t choose her words too carefully, you’d think Charli xcx would be a PR rep’s worst nightmare. Except, she’s currently teaching us a masterclass in PR. While Charli xcx had a clear vision for what she wanted from her album, she left enough room for it to take on a life of its own.
The green cover fans questioned? It’s everywhere, dude. Anything green is now brat.
Like her fans, Charli xcx is also playing around with all brat has to offer. True to her club roots, she is now releasing song remixes with high-profile pop artists. When fans learned “Girl, so confusing” was about fellow pop star, Lorde, Charli invited her to pen a verse on the remix. True to the song’s lyrics, the internet went crazy.
After the Lorde remix, Charli xcx teased a new artist on a remix for her song, “Guess.” Days later, the remix debuted with Billie Eilish. It’s another high-profile remix that combines a high-profile artist and keeps brat’s momentum going.
Fans are also creating their own remixes and as these remixes have gone viral, many have gotten Charli xcx’s approval.
Instead of sending her lawyers after her fans, she’s encouraging them to give her album new life. It’s an amazing example of being true to your art and fanfare. In doing so, she now has her own summer in the pop-culture history books.
Kesha comes in swinging
TW: SA
The public’s ferocious appetite for fresh sounds by authentic artists was abundantly clear when Katy Perry teased her upcoming single, “Woman’s World.”
Listeners instantly ripped the track apart when people saw the producing credits. The internet was an uproar. In the midst of it all, Kesha tweeted “lol.”
That “lol” dripped with context for anyone familiar with Kesha’s decade-long, devastating court battle with pop’s reigning producer, Lukasz Gottwald, aka Dr. Luke.
As a quick explainer, Kesha sued Gottwald in 2014, alleging he drugged and sexually assaulted her, in addition to causing psychological torment. He filed a countersuit the same day, citing defamation.
Throughout the emotional and oftentimes heartbreaking trial, Kesha received overwhelming support from fans and celebrities, with Lady Gaga testifying as a pop star who has her own sexual assault history. Interestingly enough, Katy Perry was one of the celebrities that voiced support for Kesha during the trial. She later said she felt pressured to support Kesha.
In 2023, Gottwald and Kesha settled their suit, making the “TikTok” artist free to record music independently. On June 1, she headlined West Hollywood Pride and revealed it was her first performance as a free woman.
On the Fourth of July, “Joy Ride,” her first single as a free woman, dropped. Let freedom ring.
There are many reasons to be excited about Kesha’s freedom, and “Joy Ride” is one of them. The song incorporates fresh sounds we’ve been itching for.
Kesha makes accordion and Gregorian chants the stars in her single and the combination is instantly gripping. At quick two-and-a-half minutes, “Joy Ride” does a lot with the little time it has. It is a masterclass in power-pop.
A week after “Joy Ride” hit streaming, Perry released “Woman’s World.” In an attempt to cover up the bad press, Perry released a behind-the-scenes video explaining how “very on the nose” the song and video are.
I’m sure the song would’ve been a hit in 2010. It employs all Perry’s tricks: vapid references to female empowerment, simple lyrics with awkward rhyming and, of course, displaying women’s bodies as sexual objects.
And here’s where I’m a brat.
I love that Charli xcx is comfortable being sexy while setting boundaries with her body. Unlike previous albums, she didn’t want to use her body to sell brat and knew she had the power to make that creative decision.
Perry’s body, however, is synonymous with her success and it’s obvious she knows this. The “Woman’s World” rollout is Perry’s way of saying“I’’m still hot, you guys!!!” And that’s fine, we just don’t want her to work with a rapist. As of this writing, she has yet to understand.
Perry’s gigantic downfall is proof we are done with the past and ready to move on with something more interesting. Instead of cashing in on female empowerment, audiences want artists who lose gigs because of their activism. They want to go to a show where the headliner is having more fun than them. They want their favorite singer to tell them they turned down a White House performance to protest America’s ongoing role in supporting occupied territories. They want accordion.
Audiences want anything but what they’ve had.
Now, they’re getting it.
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I’m so happy Charli, Chappell, and Sabrina are getting the attention they deserve!!