The Future Of Pop Music

[Versace 7,860]

Don't worry this is not a philosophical thread with tons of paragraphs , i just believe that there comes a time where Pop music gets new standards it mostly happens every decade or two

the era of Michael and Madonna 

then the era of Justin and Britney 

then the era of Gaga and Adele

i mean yes you have many others but i'm mentioning the artist that i feel led this era of new pop standards or maybe it's them who set those standards

I feel today's pop genre is pretty predictable you have Katy and Taylor who are the main faces of pop currently , not that i have anything against it , i like and respect them both and there music is mostly enjoyable. I feel Gaga came at a time where the pop phenomenon that JT and BS started was overshadowed by Urban music i'm not surprised Britney was going through a break down, JT put music on hold. Beyonce didn't show her pop efforts till  I Am... , Xtina lost her edge and Rihanna could not prove to be more than a singles artist. Gaga came at the perfect time to re-introduce pop and Adele came at a time were vocal talent was underrated. So my question is what is the pop genre missing and who might be the next face to take the genre to new heights. 

 

my opinion on what the next big thing is:

FLEXIBILITY , Hybrid songs and by that i mean songs that are 50% commercial 50% experimental , songs with quality and being relatable without one taking from the other. The reason the GP can't appreciate most of ARTPOP is it's lack of being relatable even though the quality is top notch. Also flexibility should be in the production , yes it's a risk to have a different sound in the verses and then a totally different sound for the chorus one sound being commercial catchy and uptemo and the other being a contrast of that but you not expecting it is what will make it enjoyable.

TBH this is already happening, these songs are an example

-Can't Feel My Face

-Talking Body

-Lean On

-Ghost Town (by Adam)

-Uma Thurman

-Roots 

i'm actually excited , were slowly moving away from basic overproduced edm songs with autotuned vocals and overrated rap songs. 

[Oscar 1,031]

I know I'll get dragged for this but I believe Justin Bieber is gonna make a huge comeback and lead this decade, not Adele. 

[FATCAT 58,944]

I don't think pop as we know it will remain the same, even in a 'hybrid' form. My guess is that Trap and other more experimental forms of electronic music will dominate for a decade and then, who knows.

[Warholian 6,880]

We're right in the middle of a transition and it's extremely boring. After the best of the EDM club craze and before the best of whatever's coming next, we're stuck in this period of extreme blandness. Personally, this year especially has been incredibly boring  and uniform in terms of popular music. Using billboard, up until this point in the year 2015 has the least amount of number 1 songs ever in Billboard history. (Yes, that's literally ever. Since they started their modern recording of number 1 songs of the year in the early 60s 2015 ties as the lowest with 2005 I think)

Made this chart a few weeks ago comparing the diversity of music over the past 50 years based on Billboard #1 songs in the year. It's easy to see that we're currently in a slump, coming down from a peak that hit in the mid-2000s. Funny thing is, whenever there's a year that's extremely uniform, the next year/years have abrupt and quick diversification. So, here's hoping to 2016?

I think we're starting to see changes though. A push towards retro, vapourware, psychedelic pop, R&B, and other genres that would be considered alternative or slightly counterculture today. Despite this, I think the change is going to take much longer than musical changes in the past. What's different now is that the internet controls which music is popular. When the hands of the public are in more control than ever before, records will suffer much more when experimenting. I'd give a good few years until we can really see a serious shift in the music industry, but I think we have good time ahead of us. I think it'll take a single artist or band to really take the world by storm for the change to be ignited this time around. I'm hoping for some underground artists to finally revive rock. 

[Judas Oyster 1,883]

I feel old, but yes it is changing. I feel people like Bieber and Grande are examples (mostly bc of their age and possibilities for them in the near future)

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

IMO I think we are going to see a lot more hip/hop-pop like we saw Dance/edm-pop. I think we are at a place where hip/hop is played so much on top 40 that its bound to happen. TBH I think Nicki, Beyonce, and Iggy are ushering in that era. (Before Iggy's Backlash). Iggy won't be apart of that era anymore. I don't think anyone can fix her career now. I do think more white washing of Hip/ hop will take place and for a while it will be the new pop. So with that said. I think This next era belongs to Nicki and a knew white artist who will white wash hip/hop.(maybe Beiber). I don't understand why people aren't as hard on Nicki as they are on Iggy. No one has worked harder to whitewash rap than Nicki Minaj. 

[Guest]

Pop is always changing, so yes, maybe you are right in saying that 'hybrids' are starting to become pop right now! 

I love how 'pop' can stand for both what is popular right now and what the future sound of popular music is going to be like. Right now is the perfect time for an artist to bomb the industry and be a complete trailblazor imo.

[AbuHassan1992 766]

Well, for the past couple of years, and especially this last year, we've been seeing a lot of funk, 70s disco/ 70s hip hop influenced music so idk

[JustPokeHerFace 2,564]

Ever since the 90s, popular music has gone through a cycle

last year/2 years of a decade are a big dance music popularity revitalization or reinvention

middle part of the decade, some of the biggest names at the beginning lose steam, sound mellows out

at the end, the cycle repeats

late 80s/early 90s (LAP, IC RN, Bad & Dangerous, ect.) -> mid 90s (Mariah Carey, Celine Dion are the biggest names with ballads and R&B) -> late 90s/early 2000s (Dance music from Cher and Madonna becomes massively popular, Britney and Xtina rise to popularity) -> mid 2000s (R&B mellows things out) -> late 2000s/early 2010s (Gaga, BEP, Katy Perry, and Kesha make extremely popular dance music) -> mid 2010s (popular music becomes more alternative)

So what I think will happen is that some massive act will shake things up at the end of the decade, probably female (going off of the past, Britney in the 90s, Gaga in the 00s, ?? in the 10s), and a new form of dance music will be popular for a bit, before things mellow out again. 

 

[Computer 10,973]

But after Michael/Madonna and before Justin/Britney the cool thing was alt-rock and grunge.  Pop wasn't cool.

And before Gaga it was all Hip-Hop.

Sometimes Pop just goes away.  

But this is somewhat exaggerating, it's not so extreme as what I said.

[gagzus 14,467]

I think it's completely unpredictable like so much that no one not even music critics can tell, I mean who would've known gaga would've revolutionised Pop by incoperating dance and electronic elements and make modern EDM popular again (leading the way for Guetta, Harris & Zedd they all owe her for their success tbh) when the Pop-Rock trend was becoming a thing after all the R&B and urban music when gaga debuted and changed it up. Currently EDM is still the main trend, maybe not in the U.S. yet but EDM is still and has been popular in Europe for a while and House is the newest popular genre with hits from artists like Omi, Clean Bandit, Jess Glynn and of course the best act to debut since Gaga (in my opinion of course) Years & Years with their Electronica-House-R&B-Art Pop hybrid music. House and mixed genres are definitely becoming popular in Europe especially but America seems to be regressing back to it's rather pretentious mid-00s anti-pop trend since the beginning of this year (Gaga changed this back in 00s if you remember her talking about it in an early interview in 2008 about the rising force of indie acts and America being anti-pop). So basically it's unpredictable but if it were I'd say House is the next big thing because of Europe and then it'll spread to the U.S. and beyond. 

I see Years & Years and Jess Glynn being the big pioneers for the next big music phase in the mainstream tbh.

America has always been known for their love of Indie & Alrernative music, whilst Europe has been known more for it's EDM music so when people say "EDM is out" I assume they only refer to the U.S. since it's still strong in Europe and has been since the late 70s-early 80s. But let me not mention the popularity of Cheerleader and King in the U.S. both part of the EDM category as House is a sub-category of EDM. Songs are often referred to as EDM if they have too many mixes from the EDM sub categories like House, Dance, Techno, Complextro, Hardstyle, Dubstep and many many more  

[Versace 7,860]

We need someone who's going to have Worldwide impact with a new sound that bridges what each culture appreciates the possibilities should be endless with modern technology any of these could be the next big sound

Alternative House, Modern Disco, EDM+Rock, RnB Pop, Trap Rock, Pop+Trap

but basically mixing genres is the next big trend, Pure Pop and even Electro Pop might fade from the mainstream scope as it did many times before and then come back with a reinvented sound and reintroduced by a new popular artist. I'm calling it from now Katy and Taylor will jump off the basic pop trend (not basic as in bad or bland you know what i mean, the super commercial sound) and start doing more alternative. Gaga in my opinion will try to aim way high and won't stop till she cracks it and by that the possibilities are endless such as reintroducing rock to the mainstream, original jazz record, mainstream ballad album, movie album, interactive album. Though i don't see Gaga getting another peak till some time , LG5 will be a great album but it won't change the music industry or impact the whole world. 

Guys we might not witness this but i don't think we will ever see someone with Gaga's impact until the mainstream transgender pop star emerges !!! 

[VenusBlackStar 1,301]

Pop music's future is already here:

Take this how you will.

[mic 1,411]

That's why she should've released Aura

[13VictorC 1,101]

That's why she should've released Aura

I wish Gaga did, because it seemed like she wanted to and had already foreseen the direction of pop music.