How has pop music changed?

[kevinthesheep 2,947]

we've been in a pop dark age since 2011/2012 imo. the chainsmokers and ed sheerans of the radio almost made me lose hope in mainstream music, harry styles' (of all people) new single restored my faith in mainstream pop taking a sharp and brilliant turn towards a more rock/melodic/musical sound.... can't wait to see where the next few years will go

good riddance to this era of pop music it's been awful 

[DeanWinchester 41,390]

57 minutes ago, Raikov said:

Pop music is kind of eh, no real identity. Rock bands occasionally are popular.

Not when Nelly Furtado's Loose, JT's Futuresex/Love Sounds exist. Fergie was kinda iconic too

[RadioIsOurs 13,865]

38 minutes ago, LG said:

Why do people on this site keep ranting about tropical music  it was a mini trend in the summer of 2015 and passed long ago. there's not been a tropical hit in ages

Then what genre do you call whatever Shape of You is?

[LetsGetHigh 52,683]

It's changing at a rate where Pop girls are no longer this huge force who pull huge numbers like in 2010, besides Beyoncé. Even she has a hard time getting a hit single with SOY sales and radio support.

No one's waiting for pop girl releases. Oh it's out? I'll listen. But many just move on to what's currently trending on radio and social media, its not like before. 

[Raikov 183]

lol, did not expect a bunch of people to agree with me  surprised I got it "right" then, lol. I really just wanted to see how everyone else divided this period up, because I'm certain there are people here who have been way more in tune with popular music trends in the past 17 years than me.

1 hour ago, xoxo cupcakke said:

Also, I agree with your 2000s analysis but I also feel as if pop hit its greatest peaks during the mid 80s, late 90s-early 00s, and late 00s. I don't think we're in a dark age, just a transitionary period right now into someone greater because there is not one specific pop girl that is on top

I already have my opinion about pop music from the 20th century (I personally love the 60s-70s), but there hasn't been much written about the 21st century since it's still going on. You can get countless rock historians talking about the recording industry from 1910s to 90s, but the very early 2000s are just starting to become distant enough to be viewed historically. So I turned to this site to get a more contemporary opinion: how did you feel?

47 minutes ago, LG said:

the problem with these threads is that its clear this site only looks to the charts to get music that they like, there's plenty of pop girls who make great pop music around and they're not even hard to find.

look at playlists like new pop revolution & left of center on Spotify.

Well my intention was to find out what people thought about popular music trends (and how pop music the genre has fared in that), which naturally leads to the charts. It's Americentric because I don't live in the UK or France and can't tell you about those scenes  Music that is not on the charts would not be relevant unless it became some sort of trend of its own. The closest I can think of is the "Tumblr indie queen" phenomena, where you have these singers like Lana Del Rey, Marina, Florence failing to impact the charts but nevertheless being well-known among young people who are into music and influencing music indirectly.

There are pop girls making great music, but it seems the age of pop diva domination is over and we've entered a new age of DJ-dominated music and a lot of male singers taking over. Much like how there are still great bands making music, but bands are nowhere near as popular as they were in the 70s or even 90s.

[PunkTheFunk 124,290]

1 hour ago, Raikov said:

2000-2004: Radioactive fallout from the 90s. Boy bands and teen singers are still a thing. Rap is hugely popular. Some dance music?

2004-2008: So much rap and R&B. Pop music is kind of eh, no real identity. Rock bands occasionally are popular.

2008-2012: ma pop girls. The Renaissance. So much pop music. Also EDM becomes a fad.

2012-2014: the dark age; forsaken by our pop girls. a ton of one hit indie wonders. trap DJ stuff starts getting on the radio. EDM as a fad is over but its influence lingers structure-wise and production-wise; it's been incorporated into the mainstream now. it feels like a male dominated period for some reason.

2014-2016: silver age but not really. pop girls kind of back. By now there's an established crop of new middling pop girls with varying degrees of success (Ariana, Meghan, Selena). EDM influence seeps in deeper with stuff like the chainsmokers.

2016-2017: yet another dark age. more nameless DJs with nameless features polluting the airways. boring male singers. but it's not too late to change!

You pretty much hit the nail on the head 

I feel like the decade will be remembered pop-culturally for 2015/2016 sadly. Bey's Lemonade; "Hello" by Adele; "Uptown Funk"; "Hotline Bling" and "One Dance"; the laid back trop-house/trap sound. 2008-2012 (while iconic) straddles two decades and doesn't really encapsulate either one imo. It was like its own little epoch.

[venusfly 17,885]

41 minutes ago, RainbowBlonde said:

Then what genre do you call whatever Shape of You is?

Thats the first big tropical house hit in a long time, and theres not really any other tropical songs charting right now. 

[migamiga 12,101]

I'd classify 2000s pop as pop/rock a la Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, pink, Ashlee Simpson, etc. I agree that hip hop and r&b were pretty dominant but the pop/rock genre was pretty popular too. I think Katy was the last one of that pop/rock era and she transitioned with teenage dream

[Decodekid 27,946]

The difference from 2010 to 2017 is TRAGIC.

the decade started out well, but if it ends with this lame ass tropical sound 

[bitchimtrying 2,495]

2 hours ago, Raikov said:

Sometimes I hear people talk about how pop music now is DJ-dominated, or how the 2000s were RnB until (approximately) Gaga had an electronic hit, and I'm curious about how people divide the 21st century for pop music. I see it like this (please note I basically didn't pay attention to pop music from 2000-2010 so that's gonna be fuzzy):

2000-2004: Radioactive fallout from the 90s. Boy bands and teen singers are still a thing. Rap is hugely popular. Some dance music?

2004-2008: So much rap and R&B. Pop music is kind of eh, no real identity. Rock bands occasionally are popular.

2008-2012: ma pop girls. The Renaissance. So much pop music. Also EDM becomes a fad.

2012-2014: the dark age; forsaken by our pop girls. a ton of one hit indie wonders. trap DJ stuff starts getting on the radio. EDM as a fad is over but its influence lingers structure-wise and production-wise; it's been incorporated into the mainstream now. it feels like a male dominated period for some reason.

2014-2016: silver age but not really. pop girls kind of back. By now there's an established crop of new middling pop girls with varying degrees of success (Ariana, Meghan, Selena). EDM influence seeps in deeper with stuff like the chainsmokers.

2016-2017: yet another dark age. more nameless DJs with nameless features polluting the airways. boring male singers. but it's not too late to change!

Curious to see how you all divide it up  If you can list names of actual artists even better

Also 2014-2017: One hit wonders like Migos, Psy, the nae nae start to become the norm. People only want one hit not a career.

[Decodekid 27,946]

41 minutes ago, LG said:

Thats the first big tropical house hit in a long time, and theres not really any other tropical songs charting right now. 

The thing is, EDM and Tropical Hits have a very similar song structure. So that's why we say "Tropical House" in general. 

This Tropical thing kind of started with Justin Bieber back in 2015, or at least, it made an impact. 

NOTE: including Tropical and some how TROPICAL songs 

Sorry (very Tropical) 

What Do You Mean

Bang My Head 

Middle (Tropical)

I Took a Pill in Ibiza (TROPICAL AF)

Cheap Thrills 

More Recent 

Paris 

Closer 

Rockabye (TROPICAL AF) 

Something Just Like This 

Let me Love You (Tropical)

Shape of You (Tropical af) 

It Ain't Me (Somehow Tropical) 

Stay (Veryyyy trendy and Tropical)

[River 114,140]

It became worst every year, I'm really struggling in finding songs that I like from 2016-2017..

Everything is so full of electronic cliches that I heard 10 years ago..

[imnotyourbabe10 6,093]

I'd probably throw Amy Winehouse in there somehow...not really pop but she had an influence in some respects (since Gaga had credited her with helping herself and other ladies "make it" in the industry). 

[Also, I'm plugging lol....but Michelle Branch's new album shows an awesome change from her early 00s music...would enjoy more sounds along the lines of Joanne and Branch's new album....and/or a resurgence of the late 90s female singer/songwriter vibes]

[Lord Temptation 11,209]

2013 was the turning point. As others have noted, 2008-2012 seems like a distinct era different to both the last decade and the current one. But by 2013, EDM was being declared dead and over by the media. The pop world was in search of the new It Girl (Lorde? Miley?). Even Gaga herself described her magnum opus ARTPOP, which sounded nothing like anything else from 2013, as being a tribute to the death of the blonde pop girl star. Since 2013 pop music has been trying to tone down its EDM effects, to compete with rap music which had a big comeback. There was a massive 1990s revival during 2013-2015 that I think has now run its course and come to an end. Like that Billboard article claimed a couple days ago, I think Joanne has led the vanguard for singer-songwriter vocalist artists to sing about real experiences and connect again with audiences who for the last four to five years have felt increasingly disenfranchised with the aimless direction of pop music. People want authenticity. We're going back to the 60s, 70s, 80s (some of it - think Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska or his song I'm on Fire).

The 1990s revival (which is the main reason why rap music became so huge again between 2012-2016) is over. 

[StrawberryBlond 14,685]

I said yesterday that it seems like every young artist now is making a dance/RnB hybrid. They are the 2 most popular genres around right now, so some are trying to get the best of both worlds in the hope of making a hit. That is how pop music has changed the most, in my mind. Pop has also got a lot more serious sounding, more down-beat. That joyful, carefree nature has dimmed a lot. There's more of a "take me serious vibe" now, even if it's just as generic as everything else. I don't think it's any coincidence that Katy has apparently taken a more artistic route in response to all this. Traditionally fun pop music seems to have gone out the window for many, the public are viewing it as too superficial at the moment.