Rolling Stone: Sweetener Proves That Trap Is the New Pop

[TheAlpha 3,830]

Like nearly every modern pop star, Ariana Grande has flitted from genre to genre over the course of her career, easily collapsing the distance between the steroidal EDM of “Break Free” and the relaxed reggae of “Side to Side,” the clipped Eighties pop of “Love Me Harder” and the storming house of “Into You,” the hip-hop soul of “The Way” and the retro-soul of “Dangerous Woman.” 

But with her new album Sweetener, she set her sights on conquering trap, the Southern hip-hop variant defined by sludgy, savage basslines and jittery swarms of drum programming. Grande is just the latest Top 40 star to acknowledge this sound — see Selena Gomez’s “Fetish,” Taylor Swift’s “End Game,” Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me and Kelly Clarkson’s “Love So Soft” and “Whole Lotta Woman.” The mass embrace of the trap template demonstrates the remarkable extent to which a once-niche style now rules modern production.

That trap’s structures have made their way to a figure like Martin, who has had more success in the Top 40 than anybody over the past few decades, is proof that those skittering drums and chest-shaking basslines are now simply the vocabulary of popular music writ large. “Everytime,” one of Martin’s productions, may be the most effective hybrid on the album. At first Grande delivers an unyielding staccato rap, but she abruptly returns to supple singing on the line-ending phrase “back to you;” the effect is like a boxer following a series of short jabs with an uppercut. As more and more pop singers are forced to reckon with trap, the fusion achieved on “Everytime” offers them a path forward.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ariana-grandes-sweetener-proves-that-trap-is-the-new-pop-712838/

 

Well boys and girls, welcome to the new Pop. 

 

[ARTPOPSTER 4,228]

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Gaga save us!!!!!!!! 

[ryanripley 86,575]

[crisTEAne 21,059]

i'm sure whatever gagz has up her sleeve is infinitely sweeter. 

[Widows Kiss 7,818]

[Noah 25,876]

Don't worry guys, We have LOONA!!!

 

[JohnWayne92 2,082]

Okay...but Sweetener sucked...so

[Tom Nook 37,718]

[GypsyBabe 22,836]

 

[ryanripley 86,575]

1 minute ago, Gardevoir said:

I CAN HEAR THE GIF

[Andreu 37,216]

Summer Bummer at least is a good song

[TheAlpha 3,830]

11 minutes ago, Andreu said:

Summer Bummer at least is a good song

I didn’t know the song was actually good. I remember when it came out but I didn’t give it a listen because I was kinda over her by then.

[FrankGutz 9,529]

oh wow, if this is the new pop im glad this **** aint my main fave genre lmao

[Eros92 2,481]

Negative. 

Sweetner is good but it's not DW.

This is probably her weakest album so far which is unfortunate cause after bops like NTLTC and GIAW I expected a WAY better album. Her semi cover of Goodnight n Go is amazing but thats about it. 

[nikola 4,342]

NO

THANK 

YOU