Current Events > Has pop music evolved in the past 20 years?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I feel like each decade has signature sounds and trends as far as what's popular but pop music from like 2008 to today has more or less kept those same sounds.

Is early Ke$ha any different than Tate McRae in substance?

Yes

Mechanically, sure. But it's still mostly the same four or five guys in Manhattan writing/producing all the Billboard top 100 pop hits. If you're looking for a significant shift, you're going to have to wait for Max Martin or Dr. Luke or somebody else to pass away or retire.

Yes

Has music at all? Rap is slightly different, rock is mostly the same, Electronica is basically elevated disco, country has leaned into pop for the last 39 years, the radio plays like 1 new song for every 40 older songs.

Music is mostly stagnant.

ClayGuida posted...

Has music at all?

Yes

Well, 20 years ago pop music wasn't the genre soup it is now. So yes?

Music in general has changed a lot. I dont think pop music has but why are you listening to pop music exclusively

Maybe rock has sort of stagnated since the mid-aights too? Prior every decade had distinct highlights but the post-grunge era is still going strong.

I mean mainstream rock has stagnated sure but theres ton of subgenres of rock currently thriving and artists doing interesting things

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Isn't that what "classic rock" was in the first place? Not like there's any unifying sound. CCR and Def Leppard have nothing in common besides being old.

lilORANG posted...

Maybe rock has sort of stagnated since the mid-aights too? Prior every decade had distinct highlights but the post-grunge era is still going strong.

Post-grunge is definitely not going strong. That shit went out of style in the mid-late 00s. Emo took over in the mid 00s, Indie rock was pretty popular in the early 10s, and now pop punk and (radio friendly) hardcore punk have made a resurgence.

clyde_frog posted...

Post-grunge is definitely not going strong. That shit went out of style in the mid-late 00s. Emo took over in the mid 00s, Indie rock was pretty popular in the early 10s, and now pop punk and (radio friendly) hardcore punk have made a resurgence.

Maybe it's a regional thing but all the same bands that frequented the radio in 2005 are still putting out music and still on the radio now. Can't go a day without hearing Shinedown or disturbed or three days grace if you put on the rock station

lilORANG posted...

Maybe it's a regional thing but all the same bands that frequented the radio in 2005 are still putting out music and still on the radio now. Can't go a day without hearing Shinedown or disturbed or three days grace if you put on the rock station

That's because only boomers still listen to the radio.

lilORANG posted...

Maybe it's a regional thing but all the same bands that frequented the radio in 2005 are still putting out music and still on the radio now. Can't go a day without hearing Shinedown or disturbed or three days grace if you put on the rock station

Terrestrial music radio is completely irrelevant to anyone younger than the Baby Boomer demographic and it's really, really difficult to get new music from lesser-known artists played on the radio without some shady shit going on behind the scenes (payola, industry plants, and so on).

If you're an up-and-coming musician there's literally no incentive or reason to go through the effort to have your music on terrestrial radio when you can reach significantly more people by just self-promoting on social media and the proper digital distribution platforms.

Forgot where I saw it, but I read that supposedly almost every type of melody or something has already seen the light, and just gets arranged differently as time passes.

Like Sandstorm was inevitable. Darude didn't create it. Sandstorm chose Darude to bring forth his own version, and therefore created Darude himself.

genres are annoying as fuck