As an ‘04 baby, the soundtrack to my childhood consisted of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kesha. That meant, of course, that my baby 4-year-old self was screaming wildly inappropriate lyrics to a funky bass beat and dance-friendly instrumentals. Moving forward, the trend of upbeat songs were replaced with slower, lyric heavy ballads of Taylor Swift, Lorde, and eventually Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams. To go along with that, Post Malone, Noah Kahan, Benson Boone, Hozier, and Conan Gray now represent the male music population following the trend of slower, more soul wrenching ballads. Is that all going to change soon?
Critics and listeners dubbed Lady Gaga’s March album as a reversion to her old, classic pop ways. Diverging from “Shallows” and “Die with a Smile,” “Abracadabara,” “Garden of Eden,” and “How Bad Do U Want Me” more closely mimic her early hits like “Pokerface,” “Paparazzi,” and “Bad Romance.” This, and other 2000s icons announcing new music, has quickly caught on as a reversion to “recession pop” amongst Gen Z-ers. As we try to find more ways to differentiate ourselves from the sticky iPad Generation Alpha, we cling to our roots of the 2008 financial crisis and pirating “Your Love is My Drug” onto our pink iPod nano.
So who has been tasked with creating the soundtrack to our recession music summer? Kesha will be releasing her sixth album on July 4th and immediately starting her Tits Out Tour. Miley Cyrus has announced her album Something Beautiful due May 30. And even Lorde is coming out of hiding to release Virgin on June 27th.
Current top-of-the-listers like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan already fit this new upbeat bill, while providing younger, fresher perspectives and literal new voices for the industry. Taylor, due to release her version of Rep and Debut at any moment now, has the perfect portal into the music of the past. Even Post Malone, with his recent transition into country music, has shifted to upbeat, sillier hits like “M-E-X-I-C-O” and “California Sober”.
As for the rest of the music industry, I think that they will follow the lead of these ladies and bring back poppier, upbeat tunes with an emphasis on partying and sexual freedom, maybe to provide an escape from the hard financial and political times, or maybe to appeal to the Gen Z listeners who are finally old enough to use their sexual and intellectual power to change the world.