Anyone on this site is, by now, well aware of my affinity for melodically-inclined music. There’s just something effortless and uplifting about songs that don’t require you to completely submerge yourself within them – and dedicate considerable time and emotional resources to – in order to understand. That isn’t to say that I haven’t spent tons of time getting lost in music with real, gritty depth and meaning, but lately the line between the genres I’d expect to pack that punch and those that I’ve traditionally viewed as reprehensibly artificial have actually begun to blur. From my perspective it feels like pop music is getting better, but that’s pretty clearly a hypersensationalized hot-take based on the opinion of someone who has ignored quality pop music for the better part of his life. As recently as three years ago I recall scoffing at the genre, aligning myself to a more elite standard as I’d quickly turn off the car radio to plug my ipod in and get lost in the music of The Antlers or The National. The reality, of course, is that quality pop music has always been there…I’ve just been isolating myself from it out of a fear of being subjected to the worst that the genre has to offer. But that’s no way to critique music, because by the same standards I ought to be repulsed by indie-folk considering the remarkable attention that bands such as Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers attract.
Or maybe I’m just getting old and my music taste has regressed to shite. After all, it’s Kesha’s Rainbow that led me to write this.
Even if that’s the case, some sort of recognition or admission from me has been a long time coming (I’m with Rowan in the poptimism movement). 2017 – for me at least – has been a marvelous year for the genre. Whereas last year had its notable entries, particularly Ariana Grande’s banger-laden coming of age Dangerous Woman, and even though there’s been a trail of bread crumbs dating back to 2015’s Emotion and 2014’s 1989 letting us know where things were headed, 2017 has still – by comparison – felt like a complete genre revolution. Here’s a short-list of things that have happened this year:
We saw Carly Rae Jepsen release her best song to date in ‘Cut To The Feeling.’
Lorde made her celebrated debut, Pure Heroine, sound stale in the wake of her brilliant, art-pop sophomore effort – the borderline classic Melodrama.
Lana Del Rey made a pretty jarring political statement through Lust for Life, although the evidence is pretty subtle and scattered across the record’s many nuances. Even though she’s always been a little bit of a throwback, the grainy, black-and-white sections of Love‘s music video may or may not be a cynical nod to a president’s campaign slogan; and it’s just one of three tracks in which we hear a seemingly loving verse scored by gunshots.
Outside of the mainsteam radio pop arena, we have had bands from all sorts of backgrounds discovering their pop sensibilities. Paramore, for example, wrote a mature pure pop record laced with 80’s influences at every turn, effectively completing their makeover from what was at one time a punk/rock style in the same vein as Jimmy Eat World.
Andrew McMahon matured with his audience as well, creating a bombastic arena-pop album exploding with both hooks and references to marriage, fatherhood, and his battle with Leukemia. In doing so, he also proved that he could free himself from the humble brand of Ben Folds piano-rock that has defined his career.
Hell, even Harry Styles got in on the action. Maturing from his One Direction tween fanbase, he aligned his sound with a decidedly classic-rock edge that has already elevated his solo career beyond the expectations of your average boy band graduate.
Perhaps the most surprising entry of this whole list is Ulver, who also shifted towards their most melodic aesthetic yet. Not only did they do it, but it’s being hailed as possibly the best album of their two-and-a-half decade long span.
While the above departures have all been met with applause, not every band moving towards pop was met with the same amount of love. But even when they’ve been publicly denounced – such as with the obvious case of Linkin Park, it has still spurred some worthwhile moments. The lyrics to the title track of Chester Bennington’s last album ever has evoked some questions about the emotional state of people with depression, and how listeners can pick up on suicidal tendencies before it’s too late.
Dave Longstreth’s for all intents and purposes solo-project, Dirty Projectors, didn’t quite feel the heat that Bennington and Shinoda did for One More Light, but the all-around reception to his self-titled post-breakup album was still anything but warm. Straying from his experimental indie-rock roots, he worked with Kayne, Solange, and others to produce an art-pop album whose tracks wouldn’t sound all that out of place on Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience. Even if Dirty Projectors wasn’t a home run with all of Longstreth’s fans, a lot of the tricked-out, R&B/Pop/Hip-Hop hybrids (case in point: “Keep Your Name”) represent some of the year’s most daring artistic ventures.
Yep, so it’s been a pretty incredible year for the development of pop as a genre, not to mention the influx of artists from other genres making their mark in the scene. It’s highly likely that I’m just being naive/silly, but it’s difficult to remember a year of my adult life that has had so many albums – either purely pop or of the pop persuasion – running in my top 10-20 albums of the year. Lorde has a good chance to walk away with my AOTY vote, although I’m sure Fleet Foxes will ultimately get the nod…I’m still an indie-folk junkie.
But make no mistake, pop is on the rise. It’s surge has been felt gradually each year, but never more than it has in 2017. If the year ended now, it would unquestionably go down in the books as a year dominated by pop [for me]. Admitting that openly on a site like this should tell you just how good it’s been. Cue the torches! (disclaimer: not a Charlottesville reference – all nazis and supremacists can still kindly fuck off.)
