Pop music largely represents the state of our living situations. Back in 2007, during the Great Recession as they call it, pop artists were dropping hit songs left and right. Artists like Pitbull and Timbaland featured lyrics like, “If I have no money, no car, no card to buy you flowers – will you still like me, just the way I are?” from Timbaland’s hit song “The Way I Are.” This is what makes it related to recessions. They tend to talk about how they have no money, but they are still going to have a great time going out and having fun.
We cherish those as classics, or at least I do. Artists like Kesha (formerly Ke$ha), 3OH!3, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake all put numerous songs on the charts during those few years.
Pop music in that era really had a different feel to it. It allowed the listener to let it all go and enjoy the song, maybe even dance a little. “SexyBack” by Sir Timberlake is truly the hallmark of pop. I have never seen a song that people love more. Kesha’s entire discography captured the grungier, punk, club scene of it all. “Blow” and “TiK ToK” captured my young eardrums through my tiny pink MP3 player, and I have loved her ever since. It was music that allowed the freedom and fun of pop to be thoroughly enjoyed, and it’s coming back.
Troye Sivan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX all have put in the work and released what the world needed, real pop. Hits like “Rush” and “Guess ft. Billie Eilish” are flooding the scene and bringing back that feeling of “I need to go out, like, right now.”
I have it on good authority that I am not the only one who feels this way. The council (group chat) concurs. It reminds our generation of our childhoods when we were too young to understand what the lyrics meant, but we enjoyed it. And now that we are adults, and have better comprehension, the style has reentered mainstream and allows us to feel like a kid and an adult all at the same time.
Though, for our parents, the resurgence may not be as enjoyable.
“Recession pop was our childhood, so for us, it’s gonna hit every time. For people who are older, like our parents, it might not buss down as it does for us [because] it’ll remind them of when they were tight on money, on the brink of divorce, and little you walked in and asked for a new Wii game,” said Sydney Byrd, a recent UNA graduate and dear friend of mine.
Recession Pop has become a topic of many of my music-related conversations due to the complete nostalgia of the phenomenon.
Even Kesha came back! Her song “Joyride” is probably the epitome of the resurgence. It is exactly what you think she would put out, an upbeat pop-like song. It reminds me of some of her earlier works, which means her roots stayed true (I need the praying hands emoji right here).
Newcomers on the scene like Sivan and Carpenter have quickly cemented their spot in this genre. Sivan with his album “Something to Give Each Other” is different from anything he had put out before. Embracing his sexuality and freedom as an adult really shined in that album. Carpenter’s “Short’n’Sweet” put her further out than she already was. Her bold lyrics and strong sound helped push her into that area.
In closing, Recession Pop is back, and it’s better than ever. I urge all of you to take a little stroll down memory lane and allow yourself to look through all these songs with that lens and enjoy the music.
