Hip-hop is becoming protest again
In the early 90s, a wave of hip-hop protest started gaining momentum in the US. This, in turn, led to the emergence of a group like Public Enemy. One of the most successful hip-hop groups of their time, they were known for their popular song Fight the Power. Public Enemy introduced a new stream of social protest into hip-hop in the 1990s. With lyrics that are just as relevant now, they have become synonymous with the movement.
Whenever there are protests, songs are often played as a form of protest. With the recent protests in America, music is being used again as a form of protest. The recent movement of Black Lives Matter and the opinions on it by public figures (which is mostly dominated by Rapper). The reason why Public Enemy is coming back into popularity (they dropped an incredible album recently) is because the sounds and genre signifiers of the 90s are becoming more relevant in hip-hop. There’s a good chance that Run The Jewels got into the stream with this release. Musically, hip-hop is becoming increasingly influenced by old school.
Trap and cloud rap are losing ground
It’s clear that one of the main features of trap is synthesis. This makes it more difficult to clean up after, but also gives it a heavy sound without samples or other sounds to interrupt this flow. The bass is strong and accompanies the hi-hat which is both fast paced and complicated. The cloud rap genre has been distorted and otherworldly. From hints of distortion at the base to a reverb-drenched percussion, these tunes provide a more psychedelic experience. With its unconventional lyrics and sound effects, it’s worth checking out to see if it sparks any creativity.
The producer of the musical artist Clams Casino is a major influence for the emergence and development of cloud rap. Around the same time, together with him in 2013, Trap artists like A$AP Rocky, Yung Lean and Bones began to gain popularity very actively.
Trap and cloud rap quickly became popular after their release. When you look back at the styles of hip-hop that have caught the attention of listeners, they are all quite similar. Trap and cloud rap were two new genres that didn’t bring anything new to hip-hop culture because there was no real uniqueness attached to them. In this way, the pressure of these two genres was increased.
Rock is trending again
Hard rock and blues are coming back into vogue on the wave of interest in vinyl media. People are increasingly interested in psychedelic and prog-rock music as the genre is now popular. So many new artists seem to be emerging from these genres as well. Greta Van Fleet is one of the most talked-about bands of recent years. Everyone compares them to Led Zeppelin.
A new wave of collaborations between old artists are seeing bands or artists from years ago collaborating with people or other bands that do not usually work together. Deftones, AC/DC and Bon Jovi release new albums; John Frusciante returns to RHCP; Travis Barker and Tommy Lee collaborate with rappers and drag. These days, nostalgia is a driving force in the entertainment industry. The recent emergence of super-groups composed of veterans from popular bands from decades ago is a testament to that with one such example being The Jaded Hearts Club – the recent project by Matthew Bellamy from Muse, Miles Kane from The Last Shadow Puppets, Graham Coxon from Blur, Nick Sester.
Pop music adapts to social media
In order to reach out to younger people and save money on advertising, pop artists have developed a new trend among performers – shortening the length of songs or compositions from 3-5 minutes to 1.5-2 minutes.
Tik Tok provides a platform for artists to spread their art. You can promote your art for free and you don’t need to spend any money on ads because the app is all that you need to get started. The organic promotion of trending videos with music on this network leads to the fact that even someone who was nobody in a second can become everything.
Youth music is the antipode of popularity
The new wave of pop music is characterized by the destruction of musical canons which is generally accepted. This involves for example the use of harsh, discordant sounds.
PC Music pushes the envelope with high pitched vocals, high frequency female vocals and vibrant synthetic textures.
Queer pop stars who deny gender differences and modify their sound are becoming more popular, and established pop stars like Lady Gaga and Grimes are constantly experimenting. For example, Grimes makes music with both male and female vocals, while Lady Gaga’s latest album includes heavy use of electronic sounds.
NFT: a bright future
The music business has always been difficult to break into. It’s not a surprise that musicians want to try different ways of making money. Marie Green put up her new composition Promise as a non-fungible token – a piece of property which is unique and can’t be broken down into smaller units. Other artists just provide the opportunity to click on their songs & images, for example. Recently one of the world’s largest royalty exchanges, The Royalties Exchange, has come under fire after members of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest said that they were cheated out of royalties. The group contacted the buyer to buy this stake back – but whether they succeeded in doing this is not disclosed.
TikTok as a hit factory
Living in a digital age, it would be silly to assume that TikTok didn’t have a big year in 2019. One way it may have been even more popular is by being used as a distribution platform for music. The app states that they have a 175 trending songs on TikTok that have been in the main Billboard charts this year which is double from last year. Lil Nas X attracted its audience not only through TikTok, but also by making videos that people would see on other platforms like Instagram & Twitter. One of the biggest debutantes of this year was PinkPantheress, who became popular exclusively through TikTok. Olivia Rodrigo, Kid Laroi, and Måneskin owe their fame to TikTok – at the same time, the TikTok algorithm can make any song popular; for example, Rasputin Boney M is considered one of the most popular tracks on TikTok despite having been released more than 40 years ago.
Albums are still important
TikTok has become extremely popular of late, but it doesn’t mean album sales are dead. Demand for physical media is still growing. For example, vinyl sales rose 94% this year. Despite this, independent labels have been holding back on releasing vinyl because larger companies have started queuing up at factories for the production content. One of the ‘vinyl hits’ back in the day was Adele’s “30.” It sold 500,000 records, an unthinkable amount by today’s standards. It’s been a great year for ABBA fans with this new album having sold 30,000 copies in the first week and quickly becoming a UK bestseller.