Your favorite artist’s favorite artist, Chappell Roan, the ultimate BRAT, Charli XCX, the girl you could eat for “LUNCH”, Billie Eilish, and pop princess Sabrina Carpenter took the charts by storm this summer.
“Pop music hasn’t been this fun in years,” according to Rolling Stone. Pop stars like Roan and Carpenter looked up to Hannah Montana and wanted to make carefree, fun pop music like she did. Rolling Stone claimed we are in a “Hannah Montana Generation of Pop Music,” with songs like “HOT TO GO!” (Roan), “Apple” (Charli XCX), “LUNCH” (Eilish) and “Espresso” (Carpenter) circulating the internet.
According to the Official Singles Chart Top 100, as of Monday, Carpenter’s single “Please Please Please” is number one and has been charting for seven weeks. Eilish’s single “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” is number two, charting for 10 weeks and Roan’s single “Good Luck, Babe” sits at number three, charting for 16 weeks.
Charli XCX’s “360” has been on the top 100’s chart for 11 weeks, along with the three-week hold of “Apple,” both songs from her summer album, BRAT.
As a songwriter, Will Townsley, UTA assistant professor and area coordinator for music industry studies, would be keen on writing upbeat and positive music, saying listeners want songs that make them feel good and give them a nice escape.
While this genre was popular in the early 2000s, he said it's a generational tradition for previously popular genres to make a comeback. Like Roan and Carpenter, young adults also looked up to pop influences like Montana, and enjoy hearing similar instrumentals and lyrics, feeling nostalgia.
“We’re still seeing music that is very cyclical. From a music standpoint, a lot of the verses and choruses are written over the same chord progressions,” he said.
Rachael Mariboho, lecturer and assistant director of digital teaching and learning for the English Department, said that this “pop summer” really began last summer. Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour and Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour paved the way for upcoming female pop artists to showcase their talents and be themselves.
“Last summer was sort of called, ‘the summer of the girl,’” she said. “It seemed like they gave permission to women, girls, to embrace their girlhood and to say, ‘It’s okay for me to be feminine.’”
Mariboho said the music industry has become a safer place for women to express themselves, Eilish being a perfect example. Eilish never felt like she had to be anything but herself, even when she was judged for wearing baggy clothes or singing softly.
Although Roan, Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, haven't released any albums this summer, because they’re on tour, they’re becoming increasingly successful. Rodrigo and Swift helped these artists develop a fandom by giving them stage time on their own tours. Roan opened for Rodrigo’s GUTS Tour and Carpenter was a recurring special guest on Swift’s The Eras Tour.
“It’s not new music, but it’s certainly keeping a spotlight on female pop music worldwide,” Mariboho said. “That is a major contribution in terms of the female pop summer.”
Aleyna Brown, adjunct professor for music industry studies, said in an email that growing up in the early 2000s herself, she heard a mix of male and female artists. However, bands like Green Day, Yellowcard and The Killers, with male front men, were popular as well. Now, she’s noticed that women have taken over the charts.
“To be here and now with the chart-topping artists showing up with new powerful female anthems every other week, shows we are in a completely new era, and I’m very excited,” she said. “Women have a real seat at the Pop table, not just Disney channel. And that’s been a long time coming.”
@amandaLaldridge
