this is a really, really brilliant take. i personally wonder how much of this fragmentation is being accelerated by algorithms, where we increasingly inhabit completely different cultural worlds even while living/scrolling through the same moment.
agency strategist here for context and i’ve worked in geopolitics before and now, somewhat unexpectedly, finding myself learning to DJ/produce, this really resonated. i can draw inspiration from just about every genre/sub-genre, all within the same session that i decide to make music.
and i keep coming back to a slightly paradoxical question: when we have access to sounds from everywhere and every period at once, what actually makes something sound like now?
maybe the problem isn’t that everything literally sounds the same, but that the boundaries that once made sounds feel culturally and temporally distinct have collapsed. why? there’s more (house) music now and more scenes than ever, but i suppose, fewer shared reference points through which any one of them becomes the sound of a time.
anyway, all to say: your argument is very frickin spot on and has given me way too much to think about.
thank you for such a thoughtful comment ebenezer. and yeah totally agree with the boundaries collapsing. and i think that comment on house warrants some further investigation and research...
The defining music of the 2020s is AI-generated music. I think the most iconic song of Gen Z will be "We Are Charlie Kirk" and the endless variations. There are covers in every language you can think of, and at least one Chinese nightclub blasted a Mandarin nightcore remix on the dance floor.
Because these problems had only gotten more intense in this decade. Poptimism represented a kind of woke 1 era forward trajectory, like the supposed prejudiced past it was disavowing, music of the era did away with a lot of traditions for the sake of cultural omnivorism. Brad troemel and David Marx spoke of this already, but that still represented a dominant forward looking narrative of history that we don’t seem to have anymore today
music from the perspective of politics.. hmm i love itt
had a thought, maybe the reason the 2020s feel like they don’t have a defining sound isn’t that music has become less interesting, but that there are finally too many histories happening at once to collapse into one genre
great piece, love a new realization that 60s, 70s, 80s music definitions is indeed named and defined by western culture only
Thank you Valeria!
Blew my mind how popular Graduation was just a few years ago…
Genuinely cant believe it was released in 2007
this is a really, really brilliant take. i personally wonder how much of this fragmentation is being accelerated by algorithms, where we increasingly inhabit completely different cultural worlds even while living/scrolling through the same moment.
agency strategist here for context and i’ve worked in geopolitics before and now, somewhat unexpectedly, finding myself learning to DJ/produce, this really resonated. i can draw inspiration from just about every genre/sub-genre, all within the same session that i decide to make music.
and i keep coming back to a slightly paradoxical question: when we have access to sounds from everywhere and every period at once, what actually makes something sound like now?
maybe the problem isn’t that everything literally sounds the same, but that the boundaries that once made sounds feel culturally and temporally distinct have collapsed. why? there’s more (house) music now and more scenes than ever, but i suppose, fewer shared reference points through which any one of them becomes the sound of a time.
anyway, all to say: your argument is very frickin spot on and has given me way too much to think about.
thank you for such a thoughtful comment ebenezer. and yeah totally agree with the boundaries collapsing. and i think that comment on house warrants some further investigation and research...
ha - fair. granted, a lot of which are unwarranted hot takes on the industry/current situation. happy to talk separately if ever the chance comes :)
No no I meant that it was an interesting idea and I wanna look into it more LOL
haha yeah, i figured! can’t wait to see what you land on for that one
Fantastic piece. I’ve really enjoyed it.
this is genious! congrats
Thank you :’)
The defining music of the 2020s is AI-generated music. I think the most iconic song of Gen Z will be "We Are Charlie Kirk" and the endless variations. There are covers in every language you can think of, and at least one Chinese nightclub blasted a Mandarin nightcore remix on the dance floor.
Interesting take, I’m inclined to agree that nightcore is defining the 20s in *some* way. Definitely worth looking into
So why’d this only happen in the 2020s and not earlier?
Because these problems had only gotten more intense in this decade. Poptimism represented a kind of woke 1 era forward trajectory, like the supposed prejudiced past it was disavowing, music of the era did away with a lot of traditions for the sake of cultural omnivorism. Brad troemel and David Marx spoke of this already, but that still represented a dominant forward looking narrative of history that we don’t seem to have anymore today
music from the perspective of politics.. hmm i love itt
had a thought, maybe the reason the 2020s feel like they don’t have a defining sound isn’t that music has become less interesting, but that there are finally too many histories happening at once to collapse into one genre
Haha yes that’s exactly what the essay is arguing