Mainstream Music in 2019
As we enter a whole new year it seems as though the mainstream will still be dominated by rap and trap, but I'm more interested in the trends that go in and out of fashion more behind the scenes, trends that can be very interesting to watch grow and fall.
In uncertain times such as these it seems that punk music always has a bit of a resurgence and in the last year we've seen Idles and Shame as two leading punk bands spearheading the charge to a more intense and socially impacted and impactful move in rock music. More younger bands are sure to pick up on this and turn their music in a rougher and more political direction and if it's going to be as good as Idles' "Danny Nedelko", who's complaining?
Another trend I've noticed over the last year is an increase in the number of alternative pop artists taking on synth-funk, last year saw the likes of Jungle, Gorillaz, Christine and the Queens, Capital Cities and Bondax all delivering albums with that influence and some singles notably gaining chart traction including "Humility" by Gorillaz being their most successful song in a decade. In many cases this sound is being used alongside other genres such as synthwave and also disco. Undoubtedly my favourite artist to really bring funk back last year was Parcels with their fantastic debut and particularly good songs like "Tieduprightnow", "Lightenup" and "Tape".
Indie guitar music seems to have been rearing for a mainstream break, particularly in the last few months where we've seen Wolf Alice take the Mercury Prize, Sam Fender winning a Brit Choice Award and many smaller artists building up their fanbases with the help of the Radio 1 Indie Show and streaming playlists finally starting to diversify from what seemed like purely Ed Sheeran, Drake and Camila Cabello. Indie artists seem at the brink of a comeback yet rather disappointingly the energetic and anthemic Sea Girls didn't make the Top 5 for BBC's Sound Of 2019. I expect we'll get at least a couple of indie breakouts in 2019, I just hope it's from a sonically exploratory and intensely fun band like Yonaka or Another Sky.
Who would think that metal could ever have a chance of presence in pop music ever again? Possibly the metalcore band Jinjer, an outfit that have just released a dark, grandiose and somehow very poppy EP with some of the best instrumentation and hooks I've heard in metal since Converge. Couple that with the return of many hard rock bands like Architects, Ghost, Slipknot and Bring Me The Horizon all delivering some of the poppiest metal we've had in a while gaining respectable traction. On top of all that, within underground rap right now there are starting to be some blends of hard rock guitars with hip hop, albeit nothing I've enjoyed yet. Still, it's surprising but metal could make a comeback, you never know...
Far-Eastern pop music has climbed into the mainstream with K-pop boyband BTS practically selling their souls to the industry and providing everyone with the step forward into boybands at the centre of public fascination. I suppose it has been a while since One Direction last released anything and that does leave a sort of a hole in pop music. BTS have been at the forefront of filling this whole and their usage of trap elements has of course helped boost them into stardom. This trend is likely to continue into 2019 with many other K-pop bands poised and ready to strike us with some hits that hopefully hit harder than BTS do. At least pop music is culturally diversifying in its participants, although it would be better to see the industry embrace more foreign artists than foreign artists embrace the industry as seems to be the unfortunate case.
Elsewhere there is a rather different boyband making some of the freshest rap music right now, and that's Brockhampton. They have so many members, so many songs and so much talent, easily delivering some of the very best bars, flows and production in rap right now. We're bound to hear more from them in 2019, particularly after the huge fanbase they've acquired since their most recent album.
In the world of electronic music trends can be harder to follow as there are so many different styles, themes and artists but if there's one thing I'd like to see more of it's the retro synth sounds of the 70s like Steve Angello brought to some of his last album, or the sort of percussive tones found in the current Doctor Who soundtrack to make their way into more electronic music, particularly if it's incorporated into something psychedelic or experimental.
Finally, I'd love to see trap music start using some different instrumentation in the songs to differentiate between track and artist as all too often it's just one big blur of overfamiliar, boring minimalistic beats and drearing, droning, muttered vocals with far too much bragging, flexing and misogyny in the lyrics. Right now the contents of trap just seems pathetically simple but I'm sure it could be far more enjoyable so long as certain artists manage to crawl out and distinguish themselves from the bottomless pit of endless rappers that all pretty much fit the same above description. I think we're all begging right now Kendrick - please put out a new album, we need you!
Hope you enjoyed this post, if you did I'd be very grateful if you checked out some of my Year-End countdowns and lists and any other posts that take your fancy-
Oh, and bro country music really ought to die this year, else I'll be incredibly annoyed...
In uncertain times such as these it seems that punk music always has a bit of a resurgence and in the last year we've seen Idles and Shame as two leading punk bands spearheading the charge to a more intense and socially impacted and impactful move in rock music. More younger bands are sure to pick up on this and turn their music in a rougher and more political direction and if it's going to be as good as Idles' "Danny Nedelko", who's complaining?
Another trend I've noticed over the last year is an increase in the number of alternative pop artists taking on synth-funk, last year saw the likes of Jungle, Gorillaz, Christine and the Queens, Capital Cities and Bondax all delivering albums with that influence and some singles notably gaining chart traction including "Humility" by Gorillaz being their most successful song in a decade. In many cases this sound is being used alongside other genres such as synthwave and also disco. Undoubtedly my favourite artist to really bring funk back last year was Parcels with their fantastic debut and particularly good songs like "Tieduprightnow", "Lightenup" and "Tape".
Indie guitar music seems to have been rearing for a mainstream break, particularly in the last few months where we've seen Wolf Alice take the Mercury Prize, Sam Fender winning a Brit Choice Award and many smaller artists building up their fanbases with the help of the Radio 1 Indie Show and streaming playlists finally starting to diversify from what seemed like purely Ed Sheeran, Drake and Camila Cabello. Indie artists seem at the brink of a comeback yet rather disappointingly the energetic and anthemic Sea Girls didn't make the Top 5 for BBC's Sound Of 2019. I expect we'll get at least a couple of indie breakouts in 2019, I just hope it's from a sonically exploratory and intensely fun band like Yonaka or Another Sky.
Who would think that metal could ever have a chance of presence in pop music ever again? Possibly the metalcore band Jinjer, an outfit that have just released a dark, grandiose and somehow very poppy EP with some of the best instrumentation and hooks I've heard in metal since Converge. Couple that with the return of many hard rock bands like Architects, Ghost, Slipknot and Bring Me The Horizon all delivering some of the poppiest metal we've had in a while gaining respectable traction. On top of all that, within underground rap right now there are starting to be some blends of hard rock guitars with hip hop, albeit nothing I've enjoyed yet. Still, it's surprising but metal could make a comeback, you never know...
Far-Eastern pop music has climbed into the mainstream with K-pop boyband BTS practically selling their souls to the industry and providing everyone with the step forward into boybands at the centre of public fascination. I suppose it has been a while since One Direction last released anything and that does leave a sort of a hole in pop music. BTS have been at the forefront of filling this whole and their usage of trap elements has of course helped boost them into stardom. This trend is likely to continue into 2019 with many other K-pop bands poised and ready to strike us with some hits that hopefully hit harder than BTS do. At least pop music is culturally diversifying in its participants, although it would be better to see the industry embrace more foreign artists than foreign artists embrace the industry as seems to be the unfortunate case.
Elsewhere there is a rather different boyband making some of the freshest rap music right now, and that's Brockhampton. They have so many members, so many songs and so much talent, easily delivering some of the very best bars, flows and production in rap right now. We're bound to hear more from them in 2019, particularly after the huge fanbase they've acquired since their most recent album.
In the world of electronic music trends can be harder to follow as there are so many different styles, themes and artists but if there's one thing I'd like to see more of it's the retro synth sounds of the 70s like Steve Angello brought to some of his last album, or the sort of percussive tones found in the current Doctor Who soundtrack to make their way into more electronic music, particularly if it's incorporated into something psychedelic or experimental.
Finally, I'd love to see trap music start using some different instrumentation in the songs to differentiate between track and artist as all too often it's just one big blur of overfamiliar, boring minimalistic beats and drearing, droning, muttered vocals with far too much bragging, flexing and misogyny in the lyrics. Right now the contents of trap just seems pathetically simple but I'm sure it could be far more enjoyable so long as certain artists manage to crawl out and distinguish themselves from the bottomless pit of endless rappers that all pretty much fit the same above description. I think we're all begging right now Kendrick - please put out a new album, we need you!
Hope you enjoyed this post, if you did I'd be very grateful if you checked out some of my Year-End countdowns and lists and any other posts that take your fancy-
Oh, and bro country music really ought to die this year, else I'll be incredibly annoyed...
Comments
Post a Comment