it's a great time to be a pop girlie
from sabrina carpenter's newly released album to the lingering allure of charli xcx and chappell roan, the pop girlies are popping this summer.
a few months ago, vulture published an article with a rather daunting headline.
this declaration may seem a tad dramatic, but fran hoepfner was not exaggerating when she wrote that “a pop or pop-adjacent album is being released every week”, with this year’s song-of-the-summer bracket promising “bops and bangers of all types, fit for many situations.”
so far, 2024—and summer in particular—has been defined by a string of never-ending pop records. new pop stars are emerging day in, day out, and becoming what many (often wrongly) deem as an overnight success. their albums have millions of streams. their singles are the soundtrack for every other TikTok video, often accompanied by a fun little dance or a very specific, niche trend. they’re bringing back music videos, holding their audiences and the industry accountable, asking the important questions, working it out on the remix, and dancing to their own songs at their own parties.
the current pop landscape feels like a drastic departure from last year’s reality, when billboard released a story stating that “pop stars aren’t popping like they used to”. the article, of course, generated a ton of talk online—so much so that the magazine followed-up with a second one, questioning “why aren’t more pop stars being born?”. the article gathered a bunch of different views on the matter, citing the ephemeral nature of TikTok, labels being increasingly risk-averse, and our fragmented attention among the reasons why pop stars are just harder to create these days.
The most underrated thing about me is my ability to evolve and transform. People like to say, “Her PR team is working overtime on the rebrand.” And I’m like, “Girl, nobody’s rebranding. This is me.”
Addison Rae for Interview Magazine
for some, pop music is nothing more than a commercial scheme. it’s entertainment. it’s a machine, a product. it’s basic and boring, lacking the depth, substance and intelligence of other musical genres. the same goes for people who enjoy it. and don’t get me wrong—pop music can be bland, dull and unoriginal, but its blandness, dullness and unoriginality has nothing to do with the genre itself. if anything, it’s the result of tired ideas, trying too hard, and copy-pasting what’s in without actually understanding why it’s in.
what makes today’s pop stars so exciting is not where they land on the charts, but rather their authenticity. they’re taking messy photos and sharing random videos online. just like you and your friends do. although some sounds and visuals might give us a little bit of déjà vu—it’s not uncommon to come across social media comments pointing out that the likes of sabrina, chappell, charli and addison are just britney, gaga, kesha and lana in a different font—what they do feels intrinsically real to who they are as an artist. it doesn’t rub off as factory made—instead, it blends references, taste, aesthetics and attitude to create something that feels both fresh and nostalgic. these girls get it. and they want us to get it, too.
The common thread linking these musicians is that they don’t treat “pop music” as a commercial category, but as a discrete musical lineage with its own codes and conventions to be plundered and reinterpreted. (…) These pop stars essentially make genre records. Unlike those of bygone eras, who pillaged the underground in search of new sounds to bring to the mainstream, this brand of musician is fixated on pop’s own history. In many ways, it makes sense that they would read as capital-P Pop Stars to the denizens of a world as reference-obsessed as stan Twitter; much of this music feels as if it were made by and for a hard-core fan.
From The New York Times, “What Happens When a Pop Star Isn’t That Popular?”
ditching surface level ideas of femininity and feminism, and redefining what it means to be a pop star—from the look to the sound—also seems to be a common theme. it’s what separates the allure of brat and the rise and fall of a midwest princess from katy perry’s attempted comeback with woman’s world. although their ideas might not qualify as complex for everyone who’s out there listening, their storytelling feels close to home without trying too hard to be relatable. there’s honesty and sincerity, and sometimes there’s also a fuck you to the industry.
charli and lorde said it best with the line, it’s you and me on the coin, the industry loves to spend. although pop stars have traditionally been pitted against each other by record labels and fans alike, this new lot is not having it. call it a femininomenon if you will! they want to jump on the remix, use their art to heal, sing each other’s songs on stage, call out the vip section for thinking they’re way too cool to do a YMCA-style choreography at a concert (another version of hating pop music doesn’t make you deep), and question decades of fame being used as an excuse to disrespect their personal space, time, and privacy.
we all exist in the context of all in which we live and what came before us, and pop music is no exception. audiences have been rejecting anything that feels fake or fabricated, leaning into increasingly relatable trends instead. none of us are in the mood to perform anymore. we’re all tired of people who just want to sell us more stuff. today’s pop stars understand this. they understand that music is never just music—it’s also a moment, a feeling, and for lack of a better word, a vibe.
bottom line, it’s a great time to be a pop girlie. charli xcx keeps releasing remixes like rent is due. sabrina carpenter just dropped her new album, a solid 12 song collection with smart lyrics and a few interesting bops. we have great music from chappell roan, addison rae, billie eilish, dua lipa, kim petras, caroline polacheck, remi wolf, clairo and tyla. if you’re not convinced, here’s a fun fact: gracie abrams, who came out with her new record the secret of us back in june, is now dating paul mescal.
so yes, it’s safe to say that the pop girls keep winning.
+ a few things
a pop girlie coded playlist to go with this essay
this lovely tomato girl dinner party table
this substack on staying home, going out, brat summer, and the ethics of rotting
this tiktok video, devastating that my lady jane is being cancelled after one season