Music genres are becoming ever more fluid in this age of digital streaming. There was a time I could have rattled off the major genres used by record companies to categorize (read: sell) pop and rock music like a chemistry student reciting the periodic table of elements. Power pop, bubblegum, hair metal, hard rock, Americana, and so on and so on and scooby dooby doo. Cultures mix and match so freely across the globe these days some of those labels are either no longer relevant, or they’re being stretched into unrecognizable new shapes. It requires a little research to keep up, if you’re of a mind.
Case in point – running down my usual suspects of year-end best-of lists I came across “The Best Progressive Pop of 2021” on Pitchfork’s website. Huh? What’s progressive pop, you may be wondering? Well, so was I. As far as I could tell from reading the article, non-mainstream (progressive) pop had an online moment last year, with genres like Afrobeat (I know that one), digicore (no clue), and hyperpop (nope, but the name’s a clue) gaining rabid fans and global commercial impact. It seems to be a wild free-for-all scene with little in common between the artists except a no-holds-barred desire to create international dance music. Most of the performers look to be really young, which would be perfectly in line with their intended audience.
Of course, the question the list raised in my mind was – am I too old for this stuff? Would I get it? Is this the nexus of a generation gap too wide for me to cross? Only one way to find out. A couple of things I noticed before I dove in; the list is a mix of singles and full albums, some artists are represented by brief flashes, others by extended artistic statements. Leaving out, or adding extra, vowels and including numbers seems to be a popular approach to artist names and song titles. Capital letters (or a lack of) and intentional misspellings are definitely part of the marketing. All kind of cute, but could my old ears understand the music, even with all my years of practice? Let’s find out:
• Amaarae: “Sad Girlz Luv Money Remix” [ft. Kali Uchis and Moliy] – very slight sounding, whispery vocals over airy, bouncy, trip-hop beats. Not inoffensive, and certainly danceable, but if this is the best of the best we’re not off to a promising start.
• Bad Boy Chiller Crew: “Don’t You Worry About Me” – Frat boy pop/rap, heavy on the pop. Three U.K. party boys who turn up the bass over (under?) an insanely catchy simple keyboard line. The switch between the sort of cartoon-aggressive rapping of the verses into the sweeter glide of the chorus is damn effective. The first winner on the list.
• Bladee: “Hotel Breakfast” – Hip-hop adjacent, like several entries on this list. His weird slacker approach to the vocals is quite compelling, actually. Electronic and echo-y, it goes down really smooth. Short (2:14) and to the point, I found myself listening to more of his 2021 album, The Fool, before moving on. Big thumbs up.
EARWORM: “Hotel Breakfast” (2021) – This one isn’t letting go. Sounds like he’s rapping before he got out of bed.
• C. Tangana: El Madrileño – The first full album on the list. One of Spain’s biggest pop stars, he claims the Beastie Boys as a primary influence and has an impressive collection of Latin Grammys. Heavily electronic in sound but leaning on traditional Latin music forms like bossa nova, salsa, and tango, this is chewy stuff. His pretty, hip-swaying rhythms combined with R&B and hip-hop sounds unique to my American ears and will take a few listens to fully get to the bottom of what he’s doing. I’m willing to give it the time.
• dltzk: Teen Week / Frailty – dltzk is the working name of an 18-year-old New Jersey DJ, he says it's pronounced “delete zeke.” Okay. Both of his 2021 albums were included on this list, so I had some listening to do. This is navel-gazing bedroom music to the nth degree. The debut, Teen Week, is a clattering electronic mashup of samples, keyboards and disembodied voices that I didn’t warm up to much. Frailty, though, shows some growth and maturity of vision and left me thinking his third album could be something I’ll want to hear.
• Doss: 4 New Hit Songs EP – Light, airy electro-dance-pop. Fluffy, even. It all feels a little ungrounded, but it’s certainly danceable and probably works much better in a club than on a home stereo. Her little-girl vocals are a bit off-putting to my ears, but the song textures are intriguing. Not exactly a rave review, I suppose. I like the ballsiness of the title, but let’s move on.
• Erika de Casier: Sensational – Compared to Doss, Sensational is stripped down musically, with more emphasis on singing and lyrics. I’m impressed that Ms. de Casier is both songwriter and producer on her major label debut. The music shines in both areas, a younger, twitchier Sade comes to mind. Mostly subtle electrobeats, but with a healthy dollop of R&B and an alluring, albeit emotionally detached, vocal style. It was easy to kick back and get lost in this one. I’ll be coming back to Sensational.
• Jessie Ware: “Please” – Okay, now we’re fully jumping into modern disco. Is she the new Donna Summer or Gloria Gaynor? Well, no. But “Please” is at least as good as anything from Kylie Minogue’s Disco, which is saying something. This song has a direct pipeline to the articulated hips.
• L-Gante: “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 38” – Another Latin pop-rapper, this time from Argentina. There’s definitely a cumbia influence here. Going through this list is a globe-hopping adventure, for sure. L-Gante’s growly voice combined with the song’s odd syncopation is fascinating. And by fascinating, I don’t really mean fun. The next song Spotify pulled up, “RKT SESSIONS #1,” drew me in more, but neither will draw me back. Interesting voice, though.
• Lily Konigsberg: Lily We Need to Talk Now – If Courtney Barnett, or maybe Liz Phair, ditched the electric guitar for synth and drum machine-based hook-laden pop, I think they’d end up in this neighborhood. Which is praise, actually, this record’s pretty fun. It has a lo-fi indie charm I wasn’t expecting to hear on this list. “That’s the Way I Like It” moves past fun to fabulous. A highlight of this list for me, and quickly added to my personal Qobuz playlist.
EARWORM: “That’s the Way I Like It” (2021) – Go ahead, try to get this out of your head after a listen.
• Maandy: “Hivi Na Hivo” – Still traveling the world, next stop is Nairobi, Kenya. I don’t understand the lyrics, of course, except to recognize that she repeats the title many times. My crude attempt to translate online got me nothing, probably because she raps in Sheng, a Swahili/English dialect. Maandy’s music is influenced by, and part of, the sound that blares out of decked out minibuses in downtown Nairobi and you can totally hear it that way. Based on beautifully intricate drum patterns, it’s repetitive enough to grab the attention of passers-by. I really enjoyed this one, another add to my personal playlist.
EARWORM: “Hivi Na Hivo” (2021) – A song that can easily take you to its geographic point of origin. A bit of music magic.
• Magdalena Bay: Mercurial World – Apparently a TikTok sensation, whatever that is (my age is showing here). Breathy female-voiced electro-pop, a common touchpoint on this list. Catchy enough hooks, I guess, but not my cup of dance music. Blippy and bloopy in the extreme, which I find distracting more than entertaining.
• MUNA: “Silk Chiffon” [ft. Phoebe Bridgers] – Featuring the reigning queen of sad-girl Americana. While not leaving the electronics and drum machines behind, “Silk Chiffon” opts for more bombast in the chorus. I get it, but don’t love it. Of everything on this list, this one sounds the most…ordinary.
• PinkPantheress: “Just for Me” – More breathy, introverted female vocals over electronically processed drumbeats. It’s not badly done, but the sound is so glitchy I felt the generation gap in a big way. Music for the much-younger-than-me crowd. It sounds like toy music to my ears, I hear the sound but not the song.
• quinn: “and most importantly, have fun” – A search for “quinn” didn’t pull the song up on Spotify. Searching for the song’s title got it but credited to p4rkr. What’s up with that? No idea, and I didn’t care enough about the electronic, processed vocal, twitchy sound to find out. If there’s a mystery to be solved here, I’m not the one to investigate.
• Rostam: “4Runner” – I expected big things from the former sound guru of Vampire Weekend, and I wasn’t disappointed. Sweeping, hooky, and smartly arranged, “4Runner” sounds both old-school and completely modern at the same time, much like what he pulled off so consistently with his former band.
• Smerz: “Believer” – Two women from Norway. It gets really cold there, like this music. Icy, even. Synths, ethereal vocals, processed drums, and the sudden need to put on a hoodie. Not so much for me, this one.
• Tinashe: 333 – Hmmm, the journey through this list of completely unfamiliar music started out fun and surprising. With the last couple, my enthusiasm is waning a bit. More wispy, hard to grab onto electro-pop. Tinashe’s singing isn’t as baby-doll high pitched as some of the others, so there’s that. This one seems less suited to the dance floor than most of the others, so I wonder what audience it’s for. The generation gap rearing its head, I imagine.
• Tkay Maidza: “Kim” [ft. Yung Baby Tate] – The most overtly hip/hop song of the bunch, deep bass punches and a chorus that repeats “Bitch, I’m, bitch, I’m Kim” a handful times. At least it’s not sleepy, right? Also, not particularly memorable.
• Tokischa / Rosalía: “Linda” – For a song that starts with the sound of somebody peeing this is pretty uneventful Latin hip/hop. Two women rapping really fast about something they’re obviously charged up about. There might be something great about this I’m missing because I don’t speak Spanish, but I have my doubts.
• UNIIQU3: “Microdosing” – Ah, we’re back onto something here. Maybe it’s the return visit to New Jersey. An obvious dancefloor single, with cocky, occasionally profane hip/hop vocalizing. The production slices and rearranges the song into some aurally interesting pieces that never come close to interrupting the groove.
• Water From Your Eyes: ““Quotations”” – To my ears, the first venture into pure art-pop on this list. Screw the dancefloor, this one’s for your head. The duo from Brooklyn starts with the blank canvas idea and layers on carefully chosen and arranged internal elements of pop music. Ticking rhythm machine here, some repetitive synth there, vocals flat but placed in the soundscape just so. Intoxicating stuff, and I need to hear more.
EARWORM: ““Quotations”” (2021) – I can listen to this combination of art and pop all day. https://open.spotify.com/track/1nSAl2OEz4okKkBtOdWaSE?si=dc50a9337b4246c7
• WizKid: “Essence” [ft. Tems] – This time from Lagos, “Essence” reminds me of American electronic R&B from the 90s, maybe. Being from Africa, the difference is one of allowing the beats to stretch out in a pleasant, languid way. Sure, he wants to get her into bed, but he’s willing to take his time about it. Not bad at all. A word of caution though – there’s a version that adds Justin Bieber to the mix. Skip that one, it adds an icky threesome vibe.
• Xenia Rubinos: Una Rosa – Caribbean-born, but working in the U.S., Ms. Rubinos divides the record into a first-half quiet, second-half upbeat format. I never find that kind of division works entirely. Overall, her reliance on Latin-based rhythms and combination of electronic and natural instruments creates some fascinating textures. Her overuse of the devil auto-tune kills its appeal for me, though. That’s a generation gap I can’t leap over.
• Yaeji / Oh Hyuk: “29” – NYC producer meets Korean indie-pop band. Dark and brooding sparse electro-sounds that, I have to admit, drew me right in. This isn’t the sound of fun, really, but it is the sound of creative interaction that knows what makes a song stick in your head like…an earworm.
• yeule: “Don’t Be So Hard on Your Own Beauty” – One of the more lushly melodic and romantic sounding songs on this list, but there’s still a tendency to abuse the dreaded auto-tune. Maybe it’s a Singapore thing, but it’s not mine.
So, what's Progressive Pop? International in scope, electronic mostly, danceable definitely, heavily influenced by hip/hop, rap, disco, and a healthy shot of Abba. I found a lot for my road-worn ears to like on this list, and confirmed, once again, that auto-tune is the work of the devil. There are a handful of artists here I had never heard of who are now officially on my radar, and that's always a good thing. There's always room for more.
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