No one is fearless
People don’t have anything they are willing to die for, they need to give fans something to believe in

Everyone’s afraid to not be perceived as perfect, being flawed is what makes you human & likable & relatable

Everyone follows formulas that work for others
Same beats/same flows/same marketing
Nothing is fresh & exciting

Social media is bad for the creative mind and the consumers. Has people in a constant state of comparison & the fans aren’t as supportive and die hard like they used to

Kids nowadays want to be streamers & influencers. They don’t care about having talent & nerd out on passions the same way people used to. They’d rather be more famous than rich

cultural decentralization

The way it started got me like

But it turned around, this classical

I feel like top 10 / tiktok hits are kind of unpredictable at this point and if established artists try to follow trends they seem tryhard. It`s kinda random now.

Kendrick was already at superstar level by 2014/15 which was before personalized algorithms really took over every aspect of digital life to the extent that they have in the past 5 years.

The pop girls kind of, but compared to top level pop superstars 10+ years ago, the new pop stars are not bringing in even half the sales volume that the superstars were back then

Real for Topaz Jones but I don't think he has what it takes or even wants to be a huge star. Seems like an artist that may have a song that breaks through to the mainstream (e.g Steve Lacy Bad Habit) but just delivers solid projects and has a loyal fanbase

Pop Smoke was the one

Peso pluma

Any pop artist with a bit of fame can do this is in brazil

When will the next Kendrick come?

the old guard of AAA hiphop acts, Nas, Hov, Em, their primes all ended around the same time or close to it.

And then Kendrick pop up around 2011

That’s only like a 4-6 year gap.

And Drake/Cole was bubbling even earlier than kendrick

We are now a cool FIFTEEN YEARS without even a hint at the next AAA hiphop guard

For the pop girls it’s very different and I agree with you. I didn’t immediately get the Chappell Roan thing…

And then I heard The Giver. Masterpiece of a song. Her team is great and she’s definitely the most promising new act rn

Olivia rodriguo could have been neck and neck with Chappell rn if her last album wasnt such a tragic disappointment

But my money’s still on queen Remi. PUSH THIS GIRL, SHE GOT THAT THING

Long live the niche.

Ain't no global superstar needed if I have 5 artists that cover my whole pallette perfectly.

obviously its easier than ever to just listen to cool s*** you find

we just talking bout the story arc of music at large

Cuz Yall got ass taste

Why are there no more 10/10 classic albums by the superstars a la Purple Rain, Like a Prayer, Faith etc etc?

Everything gets swallowed up after 2 weeks. The Gaga album?

Every new release is just.. decent? Loved by fans but that's it...

but it's nice to have huge artists that everyone talks about and that create threads with 10k pages. Collective anticipation for new instant classic releases, I do miss that.

The industry has killed the creators, I'll be the first to say

Billie Eillish is definitely a superstar.
When she played in my country, old cougar flooded her concert to hook up with young lesbians.

Seems like Sabrina Carpet is also a superstar.

People have been conditioned to treat music as background content so this is the result

She hasn’t got the mainstream appeal/songs

It’s a mixture of an artist churning out anything for a small bump and the audience not bothering to listen.

Look at Brat, tool years to make with a proper build up behind it and the album is quality. Will go down as a pop classic in years to come and the wider world recognise this.

Because labels main focus is giving each new record from their stars a certain Image/vibe/aesthetic

The aesthetics literally are the album, the music comes after.

I think the way Rick Rubin produces albums is the proper way to get a performance like that from an artist. The music comes first. Writing down every little idea before it disappears, nurturing nuggets or demos into songs. A song is not finished until it’s a perfect representation of the feeling it’s trying to give to people. If you f*** the hook or pre-chorus up, you did the idea a disservice.

The demo sessions in general being lost is what’s making music have less depth more than anything honestly. If these megastars would spend a certain number of months fleshing out demos in a smaller studio setting, maybe even performing the unreleased records live so they can build further into their own thing that you never expected in the studio.

THEN you go in to track and lay all your fully finished records.

This was much more common when we had actual 4 piece bands, where rehearsing and testing new songs was vital before you go on tour. With the band fading away and transitioning into the digital world, of course you lose that. But the music loses something too, I feel

These days the demo sessions ARE what you gonna hear on the final records, just polished up and refined a bit. The creative process is always in tandem with the recording of the final product.

And with every major release being a huge spectacle, a team being meticulous about album art, thematically tied music videos, etc. you literally can’t go up on stage to perfect these somewhat unfinished songs, because the labels want everything hidden and secret until the big rollout. Gone are the times of having a bridge in a song that doesn’t really work, going on stage and seeing the crowd not really feeling that section, and then developing it to be better or switching the Chorus with the bridge or some s***.

But I’m dead yapping.
TLDR: Albums feel like isolated visual/worldbuilding experiences now, with the goal being to pull you into the atmosphere it creates, making you want to go out and buy the vinyl at target. But the album’s music top to bottom isn’t what’s front and center in the process. The experience comes first, the music is more of an afterthought.

Remember that back when vinyl was the main way of hearing music, albums had to be sequenced for vinyl. So each side of a record was made to feel like its own little experience. Some of that love for nurturing projects feels gone, and I’m not quite sure why it feels like that. Obviously a few big artists still take pride in keeping the spirit of this alive so shoutout them

but lemme shut the goddamn f*** up

Gaga is performing infront of 2 million people right noe

New acts aren't productions, there just creators. Albums aren't productions anymore, their just a collection of songs off someone's laptop. Artistry has left the building and labels are attempting to create moments and force feed novice/cheap acts down the publics throat.