This Sunday's magazine section, as a physical object held in my hands, is one of the most UN-readable and ugly messes I've ever seen. I flipped through and then tossed the magazine on the recycling pile without reading ANY of it.
This issue, visually, is a loser; it looks like the "design" was done by people who don't know or care what design should do.
4
It seems to mec the Magazine is having some kind of identity crisis. Did someone in charge really believe that the same demographic that is interested in "Questroyal Fine Art", the "Four Seasons Private Residences" and the "Oceana Bal Harbor" also listens to "Bodak Yellow" and "Havana"????
6
Nice concept, but a bit misguided. The musicians and writers presented here have already made it, thus representing what is now, not what's to come. To glimpse the future of music, visit the venues that charge $10 at the door and ask which act you're there to see. Those bands are the future.
1
Loved this list. Enjoyed listening to each of the songs, most of which were new to me.
Would be great if next time, links to Apple Music were provided (as well as those to Spotify).
This 64 year old lady, whose late husband was a working rock and roll musician, sat down with Spotify and earbuds and listened to each of these 25 songs, having never even heard of any of the performers except for Taylor Swift.
I feel profoundly sorry for the current generation if this is currently what is on offer. There were a couple of interesting curiosities, but mostly these cuts are so profoundly boring I can’t imagine anyone having the joy of playing any of these over and over and over again because they love them so much.
Krippy Kush was pretty cute, and I can see laughing with joy if it came up at a party or club. But I have zero inclination to revisit any of the others. Kind of sad.
2
Wow, this list should be titled something more like "Pop/R&B/rappers we like". There are genres powerfully energized by innovative bands that aren't represented here. There are amazing musicians who aren't mass-market but blow away many of the overproduced and manufactured acts featured here. Seriously, remove the skilled producers, arrangers and electronic crutches of the studio environment (yes, auto-tune, I'm looking at you) and which of these acts could pull off a show in a club?
Better title would be "Songs You Might Hear at Duane Reade and H&M While Shopping".
3
Songs should include four components: melody, harmony, rhythm, and lyrics. So much of pop music today excludes the first component and dumbs down the second one to a handful of unimaginative chords. I don't want to hear one more song that a child could pick out on the black keys of the piano. That doesn't constitute melody in my book. And rather than straining to discern what words are being sung, only to determine I wasted my time doing so (particularly given the pathetic verse that has made a mockery of the concept of rhyme), I would like to be engaged or challenged or seduced by well-crafted poetry. I hope some brave songwriters will reclaim the craft. I'm not encouraged by this lot.
All the verbiage makes you long for the days when a song could be simply described: “It’s got a good beat; you can dance to it; I’ll give it a 10.”
(And I guess rock is dead?)
1
This list makes the future look like a nightmare. Thanks.
7
The only section of this long article that actually tells us where we might be going is the last one about “The Star Spangled Banner.” It notes that the line “does that star-spangled banner yet wave?” is actually a question.
Makes all the verbiage about the music seem insignificant.
1
I listened to all of the songs and heard a lot of studio gloss like drum machines and other synthesized instrumentation. I probably also was also listening to cherry-picked pieces of multiple takes stitched together with software, and vocals tweaked by pitch-perfect software to disguise singers who cannot sing, and many other examples of technical legerdemain.
What I didn’t find was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in the songs – little humanity. It left me cold – and disturbed.
6
Since this article is obviously NOT about music (that is, music in general), the headline needs to be qualified. It needs to read "Twenty-five Songs that Tells Us Where POP Music (and Pop Culture is Going)".
3
Just another reason not to listen. Will any one of these songs even be around 10 yrs from now ? 25 yrs? 75 yrs?
9
The idea that "Bodak Yellow" is a feminist song is a laughable. Though I too like Cardi B's confidence in the song, and find the song catchy, it's ultimately a corporate, pro-capitalism anthem about being able to buy expensive shoes. Though feminism has revealed its serious failures lately, unless the movement is about the uplift of all women, it's a useless movement. Simply bragging about one's own monetary success while calling other women derogatory words does not make a song feminist. Going outside mainstream pop and hip hop would have revealed far more interesting music about gender and womanhood.
6
I will go further and say that Cardi B is what we used to call “an honorary man”. A woman who grabs for herself and then puts down and derides other women as not good enough.
Cardi B is nothing but a hip hop Phyllis Schlafly
1
Taylor Swift, having topped pop charts for 10 years with enjoyable but predictable fare, is hardly the future. However, why did the critic repeatedly disparage her main fan base by race and age, citing her "naifish white girl brand," "white girl affectations" and grouping her into "small white women" singers, etc.? The other critiques do not stoop to insulting the artist's race or fans. Why is this not racist? Regarding her alleged "unwokeness," I don't read the trivia Swift may be sending out in tweets but I do remember that she sued the guy who groped her last year in federal court. Her testimony was assertive and inspiring, covered by the media nationwide a few months before the sexual harassment scandals broke last fall. She specifically pursued the case to set an example for women, asked for only $1 damages, won the case, then cut a big check to a rape service group. Sounds pretty "woke" to me.
6
Cardi B struck me as way less woke than Swift.
1
Hard to please everyone. But this seemed not to please anyone. Suggest another approach: the stand out 25 genres of music as of 2018.
4
How much of this "future of music" will be remembered 50 years from now? 20 years? Five? My guess is, not much.
5
If this is where music is going, I'll stay where I'm at, thanks very much.
5
Most Sunday mornings I go to a gym where patrons are subjected to a non-stop barrage of horrid classic rock. I follow this with a post-workout breakfast, during which I peruse the Times Sunday Magazine.
Today’s workout was particularly excruciating, with a soundtrack that featuring songs that I never “believed” in the first place. Hated that garbage then, and it’s still atrocious 40 years later.
Imagine my horror at seeing “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going” on the cover of the Times magazine this morning, listing performers more famous for costume changes and cynical corporate songwriting product than actual musical talent. At that point I could only think of the moldy old hits I heard at the gym, realizing that yes, the music industry has pretty much forced us to “stop believing.” Please tell us you’re kidding about this stuff being the future of pop music. Suddenly the horrors of tacky ‘70s and ’80s classic rock don’t sound that bad, though I still draw the line at Foreigner bleating on about being a “Dirty White Boy.”
4
if Katie Perry's soulless pseudo-pop is the future take me back to the past
2
There hasn't been musical monoculture in decades, not if you've ever solely relied on major record labels to discover music you wanted to listen to, and even then, there have always been well-known artists who have defied easy categorization such as David Bowie, Prince, Nina Simone, Bjork, Stevie Wonder, the Clash, Tricky, Portishead, Talk Talk, or Tom Waits to name just a few. The artists featured in this list are hardly ahistorical.
Often this kind of cultural omnivorousness as conveyed through features like this is its own form of snobbery, showing off how catholic one's tastes are rather than being honest about the references practically all these artists, mistakenly depicted as original, are borrowing liberally from.
There are much stronger artists out there not named in the list who in the past decade have already influenced plenty of artists and are leading music into truly exciting directions. They include Burial, FKA Twigs, Shabazz Palaces, Actress, Chromatics, Arca, and Janelle Monae.
2
This is why I don't listen to 'pop' anymore
8
Really? What year is this? 1997? This is a really sad list that tells us that top 40 and its fringes are going in tight cycles of a couple of months or years, repeating the same stuff that they have been trying to sell for the last twenty years. Sure the messages might change a little, but this is the least amount of change in two decades since the beginning of recorded music. Party like it's 1909, baby!
Plus what's up with not presenting things the "alt" stations play? The whole world is not Top 40. Try listening to KEXP.org. Not 100% perfect but a different listen than these throwbacks.
8
Is the future really boring? Because most of these songs are.
9
"Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished…The Beatles have no future in show business."
-- Decca Records Executive, 1962
Making predictions for the future of music is like looking into the sky and announcing where the next shooting star will appear. Good luck with all that.
3
I like reading about music, but to think anyone knows where music is "going" is beyond absurd.
4
I like reading about music too, and this article is not about music.
2
get back to me when you find someone who can sing- and not with autotune.
9
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift tell us where music is going?
That may be the saddest thing that I read all week in the Times.
8
Why such disproportionate weight given to American and European artists? Are
there so few Latin, African or Asian artists worthy of inclusion? A quick trip to Spotify and a search (even using the shallowest parameters of inquiry) would yield hundreds such. This current list seems more likely to please US corporate recording producers than to satisfy the rest of us. Grade: C-
2
Jimbo: Why are we calling naked strutting pop singers "artists" at all?
4
Meanwhile, the airwaves continue playing 40+ year old music because it was mostly made by people with talent and skills.
Heck, I'm even seeing The Zombies in a few weeks. They outclass, out-sing, out-rock, and out perform any of these folks. (Catch 'em while you can!)
And no auto-tune.
5
Hey Nitsuh:
There was obviously a prodigious amount of work going into this fine article but the title of the article is inconsistent with its substance. It’s not about where “music is going” but, as you yourself admit in the introductory text, it’s about where POP music is going.
Big difference.
I think rock and roll music, both pop rock (e.g. Fleetwood Mac) and rock that is art (e.g. The Clash) is and will remain the preeminent cultural force in American music.
You speak of young folk demographics as controlling where musical influences are predominate in a given generation. I’m old but I listen to WKNC in Raleigh, NC which is the North Carolina State college station.
The station plays, among other things, an amazing array of high quality indie music which, in the main, is being created by and for 20 something kids.
It’s rock music, and that’s where music is going in our culture in the future.
“My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey
...
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.”
Out of the Blue
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
1979
3
Ah yes , the "Music for The Sheeple".
Always has been around hasn't it?
Always sorta interesting seeing what they can entertain and or enlighten themselves with. 'Macarena" anyone?
5
There are so many good singer-songwriters now producing music that doesn't make the pop charts. I'm thinking of artists like Regina Spektor and oldies-but-goodies like Mark Knopfler and Bonnie Raitt and Robert Plant, who've got bodies of music that stand the test of time as the artists themselves have grown and changed.
Really? Hip-hop and emo are the only genres in pop music today? Country music features some of the best songwriting you can hear today. And there's, roots music, alt-country, and the indefinable-because-original?
Music is so much more than this corporate-pimped, auto-tuned shouting to a rhythm track. I feel sorry for people who think this is an accurate representation of our rich musical landscape.
6
Willow Smith's 'Warm Honey', more like 'Warm Money'.
Got Auto-Tune much? Good grief.
8
Best new up and coming Latin talent I listened to lately is Loco Escrito, Swiss/Colombian musician who writes his own lyrics and music, who could easily be added to your list.
1
Don't let the haters fool you here on Comments. There's some excellent social commentary disguised as music style critique. Recognize. (And you might hear something you like)
1
Citixen: Re: "There's some excellent social commentary disguised as music style critique." And are you saying you endorse this "disguise"? In my opinion, the "disguise" (to use a charitable term) is an abomination.
2
Where is Lizzo?
2
I look forward to this feature every year because it's not just a who's-who of the musicians responding to and rewriting our culture of this moment, but also because it's a who's-who of our most talented young writers.
Buuuuuut I'd also be a liar if I didn't mention how much schadenfreude I get outta these reliably curmudgeonly comments every year too.
No rock music on this list? Julien Baker is one of the most lyrically talented rock musicians working right now, it's a shame so many folks here omitted her from comments for the sake of their argument. I enjoyed my first-ever listen to that tender, nuanced Americana song from Jason Isbell. Mike Hadreas' Perfume Genius project sounds like the rock of my generation.
But also: WHO CARES IF THERE IS NO ROCK MUSIC. Genres ebb and flow. No sound will persist forever. The artists I love today--SZA, Charli XCX and friends--will fade too. I can't wait to see what beeps, boops, chords and loops replace them.
Inclusion is not an endorsement on this list. But for better or for worse (ok certainly for worse re: Jake Paul), some of these musician's influence is undeniable today! It's better to understand them than and thus our ethereal cultural moment than to cover our eyes and ears and mope.
I hope I'm never this closed off to DECADES of new music as so many of these commentators are when I age. Seems like a sad way to go about an ever-changing, vibrant world.
Ok, spoke my piece. To quote Cardi B quoting the Kardashians, OKURRRR
1
I get that this list is about the intersection of the cultural zeitgeist as a whole and the specific zeitgeist of pop music. I also get that the inclusion of tracks isn't necessarily intended as judgments of their merit qua songs. But, at this point in 2018, could there be more obvious fishes-in-barrels to shoot than Katy Perry and Taylor Swift? A million blog articles, tweets, and think pieces have been written about Katy Perry's inadequate allyship and Taylor Swift's disappointing feminism and suspect politics. Could these slots have been used to say something important and new about 2018, rather than as opportunities for performative wokeness?
2
The future? All of this is guaranteed to be forgotten by the time 2019 rolls around. There's very little argument to be made that any of these songs takes us anywhere but where we've already been.
5
There are some artists of all ages and working in a diverse number of genres that are doing some terrific work, but for the most part you won't find them in pop. Pop is too corporate and very much targeted and programmed. For the most part what is being put out isn't like music of the recent past that some kid years down the road will hear and post a comment on line that why didn't anybody tell me about this, this is great. Instead, the currently hyped is with few exceptions, disposable like a tv commercial jingle in a matter of months and of such recognizable poor quality that no one listens to it beyond a high school reunion. Can anyone even imagine two years from now, a radio station featuring a solid hour of programming from most of the artists mentioned without the listener cringing.
5
These selections seem grossly out of touch with what's going on in the world and the US especially. These songs appear to reflect where culture is now, but hopefully not where it's going - we're not aiming very high if it is.
6
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this music. I appreciate the thought and time that was put into writing the article. I also liked the graphics and the two different ways to listen to the songs. Thank you!
This is one of the best pieces I have ever read from the NYT. You have encapsulated the state of music today and the direction it is going perfectly.
Those who don't see it are missing out on what music means for a generation that becomes more and more attached to concepts of identity.
Hats off to you NYT. Thank you for writing this.
1
Like most others here, I'm a little nonplussed with the choices. If they'd said "pop music" I'd let them slide a bit more....but they didn't. There's a lot of great and interesting music being made beyond the confines of pop music and while I'm glad to see some love for Young Fathers and a few others on here, in what direction are Katy Perry or Taylor Swift pointing? I've no problem with them as artists but they hardly seem the harbinger of something new.
Artists that have recently made me hopeful about where music is going: The Lovely Eggs (energetic, raw, rock, a little twee and very British), Car Seat Headrest (literate expansive indie rock), Anna von Hausswolff (gothic drama, like Dead Can Dance mixed with Sigur Ros and Swans at their most pastoral), EMA (electro acoustic noise pop), Residente (an askew mix of latin rock and hip hop), Ibeyi (two Cuban sisters who live in Paris and mix Afro Cuban roots with soul and elecronics)....While none of these acts are going to cause Katy or Taylor to lose any sleep, they're the ones pushing music in different directions so that the next generation of Katys and Taylors can mine them for inspiration.
3
Listening to Jason Isbells 'If We Were Vampires" a song about love and immortality always makes me cry inside. A truly top shelf musical experience especially if you truly love somebody.
2
Pretty sad when the NYTs and The New Yorker can't do any better than pimp overproduced corporate driven mindless tripe. Or at best, popular hollow commercial memes.
There is a lot of great music all around us but these two lofty publications can't do any better than todays top forty.
Attended a Taj Mahal concert the other night. A tremendous talent who never sold out, is alway authentic, writes and performs from his heart.
21
And that's why people are still paying to see him 50 years later. Who is still going to pay to see any of the people on this list 50 years from now? Or even 5 years from now?
The music industry is only interested in quick cash-ins, not careers. That's why it is in the shape it's in.
3
Taj...(sigh)...hes one the best of the best...a true artist!
1
Couldn't find a single Latin talent to highlight? Not La Santa Cecelia? Las Cafeteras? Lila Downs? Jorge Drexler? Gustavo Santaolalla? Not even Natalia LaFourcade, fresh off her win of a Latin Grammy for Musas?!? Give me a break!
6
I'd be happy to drop all 'categories' and highlight a single TALENT.
5
Suggestions please, from all the haters! Have pity on the rest of us ignorant souls who are looking for something different but not sure where to look! Thanks in advance...
1
You can start with Sun Radio- a not for profit network of stations around Austin Texas. Streams on the internet and on the web at
http://sunradio.com
Describes their mission as f"ocused on the music of the great American traditions of rock and roll, blues, R&B, and the authentic genres of Country such as honky-tonk, western swing, and rockabilly".
Another great place is KCRW Santa Monica-Los Angeles. An NPR station owned by Santa Monica College, it can be found on the air in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Mojave, Palm Springs and on the internet- even with apps you can put on your phone. They offer multiple streams and the OTA has NPR programming in addition to the excellent local programming.
In your town it is on the radio (88.7 FM & HD KDRW)
https://www.kcrw.com/live-streams
Lightning 100 is a Nashville (Franklin to be accurate) OTA station also on the internet.
http://lightning100.com
WTTS is an Indianapolis (Bloomington) OTA station with Triple A "World Class Rock" - not Classic Rock.
Listen online at http://wttsfm.com
Jazz 88 WBGO in Gotham (Newark) has been playing great Jazz for decades. New Yorkers are very lucky to have this station in the area. Not for profit.
http://wbgo.org
Lots of others, but space is limited. There is a world thankfully free of Hip-Hop, Katy Perry and Beyonce. There are plenty of people making great music in many styles- not someone singing "auto tuned" over a drum machine. Real musicians.
2
Pop music is the whole of music!? Hardly! Not a rock band on the list. Not even a female rock band. Of which there are many talented, heavily touring bands with large followings...prog rock, metal, alternative, traditional blues based, etc. The grinders who play for the love of the songs, their instruments and the fans. Not to be a spectacle on a scripted red carpet walk wearing a trendy designers gown or tux.
But this is an uptight, elitist, urban centric, fashion focused, racially and gender lopsided list. Showing how out of touch with Most of America NYT arts columnists are...
IMO, these pop "artists" are not the future of music, but the future has beens, who will likely end up doing parodies of their own acts in Vegas, etc.
I call BS on this narrow, pop centric list.
23
Boregard: Re: "Pop music is the whole of music!? Hardly! Not a rock band on the list." Pop music is not only not the whole of music; it's, generally speaking, the least significant, most ephemeral, and, let's admit it, least musical of "musical" genres. BUT rock music is merely one form of pop music. The much more important forms of music obviously include...classical and jazz. You've heard of them, perhaps?
'Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going' ... on a 'Road To Nowhere'
13
Is this satire?
24
By pop, we now define an artist that can be discovered, produced and shoved down consumer's throats without any regard to musical quality or integrity. Talent, sure, but all that is lost on how the artist's music, appearance and message best appeals to a populace based on market trends and demographics. Pop, along with most music has lost it's sense of art to being just another heavily advertised product consumed by the masses. It is no longer the generation that influences the culture but the what the corporations allow to be disseminated en masse to that particular generation. This article completely misses that fact. There is some great music and artists out there. You have to peel away the many layers to find it.
10
To know "where music is going" you should really be talking to the writing/production teams behind most of today's pop music.
4
Although I do not see it in this article, there is some good music being made today. The mass market does not have much access to it. I believe the problem stems from the decline of the sales of recorded music, whether it is on vinyl, tapes or CD's. Record companies do not have the potential return on investment to undertake the expense of nurturing and promoting artists to maturity.
What we get instead is predictable, safe bets which appeal to the lowest common denominator, many of which do not have any comprehension of complex lyrics, polyphony and technical skill at instrumentation.
I do worry that the future of music is what is represented in this article because our current generation does not have the background, taste and technical understanding to appreciate the complex qualities of serious music.
17
Whatever your opinion of services like Spotify may be...I find tons of new, truly creative bands, solo singer/songwriters there...just have to look around...not rely on their suggestions...sometimes all I do is start typing and go with odd named bands, etc...and its down some interesting rabbit holes...
Like most of the posters so far on this thread, I don't like what I hear.
My suspicion is that the Music Muse, whoever that is, has departed the Earth for other rockin' planets. I believe he left around 1980. Perhaps before.
Let's all drink a toast to him, and encourage him to come back someday soon.
11
Blame Lee Abrams and his acolytes.
Before his Superstars format each city programmed locally to the taste of the area and groups were able to build a following and break out to the national and international market. A station in Atlanta, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles all sounded different. Thanks to canned formats they all sound the same.
3
Listening to music so stressful now. The beauty of music is that it is supposed to soothe my soul and make me happy.
14
I dunno. I never found Jimi Hendrix particularly soothing. Made me happy though.
Right? I hope that readers can spot that this is music the writers listen to.
There is a lot more going on out there other than what's defined as pop culture.
At quick glance, I can see a number of people on this list that were influenced by different sets of subculture going on right now. There's a future that's playing out but it's not this list. Go find them!
These pop artists are just the residue of creativity that was born elsewhere. Sorry to sound so cynical, but these articles are always so wrong.
Take a look under the surface.
Spotify playlists are not always where you will find it.
12
'Music' like this is going to fill up the bank accounts of industry executives and nowhere progressive, innovative or sincere. I could listen to any mainstream radio station and write an article as insightful as this. No imagination. This is the sounds of big money. Yawn.
17
Wow! For a minute I thought this was going to be an intelligent list that showcased artists that are truly doing something unique and are either creating new sounds or actually have something to say. Sadly, it's mostly the same garbage that gets trotted out as popular music. Cardi B., Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift?!?! Did you just turn on KTU and Hot 97 to put your list together?
If this is where music is going, then I'm glad I'm headed the opposite direction.
45
"25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going"
While this geezer does appreciate some of today's music, I'm infinitely happier as to where music's been.
23
The inclusion of Jake Paul and Willow Smith must be done to enrage commentators. I am looking forward to the barrage.
7
I'll tell you where this current music is going! Into the dustbin of history!! Once so melodic, uplifting, and timeless, maybe it's subjective, but to this ear, it's JUNK!!!
34
Interesting title for the current music trends.
Ask me, not so old that I'd be out of touch but more turned off, today's music lacks the technical knowledge and comprehension of many genres as well as natural talent. It also lacks a profound sense of soul. Not to mention well-crafted lyrics. Love Cardi B's personality but do I really want my daughters/nieces/young cousins and fellow females to believe there's something empowering in using their sexuality as a means to an end? It's all glorifying all the wrong behaviors.
If there's any artist I might like on this list it would be SZA. However, I can't get pass the constant cursing and debauchery.
Bottom line is what music today is telling me where it's going is that we as a society are moving deeper into a place filled with primal and narcissistic motivations.
14
I'm sorry to say after listening to these clips that music is going nowhere.
19
Music is going lots of great places, but commercial radio is not interested. Apparently the NYT Magazine is not, either.
I'll give the clueless a hint: If it is on CHR, talked about on any entertainment TV show or pushed by critics who cannot play anything but an iPhone- run the other way.
2
It's gong nowhere, and hasn't gone anywhere for over 20 years. Compared to the music of the 60's, 70's and 80's, this so-called musicians are a talentless bunch, stuck in a rut of commercialsim, self centeredness and greed.
29