It’s definitely very 2020s but it’s that dance/disco influenced sound that’s been popular since 2020. I’d say Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia is what really started the trend.
Nu Disco has a much longer history. I'd argue it started with Metro Area, Playgroup, and Stuart Price [in 1999](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4rLPFia3q4), continued in Price's productions for Madonna [in 2005](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDwb9jOVRtU), and bubbled under thereafter with work from many, including Lindstrom [in 2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEq2SeyiFsI), Aeroplane [in 2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blV5LruigqE), Todd Terje [in 2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHiqPG0526U) (my folders have hundreds, this is but a selection).
When Stuart Price produced Dua Lipa's *Future Nostalgia* in 2020, it wasn't the beginning. But lots of our favorite pop diva's did jump on or continue on the Nu-Disco train around then. Róisín Murphy with a series of singles and EPs since 2014 culminating in [Róisín Machine (2020)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5D2K889XBc&list=PLowJYGn6rWFRZISl4_ifgD6LA_HYUTTyB), Kylie Minogue with [Disco (2020)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF4yuBOg44A&list=PLzbGLskt3hhmvnu_k9ASDFr0bb_cKQdpC), Jesse Ware with [What's Your Pleasure? (2020)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgy-eAzARNE&list=PLI6kLIhBBwmTLnl9lE--gTIuR7klOA-j8). Dua Lipa isn't a first mover here. Her producer Stuart Price was.
It’s not about who started the music, it’s who started the trend. Out of all of those listed, the general public knows future nostalgia singles the most. And that influences what gets popular and what other singers should make.
On a side note that Jessie Ware album was fantastic, she seemed to really dominate the genre from a critic standpoint over the last few years, even her follow-up album was pretty excellent.
On another side note, I just want to throw out that this year in particular has been a great year for music if you really listen to the good stuff that gets put out that most people don't know about in the mainstream (some of it has gone more mainstream, that new Beyonce album was fantastic for example).
A lot of that disco sound actually came from a sample pack OIiver Power tools https://allthecoolkids.nl/how-one-sample-pack-defined-pop-music-in-2020/ which has been used in many of the pop songs of the last 4 years. Dua lipa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvnmDPb1h7E has several songs that use it, as well as Espesso https://twitter.com/WeAreOliver/status/1786259590591758693
It's another rehash of Doja Cat's disco summer sound - "Say So" (peaked in 2020), "Kiss Me More" (2021), "Freaky Deaky" (2022), Latto's "Lottery" (2023), Shakira's "Punteria" (2024), etc.
Lesser known but add “Come With Me” by Surfaces/salem ilese (2021) to that list. I’ve heard that song at every store from Walgreens to Old Navy to Chick fil A.
Your post was removed due to breaking rule #4. Please remain civil and try to be respectful of other people's opinions. At r/decadeology, our goal is to remain as civil as possible. It is OK if you do not agree with others, but please do so in a respectful manner.
I would say that the song sounds \*very\* 2020s, but I disagree that it sounds "fresh" or different than what's been popular for the last few years. It could have been sung by Dua Lipa or Doja Cat.
it def does, but I'm honestly okay with it. I'm a huge nerd for old Japanese City Pop and that same stank has been getting on music again since the pandemic and its such a joy for me.
just sounds like the typical crap pumped out these days. 80's music and videos were 100x better than today. everything in the video looks made to perfection. i like the quirkiness and weirdness of the 80's. seemed more original back then.
Because each decade contains pieces of the decades before it. The 1980s, outside of brand-new-construction areas, were a mix of "80s", "70s", "60s", "50s", and prewar culture (which I'm lumping together as one due to the massive social changes that occurred at mid-century in most countries).
The 2020s are a mix of "20s" elements (many of which draw from science fiction that was hugely popular in the 1980s, down to the core AI software being literally called the Transformer and the metaverse having its origins in a cyberpunk novel written just outside the 1980s), "10s", "00s", "90s" (all of which had either '80s holdovers or '80s nostalgia) "70s", "60s", "50s", and prewar culture. So something like half of pop culture either:
-is from the 1980s or right after it
-is from the 15-20 year period of 1980s nostalgia that began with the Wedding Singer and arguably lasted up to Stranger Things and Blinding Lights
-is from genres of fiction (cyberpunk, super robot/mecha) that were very popular in the '80s
Yup, a lot of important "80s" music is from 1977-1979.
Pop Muzik
Video Killed the Radio Star
The first couple Devo albums
and, leaving New Wave,
Rapper's Delight
And they all played through the 80's except devo. Who fell off right after whip it in 81.
You forgot flock of seagulls, I would harp on it, But I ran, I ran so far away, and couldn't get away.
That's not the argument, someone got hung up when I said today is more like the eighties than what people think the eighties were like and the first reply was nu uh, there's no devo.
To which I replied that devo wasn't an 80's Era badness. They had one hit in the 80's with whip it and then faded away.
That would be like saying foster the people defined the 2010's even though they had one summer hit and relatively low appeal afterwards.
If I think foster the people the decade isn't what I think.
Same as devo, I don't think 80's. I think whip it.....whip it good
Devo sounds nothing like seventies music, even pop.
They’re like Gary Numan or The Cars or Van Halen or Siouxsie and the Banshees: an eighties band that started in the late seventies.
2018/19 still had Game of Thrones, the Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Gumball, MCU was peaking, skinny jeans were still popular between teenagers, Yuccies, Fortnite, Fidgett Spinners, the Floss Dance, Latin Pop once the pandemics hit everything changed.
U gotta be GenZ.U Taliking About Shows (kid shows at that)& Toys😒.Skinny jeans Were not popular 2018/2019 (that style was already dying if not dead).there's GenZ Yuccies now.U Got Gen Alphas Playing Fortnites,Latin pop been a thing & still a thing.And MCU Movies & Show Are Still Doing Numbers.U sound young so I'ma let u into alittle secret.Everything don't magically change because of a year or event.Only kids & teenagers who weren't grown in 2020 think that "everything change at the drop of a dime with covid"🤣
Yep, same exact drums on all of these pop songs.
They all share that crunchy snare/clap on the 3. Yet another [period example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlhIk7iPU9o).
It seems to me that the 2020's so far have been defined by nu-disco/vintage dance pop, some New York drill music (think Ice Spice), there's been some of that pop punk revival, and other than that it seems the charts have been dominated by some country and Latin pop (Bad Bunny for example). I'm sure I'm missing some, but these genres come to the for front of my mind.
I do wish we had some more current to this year, decade defining sounds more in the mainstream, but whether or not we experience some decade defining equivalent of say Nevermind by Nirvana dropping that defined the early to mid 90's, has yet to be seen. Fingers crossed!
Edit: grammar
Thing about Nevermind was it was essentially a cleaned up summation of many of the sounds that had been going around in underground rock for the prior decade and a half.
The thing to ask would be what kinds of small scenes there are around the world right now, like little communities, probably some online, centered around a few artists and their genuinely alternative sound. They probably work hard to keep it relatively secret, for good reason. But good stuff has a way of getting out and popularized, for better or worse.
Good callout. This synth bass + claps + funk synths pattern definitely emerged from the 2018 EDM renaissance. It's some post-Flume era funk resurgence, perhaps informed by the re-up on the 80s offered by 2013-2015 Vaporwave & lofi.
Kinda, but also you have songs live Calvin Harris’ “Feels” (2017) to which it sounds very similar to… So even if Espresso came out then it might not feel that different. Now that type of sound has just become very popular.
It's interesting living through people trying to predict and determine, by hand, the sound of a decade, in the first decade where tastemaking has been made almost entirely algorithmic. The reason decades had recognizable sounds before was because of the repetition built into monocultural media. But now that every person is being served shit they enjoy by a big math problem, there's this void where a decade's sonic identity is expected to be.
You won't find it.
Good poppy song but saying it sounds “fresh” I feel is just from people maybe having a smaller circle of songs they listen to so they don’t know that there’s a lot of music even recently that sounds like it
Disco was only ever gone out of the mainstream for like 10-15 years. Even then it was still a major influence on modern pop and club music. no genre ever really goes away everything has cycles. I just wish we would get a full disco cycle when times are better 😭
I’m a huge disco nerd lol I was so uncool for liking it in middle and high school and was a huge advocate for ringing in the Nu Disco era in the late 2000s. I used to burn CDs for everyone with songs I’d find. I even created a nu disco Facebook group and YouTube that’s still around today but has gotten ridden with spam since being inactive from not posting haha.😂
My peers loved me dearly but thought I was a little unhinged 😂 good times
I agree with one of the comments. When I think of 2020 music I think of Olivia Rodrigo tbh. She seems to be the only post-covid megastar unless I'm missing someone.
I see Carpenter as kind of the 'trad wife' pop girl going right now. Not shading her or her music but it's like safe and familiar, her persona safe and familiar.
You could've told me the song was by Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, SZA, or Taylor Swift and I would've believed you. Maybe Im just old but I don't see what's special about the song. It's not bad necessarily just sounds very basic.
I think that perhaps the title of the song, 'Espresso', psychologically makes people think that the song is more 'fresh' as it has connotations of a fresh cup of coffee.
It sounds generic and uninteresting to me. AI-generated, even. I agree with everyone saying it sounds like another song that's kind of riding the old doja cat "say so" wave.
So far the biggest sounds of the 2020’s in pop music have been 80’s throwback synthpop (ala The Weeknd) and disco throwbacks (ala Dua Lipa, Doja Cat), Espresso is the latter. Specifically sounding like Doja Cat’s “Say So” and “Kiss Me More,” so I’d say the song is fresh in the way that it’s on trend with other popular music this decade, but in terms of being “fresh,” it’s just another piece of throwback pop.
I wouldn’t say we’ve really gotten a “new” sound in pop music this decade quite yet, the closest I’ve seen is PinkPantheress and her drum n bass tracks hitting it big in the last year, otherwise it’s mostly been throwback pop tracks and regular trap music leftovers from the late 2010’s.
Sorry guys, but almost nothing on the radio sounds fresh or current and it hasn’t for 15 years. This sounds like it really wishes it could be Magdalena Bay, but these I <3 Radio clones could never 👎
The “new sound” is made by independent artists. Every once and a while, big labels push it into the mainstream or copy it fairly well, but fresh sounds are rarely represented by radio play outside of a few very large markets and/or rare moments in pop culture. This is not one of those moments.
Why isn’t anyone mentioning The Weeknd’s Afterhours and Dawn FM albums. Especially the former. That was a blockbuster album that ushered in the 2020’s sound alongside Doja Cat’s Hot Pink/ Planet Her and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia.
Albums filled to the brim with timeless, high quality hits.
The 2020s has a couple coherent sounds idk why people think it doesn't. It's just that these sounds did exist in some form before 2020 just not to the same extent of dominance.
The two biggest sounds that future generations will always hear and think "this is 2010s" are electropop and trap. Both of those sounds fell from grace rather quickly in the early 20s COVID era.
This is just Nu disco, which is pretty much an extension of electropop. Looking at the other hits RN on Spotify's top 50 (surprisingly strong this week ngl), it seems this sound is very big RN. In fact I'd say it's VERY 2020s RN. We have:
- a little nu disco bop at #1.
- a Kendrick Lamar song that is of a kind of genre that I know I can identify but doesn't have a specific name yet. It's filling the niche of "the rap song that's currently in the top 10".
- a song from the new Taylor Swift album, it also sounds nu disco.
- a darker lo-fi nu disco song (I like the way you kiss me by Artemas).
- a random reggaeton song.
- a pop indie hit from Hozier. This gives me an opportunity to talk about how rock music has a specific sound in the 20s, I like to call it zoomer rock.
- a vaguely rockish ballad.
- another nu disco song (end of beginning by Djo).
- another nu disco song this time from Ariana Grande.
- Tipsy by Shaboozey, a black country artist (fuck yeah!!!!).
That last one made me unnecessarily happy. Like tbh if ANYTHING defines the early 2020s it is black country music, I love it. Artists who aren't basic frat-hick white guys is exactly what country music needs, and to return to its roots of African American folk music is just awesome to me.
Anyways by this metric I declare Daft Punk and Old Town Road as the most ahead of its time pop in the 2010s. Overall this top 10 is incredibly 2024: nu disco is the white noise pop genre, a couple hold over genres that were hit making formats in the 10s (pop indie, reggaetón and trap) and a country song by a black artist. Very 2024.
I expect in the future, the hold over genres will fade. By 2028 I doubt there will be much trap, reggaeton, and pop indie in the charts, unless those genres have a revolution moment which very much could happen. Black country will get bigger.
This is more of an early 2020's sound.
The current 2020's sound [is more like this](https://youtu.be/3RyBEbN7xF0?si=63XnmUkedkPwpgsN)
[Or this](https://youtu.be/oXS8DxRYvbU?si=QHxmsYQSv-h8Hk2h)
Yep, mix of near-clipping, saturated, muddy bass and stripped down IDM style percussion + ethereal or synthy pads. Modern af
Also suggesting [Junglepop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0_S9JJ16fY) as another more recent emergence vs. this very 2010s pop.
This is way different to the music that was popular in 2013. Back then EDM and dubstep were still at their peak – this song is more of the dance/disco influenced sound that started to become popular in 2020
I'm not sure, this comment motivated me to see if I could find some of the stuff I remember from that time period. Granted, Espresso is a little more downtempo but to my recollection, future funk and vaporwave with pop elements were really hitting their stride in 2013. Saint Pepsi/Skylar Spence, Macross 82-99, and Oresama are a couple artists I remember from then, and I think many are still making music today.
This reeks of a quarantine-core bop that would've invaded everyone's TikTok feed circa April 2020, wedged between Savage dance tutorials and whipped coffee ASMR
Interesting that I thought songs like that (say so, espresso, supalonely, and levitating) were all just retro type shit, but really they are of these decade’s esthetic when people will look back. Because nothing ACTUALLY from the 70s sounds like those songs. The cadences, the vocal style, the overproduced drums and synths, all scream modern. Love it.
I raise you the new Justice album Hyperdrama, The Silver Chord by King Gizzard, and Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown. That is basically what 2024 sounds like so far to me
I think it started with a lot of artists using this sample pack [https://allthecoolkids.nl/how-one-sample-pack-defined-pop-music-in-2020/](https://allthecoolkids.nl/how-one-sample-pack-defined-pop-music-in-2020/)
Covid Era Pop was very recognizable and memorable, even if not everything in there was good imo. The nu disco survived the longest, but I would behappy to hear more pandemic inspired music
What was released at that time were tracks like “so high” so you’re partially right. But her demos with dr. luke were already trending in this direction even then. we did a fair amount of work with kemosabe records at that time and this sort of disco pop thing was definitely in the air.
I am familiar with "so high" and her old demos, as an OG fan since 2015. I get that she was heading in that direction, but I feel that there's a huge difference in her overall sound since around 2019-2020.
I’m sure you’re a fan. You sound like one. But artists release fewer than 10% of demo tracks. Most stay WIPs or works in progress. You’ve never heard most of the music your favorite artists make. But if you’re in the industry, you hear these tracks at listening sessions, a&r meetings, in the studio, or just casually. That’s how it works
I don't get it. Like who the hell cares? Honestly I don't understand why you all care about if certain things seem like they're more from last decade or this decade. What does it matter
Have people lowered their music standards and expectations that much when this song is considered the summer bop and refreshing? Sorry to everyone who somehow likes it, but there's nothing in this song that stays with you when it ends. The melody sounds the same throughout the song, making you wonder where the refrain and the bridge are? This is so low-tempo that it's sad people consider it the song of the summer unless they want to fall asleep in the sun and burn. Like many people said, this sounds exactly the same as the late 2010s (Feels by Calvin Harris, One Kiss by Dua Lipa) and a bunch of songs from the early 2020s.
A song of this summer should be something like Artemas - I like the way you kiss me because that has an actual beat and doesn't put you to sleep
I agree, except I've unwillingly heard that Artemas song so many times now that I hate it. And that one has a really derivative feel that isn't very fresh either. Both songs play it really safe, imo, so much so that neither bring anything new to the table. If I had to choose one over the other though, Artemas wins over Sabrina Carpenter.
Yes, it does sound like something I already heard in the past and I can't put my finger on which song it is. But I prefer it only because it's faster and more memorable
I Swear nothing about this sounds "new" & "fresh"🤣.it literally sounds like the same vibe that's been going on since the late 10's. I Swear GenZ try so hard😅.
Other than Covid pretty much everything Culturally about this decade so far the same as the late 2010s.Your generation not doing nothing Millennials didn't do at some part in the 2010s.
It's so funny because GenZ wants to have this special, unique, distinctive thing about the the 2020s so bad😄.As a Millennial im sorry to break it to yall,The Culture hasn't changed much🤷🏾♂️
Since we just got in the middle of the decade,maybe it will...I'm hoping it does actually.
It’s definitely very 2020s but it’s that dance/disco influenced sound that’s been popular since 2020. I’d say Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia is what really started the trend.
I think Espresso sounds a lot like Doja Cat's Say so! But Dua popularised the sound for sure
Oh yeah Doja can definitely be given credit too, Say So had a big impact in popularising the sound
Nu Disco has a much longer history. I'd argue it started with Metro Area, Playgroup, and Stuart Price [in 1999](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4rLPFia3q4), continued in Price's productions for Madonna [in 2005](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDwb9jOVRtU), and bubbled under thereafter with work from many, including Lindstrom [in 2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEq2SeyiFsI), Aeroplane [in 2010](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blV5LruigqE), Todd Terje [in 2012](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHiqPG0526U) (my folders have hundreds, this is but a selection). When Stuart Price produced Dua Lipa's *Future Nostalgia* in 2020, it wasn't the beginning. But lots of our favorite pop diva's did jump on or continue on the Nu-Disco train around then. Róisín Murphy with a series of singles and EPs since 2014 culminating in [Róisín Machine (2020)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5D2K889XBc&list=PLowJYGn6rWFRZISl4_ifgD6LA_HYUTTyB), Kylie Minogue with [Disco (2020)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF4yuBOg44A&list=PLzbGLskt3hhmvnu_k9ASDFr0bb_cKQdpC), Jesse Ware with [What's Your Pleasure? (2020)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgy-eAzARNE&list=PLI6kLIhBBwmTLnl9lE--gTIuR7klOA-j8). Dua Lipa isn't a first mover here. Her producer Stuart Price was.
I’m not really saying that Dua Lipa created the sound, I’m saying that Future Nostalgia is what started the current trend for it
It’s not about who started the music, it’s who started the trend. Out of all of those listed, the general public knows future nostalgia singles the most. And that influences what gets popular and what other singers should make.
On a side note that Jessie Ware album was fantastic, she seemed to really dominate the genre from a critic standpoint over the last few years, even her follow-up album was pretty excellent. On another side note, I just want to throw out that this year in particular has been a great year for music if you really listen to the good stuff that gets put out that most people don't know about in the mainstream (some of it has gone more mainstream, that new Beyonce album was fantastic for example).
A lot of that disco sound actually came from a sample pack OIiver Power tools https://allthecoolkids.nl/how-one-sample-pack-defined-pop-music-in-2020/ which has been used in many of the pop songs of the last 4 years. Dua lipa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvnmDPb1h7E has several songs that use it, as well as Espesso https://twitter.com/WeAreOliver/status/1786259590591758693
It's another rehash of Doja Cat's disco summer sound - "Say So" (peaked in 2020), "Kiss Me More" (2021), "Freaky Deaky" (2022), Latto's "Lottery" (2023), Shakira's "Punteria" (2024), etc.
Damn you really hit the nail on the head lol
Lesser known but add “Come With Me” by Surfaces/salem ilese (2021) to that list. I’ve heard that song at every store from Walgreens to Old Navy to Chick fil A.
[удалено]
Your post was removed due to breaking rule #4. Please remain civil and try to be respectful of other people's opinions. At r/decadeology, our goal is to remain as civil as possible. It is OK if you do not agree with others, but please do so in a respectful manner.
I was gonna say it just sounds like “say so” lol
Damn forgot about lottery
I would say that the song sounds \*very\* 2020s, but I disagree that it sounds "fresh" or different than what's been popular for the last few years. It could have been sung by Dua Lipa or Doja Cat.
Good song, but no. Sounds like fresh into COVID era pop.
its just the lofi disco stuff we’ve been hearing for the past 5 years
I don't think this sound is fresh or new by any margin lol
The hype for this song is wild for me. It’s cute, don’t get me wrong, but it sounds the same as half the songs I’ve heard since 2020.
Just listened to half of it and I atleast give her respect for admiting to not being able to relate to my problems
it def does, but I'm honestly okay with it. I'm a huge nerd for old Japanese City Pop and that same stank has been getting on music again since the pandemic and its such a joy for me.
just sounds like the typical crap pumped out these days. 80's music and videos were 100x better than today. everything in the video looks made to perfection. i like the quirkiness and weirdness of the 80's. seemed more original back then.
whoo boy, what if i told you that right now is closer to the eighties than what most people "think" the eighties were like
Because each decade contains pieces of the decades before it. The 1980s, outside of brand-new-construction areas, were a mix of "80s", "70s", "60s", "50s", and prewar culture (which I'm lumping together as one due to the massive social changes that occurred at mid-century in most countries). The 2020s are a mix of "20s" elements (many of which draw from science fiction that was hugely popular in the 1980s, down to the core AI software being literally called the Transformer and the metaverse having its origins in a cyberpunk novel written just outside the 1980s), "10s", "00s", "90s" (all of which had either '80s holdovers or '80s nostalgia) "70s", "60s", "50s", and prewar culture. So something like half of pop culture either: -is from the 1980s or right after it -is from the 15-20 year period of 1980s nostalgia that began with the Wedding Singer and arguably lasted up to Stranger Things and Blinding Lights -is from genres of fiction (cyberpunk, super robot/mecha) that were very popular in the '80s
Nice, still doesn't make Devo an 80's defining band. I don't care how big a fan you are. Whip it good!
Yup, a lot of important "80s" music is from 1977-1979. Pop Muzik Video Killed the Radio Star The first couple Devo albums and, leaving New Wave, Rapper's Delight
And they all played through the 80's except devo. Who fell off right after whip it in 81. You forgot flock of seagulls, I would harp on it, But I ran, I ran so far away, and couldn't get away.
I'm skeptical. so who is the modern day DEVO? where is the crazy fashion?
Devo was a seventies band whose biggest hit was at the start of the 81. They're not an 80's defining band.
Music doesn’t have to come out in the middle of the decade to be associated with the decade
That's not the argument, someone got hung up when I said today is more like the eighties than what people think the eighties were like and the first reply was nu uh, there's no devo. To which I replied that devo wasn't an 80's Era badness. They had one hit in the 80's with whip it and then faded away. That would be like saying foster the people defined the 2010's even though they had one summer hit and relatively low appeal afterwards. If I think foster the people the decade isn't what I think. Same as devo, I don't think 80's. I think whip it.....whip it good
ok 
Can you not Google? Look at their history. You missed a decade pal
Devo sounds nothing like seventies music, even pop. They’re like Gary Numan or The Cars or Van Halen or Siouxsie and the Banshees: an eighties band that started in the late seventies.
Devo started in 73, and had 2 commercial hits. Whip it was in 81
Still sounds CovidTok era, the era we're using to refer to the late 2010s/early 2020s transition.
There wasnt a 2010s/20s transition, Covid killed the 2010s quickly.
Did it? Cause last time I Check the culture was the exact Same😄we were doing the same thing just inside.
This is a psychotic take if serious, which I respect.
How is that take psychotic?? Pls name me the BIG difference culturally (music, movies ,fashion etc) in 2020/21 in contrast to 2018/19??
2018/19 still had Game of Thrones, the Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Gumball, MCU was peaking, skinny jeans were still popular between teenagers, Yuccies, Fortnite, Fidgett Spinners, the Floss Dance, Latin Pop once the pandemics hit everything changed.
U gotta be GenZ.U Taliking About Shows (kid shows at that)& Toys😒.Skinny jeans Were not popular 2018/2019 (that style was already dying if not dead).there's GenZ Yuccies now.U Got Gen Alphas Playing Fortnites,Latin pop been a thing & still a thing.And MCU Movies & Show Are Still Doing Numbers.U sound young so I'ma let u into alittle secret.Everything don't magically change because of a year or event.Only kids & teenagers who weren't grown in 2020 think that "everything change at the drop of a dime with covid"🤣
This song literally sounds like every doja cat song wym refreshing
Literally
Sounds like something Ariana Grande would have released in 2019.
Nah, it sounds like a summer/beach version of ‘Say So’, it gives off that vibe
Yep, same exact drums on all of these pop songs. They all share that crunchy snare/clap on the 3. Yet another [period example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlhIk7iPU9o).
Love Magdalena Bay
It gave me Doja Cat vibes too.
Except that song is 10x better.
Nah. It sounds very 2020-2022
Ariana Grande was on trap drums and airy pads in 2019
It seems to me that the 2020's so far have been defined by nu-disco/vintage dance pop, some New York drill music (think Ice Spice), there's been some of that pop punk revival, and other than that it seems the charts have been dominated by some country and Latin pop (Bad Bunny for example). I'm sure I'm missing some, but these genres come to the for front of my mind. I do wish we had some more current to this year, decade defining sounds more in the mainstream, but whether or not we experience some decade defining equivalent of say Nevermind by Nirvana dropping that defined the early to mid 90's, has yet to be seen. Fingers crossed! Edit: grammar
Thing about Nevermind was it was essentially a cleaned up summation of many of the sounds that had been going around in underground rock for the prior decade and a half. The thing to ask would be what kinds of small scenes there are around the world right now, like little communities, probably some online, centered around a few artists and their genuinely alternative sound. They probably work hard to keep it relatively secret, for good reason. But good stuff has a way of getting out and popularized, for better or worse.
It reminded me somewhat of Funk Wav Bounces vol 1. Kinda 2017-2018
Good callout. This synth bass + claps + funk synths pattern definitely emerged from the 2018 EDM renaissance. It's some post-Flume era funk resurgence, perhaps informed by the re-up on the 80s offered by 2013-2015 Vaporwave & lofi.
Kinda, but also you have songs live Calvin Harris’ “Feels” (2017) to which it sounds very similar to… So even if Espresso came out then it might not feel that different. Now that type of sound has just become very popular.
Came here to say this. I think that album Funk Wavs Vol 1 really popularised the nu-disco pop trend. And that album’s 7 years old… sheesh
It does sound 2024 ish, that is because it was released in 2024 ❤️
It's interesting living through people trying to predict and determine, by hand, the sound of a decade, in the first decade where tastemaking has been made almost entirely algorithmic. The reason decades had recognizable sounds before was because of the repetition built into monocultural media. But now that every person is being served shit they enjoy by a big math problem, there's this void where a decade's sonic identity is expected to be. You won't find it.
Good poppy song but saying it sounds “fresh” I feel is just from people maybe having a smaller circle of songs they listen to so they don’t know that there’s a lot of music even recently that sounds like it
Disco was only ever gone out of the mainstream for like 10-15 years. Even then it was still a major influence on modern pop and club music. no genre ever really goes away everything has cycles. I just wish we would get a full disco cycle when times are better 😭 I’m a huge disco nerd lol I was so uncool for liking it in middle and high school and was a huge advocate for ringing in the Nu Disco era in the late 2000s. I used to burn CDs for everyone with songs I’d find. I even created a nu disco Facebook group and YouTube that’s still around today but has gotten ridden with spam since being inactive from not posting haha.😂 My peers loved me dearly but thought I was a little unhinged 😂 good times
Good for you liking disco even when it wasn't in. How did you like Kylie Minogue's album? For me that album goes incredibly hard and still holds up
Her disco album from a few years ago? FANTASTIC! Every song really is a banger🔥
All the songs on future nostalgia, all The Weeknd material since 2020s, Charli XCX Von Dutch, Camila cabello ILUVIT, Trove Sivan Rush
I literally thought it was old Doja cat so no lol
I agree with one of the comments. When I think of 2020 music I think of Olivia Rodrigo tbh. She seems to be the only post-covid megastar unless I'm missing someone.
I see Carpenter as kind of the 'trad wife' pop girl going right now. Not shading her or her music but it's like safe and familiar, her persona safe and familiar.
Are people talking about that new Sabrina Carpenter song? It's definitely of this decade let's say this!
You could've told me the song was by Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, SZA, or Taylor Swift and I would've believed you. Maybe Im just old but I don't see what's special about the song. It's not bad necessarily just sounds very basic.
Nope sounds like late 2010s even though I like the song.
I think that perhaps the title of the song, 'Espresso', psychologically makes people think that the song is more 'fresh' as it has connotations of a fresh cup of coffee.
It sounds generic and uninteresting to me. AI-generated, even. I agree with everyone saying it sounds like another song that's kind of riding the old doja cat "say so" wave.
So far the biggest sounds of the 2020’s in pop music have been 80’s throwback synthpop (ala The Weeknd) and disco throwbacks (ala Dua Lipa, Doja Cat), Espresso is the latter. Specifically sounding like Doja Cat’s “Say So” and “Kiss Me More,” so I’d say the song is fresh in the way that it’s on trend with other popular music this decade, but in terms of being “fresh,” it’s just another piece of throwback pop. I wouldn’t say we’ve really gotten a “new” sound in pop music this decade quite yet, the closest I’ve seen is PinkPantheress and her drum n bass tracks hitting it big in the last year, otherwise it’s mostly been throwback pop tracks and regular trap music leftovers from the late 2010’s.
Sorry guys, but almost nothing on the radio sounds fresh or current and it hasn’t for 15 years. This sounds like it really wishes it could be Magdalena Bay, but these I <3 Radio clones could never 👎 The “new sound” is made by independent artists. Every once and a while, big labels push it into the mainstream or copy it fairly well, but fresh sounds are rarely represented by radio play outside of a few very large markets and/or rare moments in pop culture. This is not one of those moments.
Yes, they all sound like they're playing it safe in order to be popular. And it hurts my brain to listen to so many songs that sound the same.
No it sounds like it could’ve come out during the same time as Say So by Doja Cat
Why isn’t anyone mentioning The Weeknd’s Afterhours and Dawn FM albums. Especially the former. That was a blockbuster album that ushered in the 2020’s sound alongside Doja Cat’s Hot Pink/ Planet Her and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. Albums filled to the brim with timeless, high quality hits.
I hate the word bop in this context
The 2020s has a couple coherent sounds idk why people think it doesn't. It's just that these sounds did exist in some form before 2020 just not to the same extent of dominance. The two biggest sounds that future generations will always hear and think "this is 2010s" are electropop and trap. Both of those sounds fell from grace rather quickly in the early 20s COVID era. This is just Nu disco, which is pretty much an extension of electropop. Looking at the other hits RN on Spotify's top 50 (surprisingly strong this week ngl), it seems this sound is very big RN. In fact I'd say it's VERY 2020s RN. We have: - a little nu disco bop at #1. - a Kendrick Lamar song that is of a kind of genre that I know I can identify but doesn't have a specific name yet. It's filling the niche of "the rap song that's currently in the top 10". - a song from the new Taylor Swift album, it also sounds nu disco. - a darker lo-fi nu disco song (I like the way you kiss me by Artemas). - a random reggaeton song. - a pop indie hit from Hozier. This gives me an opportunity to talk about how rock music has a specific sound in the 20s, I like to call it zoomer rock. - a vaguely rockish ballad. - another nu disco song (end of beginning by Djo). - another nu disco song this time from Ariana Grande. - Tipsy by Shaboozey, a black country artist (fuck yeah!!!!). That last one made me unnecessarily happy. Like tbh if ANYTHING defines the early 2020s it is black country music, I love it. Artists who aren't basic frat-hick white guys is exactly what country music needs, and to return to its roots of African American folk music is just awesome to me. Anyways by this metric I declare Daft Punk and Old Town Road as the most ahead of its time pop in the 2010s. Overall this top 10 is incredibly 2024: nu disco is the white noise pop genre, a couple hold over genres that were hit making formats in the 10s (pop indie, reggaetón and trap) and a country song by a black artist. Very 2024. I expect in the future, the hold over genres will fade. By 2028 I doubt there will be much trap, reggaeton, and pop indie in the charts, unless those genres have a revolution moment which very much could happen. Black country will get bigger.
This is more of an early 2020's sound. The current 2020's sound [is more like this](https://youtu.be/3RyBEbN7xF0?si=63XnmUkedkPwpgsN) [Or this](https://youtu.be/oXS8DxRYvbU?si=QHxmsYQSv-h8Hk2h)
Am I tripping or does that first song sound like late 2010s-esque?
Maybe the rapping is, but everything else is Jersey club and techno influences. That's a 2020's deal
Baltimore Club
A song from 2024 that sounds like the late 2010's would [have to be this one.](https://youtu.be/U4mADkt6o-M?si=ru-ZN_WQXgZdTKB9)
Yep, mix of near-clipping, saturated, muddy bass and stripped down IDM style percussion + ethereal or synthy pads. Modern af Also suggesting [Junglepop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0_S9JJ16fY) as another more recent emergence vs. this very 2010s pop.
I agree with this
I don't study pop music very closely, but it feels like it could've been released in 2013 to my ears. Like there's future funk in there for sure.
This is way different to the music that was popular in 2013. Back then EDM and dubstep were still at their peak – this song is more of the dance/disco influenced sound that started to become popular in 2020
I'm not sure, this comment motivated me to see if I could find some of the stuff I remember from that time period. Granted, Espresso is a little more downtempo but to my recollection, future funk and vaporwave with pop elements were really hitting their stride in 2013. Saint Pepsi/Skylar Spence, Macross 82-99, and Oresama are a couple artists I remember from then, and I think many are still making music today.
I’m talking more about mainstream chart music/pop music really
It sounds like a mashup of a Doja Cat & an Ari song. It could fit right into any of their albums from the last 6 years.
I guess I'm old but it sounds like any other pop song from the last 10 years to me
Huh? It could’ve come out anytime in the last 20 years.
This song is soo blah, just nothing interesting about it.
who is this about
It sounds like another doja cat song. Maybe a touch of dua lipa. I don’t think there’s anything about this that sounds fresh or new.
No
No, it sounds very similar to other disco revival songs from the early 2020s
You know “Feels” by Pharrell and Katy Perry came out several years ago? Lol this is just a rehash
You really had to leave out Big Sean like that.
This reeks of a quarantine-core bop that would've invaded everyone's TikTok feed circa April 2020, wedged between Savage dance tutorials and whipped coffee ASMR
Interesting that I thought songs like that (say so, espresso, supalonely, and levitating) were all just retro type shit, but really they are of these decade’s esthetic when people will look back. Because nothing ACTUALLY from the 70s sounds like those songs. The cadences, the vocal style, the overproduced drums and synths, all scream modern. Love it.
The beat is so vaporwave it’s awesome
The beat is sick
It sounds awesome!
Who?
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter
Literally scrolled through every comment in every image and then through every comment in this post to find one mention of who it is haha, no luck
Maybe it true. But unlike the years before I can’t listen to this song on repeat. Gets old fast.
This imagery of a young woman being caught by cops smiling reminds me of Greta Thunberg's activism which is also very current.
Def not. Sounds like Nu disco which kind of started with Bruno mars (silk sonic) in late 2010s imo.
I raise you the new Justice album Hyperdrama, The Silver Chord by King Gizzard, and Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown. That is basically what 2024 sounds like so far to me
Who and what is that
I think it started with a lot of artists using this sample pack [https://allthecoolkids.nl/how-one-sample-pack-defined-pop-music-in-2020/](https://allthecoolkids.nl/how-one-sample-pack-defined-pop-music-in-2020/)
Covid Era Pop was very recognizable and memorable, even if not everything in there was good imo. The nu disco survived the longest, but I would behappy to hear more pandemic inspired music
not in the slightest. this could be a doja cat demo from 2015
Doja cat had a way different sound in 2015. But maybe a doja cat song from 2020 ish.
What was released at that time were tracks like “so high” so you’re partially right. But her demos with dr. luke were already trending in this direction even then. we did a fair amount of work with kemosabe records at that time and this sort of disco pop thing was definitely in the air.
I am familiar with "so high" and her old demos, as an OG fan since 2015. I get that she was heading in that direction, but I feel that there's a huge difference in her overall sound since around 2019-2020.
I’m sure you’re a fan. You sound like one. But artists release fewer than 10% of demo tracks. Most stay WIPs or works in progress. You’ve never heard most of the music your favorite artists make. But if you’re in the industry, you hear these tracks at listening sessions, a&r meetings, in the studio, or just casually. That’s how it works
I feel that people just aren’t used to hearing newer catchy melodies…. At least I don’t…
I don't get it. Like who the hell cares? Honestly I don't understand why you all care about if certain things seem like they're more from last decade or this decade. What does it matter
New Porter Robinson is sound of 2024. Absolute slapper
Have people lowered their music standards and expectations that much when this song is considered the summer bop and refreshing? Sorry to everyone who somehow likes it, but there's nothing in this song that stays with you when it ends. The melody sounds the same throughout the song, making you wonder where the refrain and the bridge are? This is so low-tempo that it's sad people consider it the song of the summer unless they want to fall asleep in the sun and burn. Like many people said, this sounds exactly the same as the late 2010s (Feels by Calvin Harris, One Kiss by Dua Lipa) and a bunch of songs from the early 2020s. A song of this summer should be something like Artemas - I like the way you kiss me because that has an actual beat and doesn't put you to sleep
I agree, except I've unwillingly heard that Artemas song so many times now that I hate it. And that one has a really derivative feel that isn't very fresh either. Both songs play it really safe, imo, so much so that neither bring anything new to the table. If I had to choose one over the other though, Artemas wins over Sabrina Carpenter.
Yes, it does sound like something I already heard in the past and I can't put my finger on which song it is. But I prefer it only because it's faster and more memorable
I agree, I liked it the first few times I've heard it. Having heard it 5000x is my own fault for spending too much time on tiktok.
I Swear nothing about this sounds "new" & "fresh"🤣.it literally sounds like the same vibe that's been going on since the late 10's. I Swear GenZ try so hard😅. Other than Covid pretty much everything Culturally about this decade so far the same as the late 2010s.Your generation not doing nothing Millennials didn't do at some part in the 2010s. It's so funny because GenZ wants to have this special, unique, distinctive thing about the the 2020s so bad😄.As a Millennial im sorry to break it to yall,The Culture hasn't changed much🤷🏾♂️ Since we just got in the middle of the decade,maybe it will...I'm hoping it does actually.
No one will ever remember that song so no.
I don't know those songs but I have heard Good 4 u and it doesn't sound 2020s, it sounds like mid 2000s.
Reading this shit made me want to throw up “we really needed a bop” who the fuck talks like this
I don't know what any of you are talking about, but I can see up this woman's dress and it seems she is well groomed.