| Electronic Pop | |
| Stylistic origins | Disco, Traditional Pop |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | Late 1970s Europe, Japan, US |
| Subgenres | |
| City Pop, Dance-Pop, Electropop, Euro Pop, Hyperpop, Indie Pop, New Wave, Synth-Pop, Shibuya-Kei , Wonky Pop | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Ambient Pop, Disco-Pop, Electro Hop, Experimental Pop | |
Electronic pop is a fusion genre between electronic music and pop music. Pop music is popular contemporary music that came into its recognizable form with the emegence of rock and roll during the 1950s. It began to be fused with electronic music due to the popularity of disco in the late 1970s. Electronic pop eventually eclipsed rock and exploded into popular culture during the 1980s.
Characteristics[]
Pop, by definition, being just popular music, can be problematic when using it as a genre, however, there are certain genres identified as pop that exist separated enough from their origins to be considered a whole separate form of music. Pop also tends to have many distinctive characteristics that differentiate it from other forms of music like rock or R&B despite many pop genres owing to their creation from them. These characteristics are catchy hooks and lyrics, inoffensive and simple melodies, and short formulaic structuring of the song. When a genre or fusion genre's only defining feature is that it is pop, that is when it is a subgenre of pop.
When incorporated with electronic music, the use of synthesized leads is very bright, and unlike other electronic genres, the bass is not dominant or exceedingly low or booming. The drums are also not overly complex rhythmically, and all instruments' volumes are kept significantly lower than the singer's. The theme and lyrical content are also typically about partying, dancing, and living a carefree, liberated lifestyle. The song is often easy to dance to and may even have a dance associated with it for clubgoers to participate in as a group.
History[]
With the advent of the radio, major record labels began to form as the adoption of the radio began en masse starting in the 20s and 30s. It was through these record labels that music began to be seen much more in a commercial light and as a commodity to be sold or advertised. The use of the word pop in music emerged around the 1940s. Before, popular music was known as just that: popular music. In the 40s and 50s, however, the pop sound and its typical characteristics began to take shape. Originally, the pop sound was watered down and whitewashed music from black Americans like blues, R&B, and soul. A singer or group of singers would be the center of attention, with a backing band that played music.
1970s–1980s[]
Continuing on to 1970, you get disco, one of the first forms of electronic music and a precursor to electronic dance music (EDM) entirely. Disco, despite its extreme popularity at its height, was and still is a bit of an outlier in this history as singing was not always at the forefront of disco, but catchy hooks and easy-to-dance-to songs did make it infectious to listeners. The late 1970s saw the emergence of synth-pop and new wave, which were somewhat related to rock at the time but inverted and changed to include early synthesizers and pop sensibilities like prominent singers and catchy synth melodies. Electronic pop pioneers in the late 1970s include Kraftwerk and Gorgio Moroder from Europe, Yellow Magic Orchestra from Japan, and Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) from the United States. In the 1980s, synth-pop became the most popular genre of music.
1990s–2000s[]
Skipping to the late 1990s and 2000s, you get modern pop as people see it now. Genres like electropop and dance-pop formed and have dominated the top songs to this day. Only now, in 2020, it is beginning to falter somewhat, with streaming creating more diverse palettes for listeners. Artists like Britney Spears, Vengaboys, NSYNC, Spice Girls, Katey Perry, Selena Gomez, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, and many others have created music under these styles.