Lollapalooza Chicago 2024 took place this past August. The up-and-coming artist, Chappell Roan, was set to perform in one of the afternoon slots. However, due to the artist’s recent skyrocketed popularity, her initially assigned stage and timeslot were inadequate to fit the number of people who wanted to see her perform. Because of this, the festival asked the singer Kesha, who was set to perform later in the afternoon, to switch places with Roan to accommodate her audience. Kesha agreed, and Roan drew one of the biggest crowds the festival has ever seen. It is strange to see this happen because Kesha has a worldwide audience and has been around for decades, but Roan just became famous a few months ago and is already drawing bigger audiences. This poses the question: Is old pop less relevant than new girl pop?
This summer, artists like Roan and Sabrina Carpenter have been on everyone’s playlist. Even though they are not brand-new artists and have been releasing music for a few years, they weren’t as popular before, and many of their listeners are newly acquired fans. So why did they become popular now? One reason is TikTok. Both artists had songs trending on TikTok this summer, allowing them to reach new audiences by the viral nature of the app. Even though there are trending sounds on TikTok all the time, these artists took the extra step by interacting with their audiences — commenting on posts and doing makeup tutorials for iconic looks. This allowed them to grow more with their audiences and create loyal fanbases.
Additionally, both of these artists have unique stage sets and stage presences, which encouraged their fans to record videos of their tours and post them on TikTok, contributing to their popularity and making people eager to attend their shows. Lastly, Carpenter and Roan have another thing in common: they were both openers, before and during the summer, for two of the biggest pop stars, Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, respectively. This gave them exposure to the audiences of these massive artists who share a similar sound to them and get a lot of attention from the public eye.
Going back to old pop artists, many artists that used to be extremely popular a few years ago continue releasing music and going on tours but are not reaching the same audiences they used to. It seems like the younger generations are not as appreciative of their music anymore, and the older fans have moved on to other things. Artists like Beyoncé, who have been popular since the early 2000s, are still very successful. Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” tour was all over social media with her spectacular scenography and throwback hits. The tour was so successful that they made a movie about it. However, her last album, “Cowboy Carter,” did not reach close to the numbers Carpenters’ “Short N’ Sweet” or Roan’s “The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess” are currently reaching. Kesha’s last album, “Gag Order,” debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at #187, making it the lowest-charting album of her career. Many people still choose to see these artists live, listen to the hits that they made years ago and feel a bit of nostalgia. However, when ticket prices are over $100, fans will see their new favorite artist instead of the nostalgic one, especially if they don’t listen to their new music.
If there’s one pop artist who continued to drag her success through the decades, it is Swift. Swift released her first album in 2006 and has been a pop sensation since. Even almost 20 years after her career debut, she is still one of the most successful pop artists in the industry. Swift has two things that make her stand out from her counterparts. Firstly, she has reinvented herself with music time and time again. Swift created her “eras” by representing all the different styles she went through in her albums. She made music that appealed to the newer generations, while keeping the old ones. The other thing Swift does that keeps her at the top of the charts is connecting with her fans. Every fan feels that they have a strong connection with the singer. She ensures they feel heard and understood with every statement she puts out and even with the shows in her recent tour. She also has invited fans to her house for secret sessions and has kept in contact with people who supported her from the early days. All of that helps build a loyal fan base that has kept her the queen of pop all these years.
People will always listen to old pop for that nostalgic feeling of the songs they used to love. However, artists who fail to reinvent themselves in this digital age and keep their fans engaged will not keep attracting the same fans they used to. We live in an age where everything moves so fast, and artists seem to always be releasing albums. Every album has so much promotion behind it that if it doesn’t stand out enough, people will most likely forget about it the next day. New girl pop comes with the digital age and has the artists as pseudo-influencers interacting with their audiences, and that is what is making it popular. So for now, girl pop is staying, and old pop is leaving. But in this age, everything that doesn’t take the extra step will not last long.
Agustina Kohen Mangas, FCRH ’25, is a new media and digital design and communication & culture major from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
