The internet cultivated a new way to listen to and create music.
“Back in the day, if you wanted people to hear your music, you’d have to book a gig and hope the right person saw you and thought you were good enough to sign you to a label,” freshman Reggie Cummins said. “Now, you can make a song in your bedroom and get thousands of streams overnight.”
Vinyl pressings, record deals and radio minutes boost an artist’s popularity, but they’re not all-important anymore. Musicians don’t have to scramble to get a producer or label’s attention, and they don’t need either to draw streams. Streaming services and social media have cut out the middleman: Now, it’s all about connecting with the listener.
“It’s a lot easier for different types of music to reach people because of social media, particularly TikTok,” Cummins said.
He called this a “positive thing.” It’s less rigid, allowing for unique sounds to emerge and rise in popularity, sometimes even breaking into the mainstream. And because this modern music industry is ruled by the internet, Gen Z has a special swaying power when it comes to the stars and the hits.
In a 121-student Schoology survey, 70.3% said they think Gen Z drifts more toward indie, folk and alternative styles than our parents’ generation did. The charts make it clear that we’re a rap and R&B generation more than anything else, but many respondents said they were fans of Hozier, Noah Kahan and Chappell Roan as well – all of whom have songs sitting comfortably among the Billboard Hot 100.
The underground stuff is not so underground anymore, and its rising popularity is also apparent in the mainstream artists that have branched out recently. Most recognizably, Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Evermore albums, released in 2020, sharply diverted from the artist’s string of pop releases.
So, a small piece of Gen Z’s music taste is shining through in the mainstream – changing it in ways, too – but why? What made so many of us reject the commercialized, bubblegum pop of the 2000s and 2010s? Why did we turn from 90s country and stream songs like Hozier’s “Too Sweet” all the way to No. 2 instead? Why did young people opt for the underground?
“When I listen to indie and alternative music, I think it displays more of an emotional feel,” junior Leo Stein said. “For example, when Mitski is singing, you don’t feel the same way you feel when you listen to a basic love song by a popular pop artist. She evokes emotion through the instruments and lyrics, rather than trying to appeal to the mainstream.”
Stein is drawn to the production of indie music, more than anything else.
“It means a more emotional and deep music than pop,” he said. “The appeal of it comes not only from its sincerity with the lyrics, but the heavy-hitting instrumentals and production that makes songs have a deeper connection with me than pop or country.”
For Cummins, it’s the lyricism. In the songwriting of his favorite artists – Mitski, boygenius, Hozier, Alex G and Modern Baseball – he finds a humanity that is mostly void in mainstream pop.
“The lyricism is definitely the most special thing about indie music,” Cummins said. “Sure, most genres of music have songs that explore the depths of human emotion, but indie is one of the few that is known for doing so.”
Junior Alex Daengsurisri is immersed in Gen Z’s music preferences. He’s a Swiftie, but also listens to Snarls, Cult Summer, Chappell Roan, Alice Skye, The Crane Wives and Dazey.
Indie appeals to him because it can be “super light and poppy and fun, or it could be the most depressing thing you’ve ever listened to, but with a fun beat.” He likes the acoustic sound of folk and the wide spectrum that exists in the alternative genre.
“There’s so many different styles of alternative music,” Daengsurisri said. “I also love finding smaller alternative artists to listen to. I’ve found that if you dig deeper into a music genre or a certain style you like, you’ll find some pretty awesome artists.”
Another contributor to the trend away from commercial pop might be the Gen Z artists themselves, who are straying away from it. Other than Olivia Rodrigo and maybe Sabrina Carpenter, we just don’t see young stars mimicking predecessors like Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears. A wave of young indie, folk and alternative artists is dominating and inspiring.
“It not only comforts me to hear my feelings transformed into art, but also makes me feel empowered to create my own art and music,” Cummins said.
Daengsurisri said the main draw from those unique sounds is their freedom and ability to overlap. After years of monotonous, upbeat pop captivating the mainstream, those things likely entice listeners everywhere.
“It isn’t within the constraints of what someone thinks music should sound like,” Daengsurisri said. “A lot of indie, folk and alternative artists experiment with how they sing certain words, and with different styles and vibes. I love the variety within the genres. It’s not just one thing majority of the time. It generally is a mix of a few different other genres.”
