One of the things I dislike about '10s music is how the EDM that has dominated the charts seems very "watered down" compared to the electropop of the early '10s.  Many of the sounds/styles are similar, but mid '10s EDM is less danceable, less memorable, and overall less rebellious.  Early '10s electropop had a passion behind it that is missing from mid '10s EDM.  It seems manufactured for the lowest common denominator as opposed to the electropop pioneers like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry who started out edgy, pushing the envelope.  There were a lot of underground electronic music trends in the early '10s that never caught on but had they have, things could have really become interesting this decade.

Does anybody have any insight as to why this change happened?

It's very formulaic and easy to manufacture. You're a record company executive, you want a #1 hit with the least costs possible. Really, the EDM trend is the best thing to ever happen since ringtone rap.  :-X

It started off half-decent and was very danceable. I like songs like Roses, How Deep Is Your Love, You Know You Like It, The Middle etc. but then the copycats/trend-followers like I Took A Pill In Ibiza, Closer, Cold Water etc. and I caught onto the formula.

Oh, as to why it got popular in the first place, it sounds like a much more radio-friendly version of early 2010s Dubstep to me.

Three major problems, in my opinion.

1. Electropop from the end of the 2000s and the early 2010s had far more complex, sophisticated, original, and memorable compositional structures. You can immediately identify the main hook of "Telephone," "Dynamite," "The Edge of Glory," "and "Your Love Is My Drug." Sure, there's are still a lot of repetitious stretches intermixed with many of these songs, as became the unfortunate case during the 2000s, but there's also a concerted effort to develop these tunes that's lacking on stuff like "Red Lights," "Stay the Night," and "Break Free."

2. The production on early 2010s electropop knew better how to balance its electronic elements with dynamic layering for that extra bite that goes beyond instrumentation alone. As modern and juicy "Tik Tok," "Teenage Dream," "Give Me Everything," and "Baby I Like It" sound, they know to keep a pulse going, allowing the vocals and countermelodies to work effectively off the main synthesizers. The result is club music with sonic depth, that actually packs the punch needed to make you move. On the other hand, the majority of EDM songs from the mid-2010s, in additional to being structurally predictable, have an unfortunate tendency to overstuff their beats with so many synthesizers and uncomfortable reverb that the songs themselves feel flatlined all the way through. Nothing stands out, grabs you, or provokes any real excitement because the songs themselves are mostly just walls of mostly unison synthesizers with muffled bass thumps and no compositional quirks like the breakdowns in Lady Gaga's early songs, for example.

3. Electropop rose to prominence directly following one of the stalest and most forgettable times in music, when the brief excitement of the Timbaland Renaissance had lost its verve, rock was more snooze-inducing than ever, and rap was just cheap and creatively bankrupt. When artists like Lady Gaga and Kesha came out, their new brand of pop was something fresh, powerful, and cutting edge. Relatively speaking, they were what the Beatles were to the dreadful early 1960s and Nirvana were to the so-so Bush '41 era of rock, even if they aren't ever going to be considered artistic legends in the same right. By the mid-2010s, not only had electropop/electronic dance music been around for quite a few years, it was over saturating the charts, with very few alternatives besides rap and bro-country, both of which took certain cues from EDM. Even in the mid-1990s, when eurodance was absolutely everywhere in Europe, there was still no shortage of alternative rock, hip hop, r&b, and other forms of dance music to balance out people's tastes. In the early-mid-2010s, if you didn't like EDM or anything similar, then tough luck.

Three major problems, in my opinion.

1. Electropop from the end of the 2000s and the early 2010s had far more complex, sophisticated, original, and memorable compositional structures. You can immediately identify the main hook of "Telephone," "Dynamite," "The Edge of Glory," "and "Your Love Is My Drug." Sure, there's are still a lot of repetitious stretches intermixed with many of these songs, as became the unfortunate case during the 2000s, but there's also a concerted effort to develop these tunes that's lacking on stuff like "Red Lights," "Stay the Night," and "Break Free."

2. The production on early 2010s electropop knew better how to balance its electronic elements with dynamic layering for that extra bite that goes beyond instrumentation alone. As modern and juicy "Tik Tok," "Teenage Dream," "Give Me Everything," and "Baby I Like It" sound, they know to keep a pulse going, allowing the vocals and countermelodies to work effectively off the main synthesizers. The result is club music with sonic depth, that actually packs the punch needed to make you move. On the other hand, the majority of EDM songs from the mid-2010s, in additional to being structurally predictable, have an unfortunate tendency to overstuff their beats with so many synthesizers and uncomfortable reverb that the songs themselves feel flatlined all the way through. Nothing stands out, grabs you, or provokes any real excitement because the songs themselves are mostly just walls of mostly unison synthesizers with muffled bass thumps and no compositional quirks like the breakdowns in Lady Gaga's early songs, for example.

3. Electropop rose to prominence directly following one of the stalest and most forgettable times in music, when the brief excitement of the Timbaland Renaissance had lost its verve, rock was more snooze-inducing than ever, and rap was just cheap and creatively bankrupt. When artists like Lady Gaga and Kesha came out, their new brand of pop was something fresh, powerful, and cutting edge. Relatively speaking, they were what the Beatles were to the dreadful early 1960s and Nirvana were to the so-so Bush '41 era of rock, even if they aren't ever going to be considered artistic legends in the same right. By the mid-2010s, not only had electropop/electronic dance music been around for quite a few years, it was over saturating the charts, with very few alternatives besides rap and bro-country, both of which took certain cues from EDM. Even in the mid-1990s, when eurodance was absolutely everywhere in Europe, there was still no shortage of alternative rock, hip hop, r&b, and other forms of dance music to balance out people's tastes. In the early-mid-2010s, if you didn't like EDM or anything similar, then tough luck.


Great post!

I think your #1 and #2 hits the nail on the head.  Mid '10s EDM songs don't really have the kind of memorable hooks that the popular songs of the end of the '00s and early '10s did.  Also, as you say, the production used for mid '10s EDM songs has resulted in the songs sounding flat compared to the electropop of the early '10s which grabs you.  I also agree with the Beatles comparison regarding Lady Gaga.  I remember saying that back in 2009 when Gagamania was at its peak and was completely transforming music.  It's a shame she likely won't be remembered as the kind of legends the Beatles and Nirvana are because I think she and her cultural impact was similar.

Just compare the following two songs.

Early '10s

1sa9qeV6T0o

Mid '10s

foE1mO2yM04

My hope is that mid '10s EDM is on its last legs.  I really do like electronic music, but the things you mention about the current generation of pop EDM completely kill it for me.  I would rather return to early '10s-style production or move on to another genre altogether.