https://www.wired.com/story/generation-z-music/amp

Does it seem accurate? I’d say so. Music seems like it’s getting much more chill and R&B. I like it.

Found on r/genz on Reddit.

(Also if anyone here happens to frequent that subreddit hi it’s u/askreddithoe. I’d be curious to know if anyone from there comes on here).

Interesting article. Yeah, Gen Z styled music is set to be more dramatic and chill than Millennial styled music. It comes off as a bit too nihilistic to my liking, but then again, perhaps we need a little break from the bubble-gum pop dominated charts of the last 20 or so years.

Also, important to make the distinction between the artists and the generation of the artist's fan base. Normani, by most estimates, would herself be a Millennial, just with a mostly Gen Z fanbase. I'd arguably say the same for Khalid and Cuco, but of course that's a little bit more controversial.

Billie Ellish though is undoubtedly Gen Z's 'Britney Spears', of sorts, in the sense that she's the first truly Gen Z artist in both the popularity of her fan base and the actual generation she belongs to. Not to mention being very popular with the youth, misunderstood by people even slightly outside her target audience, but yet still being a household name. Another reason to add as to how similar the Late 2010s have been to the Late 1990s.

Another reason to add as to how similar the Late 2010s have been to the Late 1990s.


I thought I was the only one who noticed. I also noticed that it is similar to the late 70s as well.

I thought I was the only one who noticed. I also noticed that it is similar to the late 70s as well.


I'd slightly disagree. The 2010s as a whole reminds me a lot to the 1970s, aka decades of relative cultural malaise mixed with economic and geopolitical woes. However, the Late 2010s, minus its similarities to the late 90s, also seems very to the early 1980s.

I'd slightly disagree. The 2010s as a whole reminds me a lot to the 1970s, aka decades of relative cultural malaise mixed with economic and geopolitical woes. However, the Late 2010s, minus its similarities to the late 90s, also seems very to the early 1980s.


I would agree that the 2010s as a whole also reminds me of the 1970s. But I thought the late 70s/Early 80s and the late 90s were both similar to each other?

More analysis on Gen Z Music:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sQjGZaM3EFo

Interesting article. Yeah, Gen Z styled music is set to be more dramatic and chill than Millennial styled music. It comes off as a bit too nihilistic to my liking, but then again, perhaps we need a little break from the bubble-gum pop dominated charts of the last 20 or so years.

Also, important to make the distinction between the artists and the generation of the artist's fan base. Normani, by most estimates, would herself be a Millennial, just with a mostly Gen Z fanbase. I'd arguably say the same for Khalid and Cuco, but of course that's a little bit more controversial.

Billie Ellish though is undoubtedly Gen Z's 'Britney Spears', of sorts, in the sense that she's the first truly Gen Z artist in both the popularity of her fan base and the actual generation she belongs to. Not to mention being very popular with the youth, misunderstood by people even slightly outside her target audience, but yet still being a household name. Another reason to add as to how similar the Late 2010s have been to the Late 1990s.


I wouldn't say Billie was the first, there are a few pure Gen Z (2000+) Hip Hop artists that went mainstream before she did even debuted. What makes her different is she does pop and was one of the first to debut in an entirely new era. Side note, I was reading online and I saw an article that said she was the future of millennial pop... I'm so annoyed that there are still articles erroneously calling a 2001 born a millennial. Like do some research please. anyways...

Normani being called both Gen Z or Millennial does not bother me since she's exactly in between generations. She has an advantage since she is able to cater to/blend in with Gen Z audiences easily while still being able retain some Millennial perspectives. I think of it kind of like a birds-eye view. I am exactly Cuco's age, and tbh I think 98 borns are barely millennial, at least from a pop cultural perspective. There's very few artists born in that year that would belong in the zeitgeist of millennial culture.

I wouldn't say Billie was the first, there are a few pure Gen Z (2000+) Hip Hop artists that went mainstream before she did even debuted. What makes her different is she does pop and was one of the first to debut in an entirely new era. Side note, I was reading online and I saw an article that said she was the future of millennial pop... I'm so annoyed that there are still articles erroneously calling a 2001 born a millennial. Like do some research please. anyways...

Normani being called both Gen Z or Millennial does not bother me since she's exactly in between generations. She has an advantage since she is able to cater to/blend in with Gen Z audiences easily while still being able retain some Millennial perspectives. I think of it kind of like a birds-eye view. I am exactly Cuco's age, and tbh I think 98 borns are barely millennial, at least from a pop cultural perspective. There's very few artists born in that year that would belong in the zeitgeist of millennial culture.


Yeah, I am aware that 2000+ babies have been in the music industry for a hot minute. I'm just saying that, in all honesty, Billie Ellish seems to be the first 2000+ 'superstar', akin to how Britney Spears (or Christina Aguilera or Justin Timberlake) was the first 1980+ 'superstar'. I know of my fair share of 2000+ artists/celebs (such as Lil Pump, Emma Chmaberlain, Willow Smith, Jojo Siwa, etc.) due to my nephews and nieces, whom were born in the 2000s, that are growing up with them. Without that though, I'd in honestly be pretty out of the loop. Ellish seems to be the first major celebrity born after 2000 to not only be very popular with her generation, but for older generations to at least have heard of her. Most of my friends don't know of any 2000+ pop stars, but funny enough one of my good friends a couple years older than me low key said the other day that he finds Billie Ellish to be very attractive. I've even heard my fair share of people I work with in the office making pop cultural references related to Ellish's more nihilistic approach to music, these are all 80s & 90s babies. If you were to ask these same people who Lil Pump or Baby Ariel is, most if not all may not even know. Heck, Ellish is now going on talk shows now talking about her career so far, I don't think I've seen that much attention to a rising start that is so young up to this point.

Anyways, yeah Normani by most estimates is a Millennial, when taking into account the most common range for Millennials nowadays being 1981-1996, and personally, she (and everybody from Fifth Harmony) culturally comes off to me as such. However, because you still see a decent amount of sources that either, start Z in 1995, or end Millennials in 2000, I'm still comfortable calling anybody born from 1995-2000/even 2001 (at least early-mid, as long as technically born before the September attacks) as part of the Y/Z cusp. However even then, 95'-97' would lean more Y, while 99'-01' would lean more Z, 98' being at the epicenter. Any artist born in the Late 1994-Mid 2001 timeframe has that advantage in the current music industry, of just being old enough to have those Millennial experiences to help bring in a slightly older audience (in this case Millennials, regardless if one leans more to Y or Z) and just being young enough to still be 'in the loop' on current cultural trends that allows them to cater their music to a slightly younger audience (in this case Gen Z, regardless if one leans more to Y or Z).

The late 10s is similar to the late 90s?

uh...tf?


Did you mean the late 70s ???

If thats the case, then I agree. The mid 2010s seemed to remind moreso of the late 70s than the late 10s does.

The late 70s had a stagnate economy, an arguably 'tired' Democrat President, rising tensions in the Middle East (Iranian Revolution), and a youth culture centered around party music like Disco. The mid 10s had a somewhat stagnate economy, a Democrat President not necessarily in his prime anymore, rising tensions in the Middle East (ISIS), and youth culture centered around party music like EDM.

Did you mean the late 70s ???

If thats the case, then I agree. The mid 2010s seemed to remind moreso of the late 70s than the late 10s does.

The late 70s had a stagnate economy, an arguably 'tired' Democrat President, rising tensions in the Middle East (Iranian Revolution), and a youth culture centered around party music like Disco. The mid 10s had a somewhat stagnate economy, a Democrat President not necessarily in his prime anymore, rising tensions in the Middle East (ISIS), and youth culture centered around party music like EDM.


I misread a comment so disregard that. lol