How music collides with economic trends

On Taylor Swift’s latest double album, „The Tortured Poets Department,” a line in her song „I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” resonated deeply with listeners: „I cry a lot, but I’m so productive, it’s an art.”

Beyoncé, who has previously mentioned worker fatigue, tapped into the latest malaise on her „Cowboy Carter” album: „Hard working men ain’t got no money in the bank,” she sings on „Ya Ya.”

Even 2024’s viral TikTok hit, „I’m looking for a man in finance,” captures some of the feelings of frustration and financial vulnerability that are increasingly prevalent.

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Economists have wrestled with the growing disconnect between how the economy works and how people feel about their financial situation.

Experts say we are in a „shock.” On TikTok, some have gone a step further and even summed up the current mood as „quiet depression.”

If popular music is any guide, it’s back to what was known as „recession pop” about 16 years ago.

„We feel so down about our own financial situation … but this music provides a glimmer of fun,” says Casey Lewis, social media trend expert and founder of the After School Trend newsletter.

Recession pop refers to the collection of music that emerged during the Great Recession, which began in late 2007 and lasted for 18 months.

The recessionary pop trend is a „curatorial act,” said Charlie Harding, co-author of „Switched on Pop: How Popular Music Works and Why It Matters” and adjunct professor of music at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. .

„It’s a tendency for people to try to make sense of something that happened to us,” Harding said. „There were certain songs that became the soundtrack of that era.”

In contrast to the state of the nation’s economy at the time, Joe Bennett, a professor at Berklee College of Music and a forensic music expert specializing in the analysis of popular music and songwriting, refers to this period as „the era of the Katy Perry banger.”

„I think about the 2008 recession and the music that was taking over the radio airwaves at the time. It was a lot of Katy Perry and a lot of high-speed, very fast music,” Lewis said. „It’s very dance pop.”

The songs that dominated the charts — including The Black Eyed Bee’s „I Gotta Feeling” and Kesha’s „Tik Tok” — were „party anthems,” Bennett said. „It’s about dancing and having fun, as opposed to real economic situations.”

„They’re feel-good songs to get us out of a tough time and they’re the medicine we need,” Bennett said.

After the Great Depression of the 1930s, consumers showed a preference for upbeat songs during periods of economic uncertainty, says Diane Negra, professor of film studies and screen culture at University College Dublin.

„The music is fast, upbeat and comforting in difficult times,” he said.

According to Harding, music reflects and responds to major trends and a classic example is the 1980s. Periods of hyperinflation and economic downturns also saw the emergence of sub-categories such as housing and technology.

„The thing about the Great Depression and major economic changes is that they have the potential to touch all people, but they don’t touch people equally,” Harding said, adding that hip hop and other genres speak to the nation’s growth. to the economic hardships experienced by various groups.

Now, Americans are returning to those runaway victories of a decade ago. In a July 19 Google Trends email, analysts noted that searches for the term „recession pop” reached an all-time high, with Katy Perry and Charli XCX the top trending related artists.

Search interest in Katy Perry first spiked in 2008, during the last U.S. recession, Google noted.

But today’s economy is very different from back then. Dow Jones Industrial Average Hits Record Level Americans’ Consumer confidence After years of struggling with sticky inflation, it’s only starting to slow. And the unemployment rate has spent 30 months at or below 4% — almost a record.

Regardless of the state of the nation’s economy, however, Americans are feeling the pain of higher prices, with various reports showing that many have exhausted their savings and are now leaning on credit cards.

„There’s a bit of a disconnect between how the economy actually works and how young people feel financially,” Lewis said. „It’s painful to see an economist say, 'In fact, things are better than they’ve ever been.’ And that tension has led to a recession.”

Many reports show that financial well-being is deteriorating and young people, in particular, are struggling.

„You now have a particularly fraught relationship with capitalism,” Negra said. „Power and resources are hoarded in the older generation, and the younger generation avoids financial disaster by relying on their parents.”

More than half of Generation Z ages 18 to 27 — 52% — said they don’t have enough money to live the life they want. Bank of America. And almost as many rely on their family for financial support, especially for food and rent.

„The resurgence of the recession that we’re seeing now, particularly among young people, reflects their social struggles, their distrust of corporations, and in many ways the economy they’ve inherited,” Lewis said.

In the post-Covid pandemic years, home ownership has been one of the biggest tools for wealth creation – and those who have made the most of the housing market have disproportionately struggled to achieve the same level of financial security, says economics professor Brett House. at Columbia Business School.

„It’s a big challenge for wealth accumulation among Gen Z,” he told CNBC recently, and it shows no signs of improving.

House prices — and mortgage rates — remain stubbornly high even as inflation in the broader economy cools significantly from peak levels. There are fewer homes for sale and fewer affordable starter homes.

Today’s newly minted adults „want to perceive or create crisis situations when society says there is no crisis,” Negra said.

Hence, the recession pop revival.

„The current political and economic landscape inspires a different kind of escapism, and recession pop is one form of that,” Negra said.