Preview Comments

Well, I threatened it, prepared it quickly, so now here it comes.

Music Ain’t Dead, You’re Just Old

The month of December 2021 will be a look at more recent music – I will be focusing only on artists who have emerged in the 21st century. Not only will I be looking at the music of the last 20 years, but I will also be examining the changing ways that people discover music.

The reason for this is that the list emerged in response to a narrow-minded Twitter thread passed around recently that insists that music is now homogenized because all the radio stations are owned by fewer companies. The idea that music requires radio for diversity is ridiculous and historically disproven, but I understand that there are many Gen-Xers and Millennials who just don’t know how to find new music these days. I intend to help.

With that in mind, I will be arguing several things:

• There’s good music today.
• There’s good Pop music today.
• There’s actually been quite a variety of musical movements over the past two decades.

I will also warn you that my list leans heavily toward women artists and women-led bands, partially because that’s my preference and partially because literally everyone I saw sharing that thread was a dude, and I think there may be some subtle, unexamined misogyny in people’s views on popular music.

I will be dividing the month into 6 categories as follows:

The New Folk – This century saw trends both towards and away from electronic music. I want to start by looking at the more acoustic side of things and how that influenced the sounds of the 00s and beyond.

Grown Up Hip Hop – We all know that the 90s was the golden age of Rap, but I have noticed that many people dismiss modern Hip Hop and Rap as very trite and hedonistic. And while I don’t think those are inherently bad things the way other people might, I want to show some examples of how Hip Hop is a very grown up art form with complexities of style and theme.

Sounds the Olds Might Understand – This is a grab bag of curated suggestions for things you might like if you like certain things from the past. Note that “Olds” refers not to Boomers (who are not really the audience for this list) but to my fellow Gen-Xers AND the aging Millennials who need some musical education.

Collaboration Lightning Round – A small selection of songs where I get to talk about two artists at once. I still couldn’t cram in everyone I wanted, but this helped.

A Wealth of Divas – Six women that I can’t believe I have to remind you of. This is the section where I will repeatedly ask how people can say any decade that includes these artists doesn’t have good music.

Gen Z Can Define Itself – (aka “The Kids Are Alright” or “Teenagers, Kick Our Butts”) I end with a section highlighting the next generation of musicians to show that they’re going to do just fine.

I hope you can discover some new music, remind yourself of some great music you had forgotten, and learn some new ways to explore music in today’s media environment.

Part 1 – The New Folk

The Mountain Goats, “This Year”

Technically the Mountain Goats began their career in the 90s, but you can be forgiven if you hadn’t heard of them until much later. Although they had several extremely indie releases before 2000, most people discovered their back catalog of cassette-only releases well after the fact. Their break into mainstream-ish awareness came in 2002 with Tallahassee, their first album released by 4AD. 2005 and 2006 saw the release of The Sunset Tree and Get Lonely respectively, both of which encapsulated songwriter John Darnielle’s exposed and introspective lyric writing.

Darnielle, who is the consistent core of The Mountain Goats, writes songs that are a mix of stories that are true and stories that could be true. He weaves characters and storylines across and between albums, some of which are based on his own experiences and all of which are based on a close personal examination of human nature and Americana.

The Mountain Goats are often lumped into “Lo-Fi” as their genre, but I think that’s just because people think Folk is a thing of the past. The band is an archetypal example of what Folk looks like in the modern era. “This Year” (from The Sunset Tree) is catchy and morose, which is pretty much the phrase that I would use to describe the band as a whole.

Carbon Leaf, “Life Less Ordinary”

In their early independent recordings, Carbon Leaf blended influences of a Folk Blues sound (e.g. “Flood”) and a Celtic Rock sound (e.g. “The Boxer”). Their breakthrough came from the second, with “The Boxer” winning a new music AMA, but it was their more traditional American Folk songs that ended up sticking with the public.

Their first major label release, Indian Summer, very successfully mixed a lighter folk sound with Barry Privett’s 2000s-appropriate vocal stylings. “Life Less Ordinary” became one of their most popular songs, earning them not only a ton of radio play but also a full soundtrack gig writing all the songs for Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!

In recent years, the band has dropped back into indie status, but their trip through the mainstream paved the way for bands like Mumford and Sons and Bon Iver (neither of whom will be appearing on this list).

Of Monsters and Men, “Little Talks”

It’s kind of hard to believe that Of Monsters and Men have only been around for a decade. They burst onto the scene in 2011 with a sound that was ridiculously polished for a first album, and their subsequent releases have continued to show off their deep songwriting talents. They also do clever work with their videos, showing that visual representation of music is still thriving as an art form. I particularly enjoy the “Official Lyric Video” playlist of their second album, Beneath the Skin, which features a broad array of people who aren’t band members lip-syncing the songs. The performances in those videos are just stunning.

OMaM’s growth definitely benefitted from the shift towards “elite” indie music festivals like South by Southwest and Coachella. These festivals have become a place for high-status (and status-seeking) fans and influencers to discover new bands and share their discoveries on social media. The impact of good buzz at festivals like these extends far beyond the attendees.

Of course, some might question my inclusion of the band in the “Folk” section, but they definitely are. Many of their songs are Folk Rock, but some of them are very clearly in the modern Folk vein. What’s more, their lyrics (and often videos, as you can see in “Little Talks”) are very Icelandic in their sensibilities. Of Monsters and Men manage to make their songs accessible even as they incorporate the natural and mythological ethos of their homeland.

I can’t say enough about this band. Just listen. Then listen to more of their stuff. It’s all so good.

Laura Marling, “Master Hunter”

The unsung center of the modern Folk movement is, in my opinion, Laura Marling. She started playing professionally at 16, released her first album at 18 in 2008, and has since written eight more solo albums and two duo albums (as LUMP, with Mike Lindsay), plus a score for the RSC’s 2013 production of As You Like It. She even threw away an entire album worth of songs before writing her 6th album, Semper Femina. Marling is a ridiculously prolific and consummately skilled songwriter.

Many people have compared her to Joni Mitchell, and that’s not a bad comparison, but I would go further. I would say Laura Marling is the modern Bob Dylan. Her music writing is just as powerful, and her personal arc through and around the music industry shows a similar love-hate relationship. Marling’s sound also resembles that of Beth Orton, and that’s probably the more direct lineage. But I chose “Master Hunter” for this list specifically to show the Dylan connection and to show how Marling uses the awareness of her folk roots to create something new.

It’s an absolute crime that Marling is less well-known than other British folk bands with a third of her discography. But that’s why they’re not on my list and she is.

Vienna Teng, “Gravity”

Okay, let’s talk for a little bit about one of the ways I discovered new music in the early 2000s. This was the era of my biggest anime fandom period – I went to (and staffed) conventions, I spent way too much money at Suncoast Video, and I made and watched Anime Music Videos. One of my favorite creators at the time was a fellow who went by the name Koopiskeva (who also did “Euphoria”). In 2005 he released a video called “Waking Hour,” which combined Makoto Shinkai’s “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” with this fantastic song. I will include that video below for those interested.

Vienna Teng (the stage name of Cynthia Yih Shih) released five albums between 2002 and 2013. The first of these, Waking Hour, was where Koopiskeva got the name for his video. Throughout her career, she blended classical piano and soaring vocals with electronic orchestration and even some experimental music sounds, especially when working with sometime collaborator Alex Wong.

Vienna Teng’s subjects range from the deeply personal to the contemporarily political. For example, “Grandmother Song” is a direct translation of a lecture her Mandarin-speaking grandmother gave her about the choice of music as a career, while “City Hall” is a song about San Francisco opening up same-sex marriages in 2004.

Teng was never as comfortable performing her music for an audience as she was writing and recording, so she has been taking time off for a while. However, she has indicated on Twitter that she is not completely out of it and is starting to poke at writing once more. We’re all crossing our fingers.

Part 2 – Grown Up Hip Hop

Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”

Gnarls Barkley proves that even two people can make a supergroup. CeeLo Green has had a massive career both as a solo artist and as a collaborator. He started with The Goodie Mob, an Atlanta group that was part of The Dungeon Mob collective and famously released a song called “The Dirty South” that tied that phrase to southern Hip Hop. Danger Mouse is a prolific producer who has worked with acts from Beck to Norah Jones to Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has even collaborated on a Banksy stunt (look it up, it’s fun).

Gnarls Barkley made massive waves with their first release, St. Elsewhere. Notably, they were the first band ever to hit number one in the UK with a purely digital release – “Crazy” wasn’t available physically until a week after it was already on the charts. Their second album, The Odd Couple, is also extremely good, but didn’t sell quite as well. The two are theoretically working on a third in the midst of their other projects, but no details on when that might be coming.

Many people focus on CeeLo Green’s vocals as the highlight of Gnarls Barkley, and there’s no doubt that Green is a master. However, I want to point out just how important Danger Mouse is to their sound. I talked a little bit about the 90s sample wars during my last musical list, but I didn’t talk as much about the aftermath. Once we got into the 2000s, sampling became slightly more formalized, with artists seeking permission and choosing their samples very carefully. What Danger Mouse does with his samples is pure artistry – seamlessly blending them with new tracks and vocals to make songs that are greater than the sum of their parts. He is without a doubt one of the best sample-based composers working today.

Gorillaz, “Feel Good Inc.”

I’ve talked about Gorillaz in previous lists, and will probably do so again in the future. They exist at a unique intersection of genres and of my personal interests, so I think about them a lot. (They were certainly a big inspiration for Rockalypse, for example.)

This time around, as I look at “Feel Good Inc.” specifically, I want to talk about the broad range of elements they bring together. Musically, there’s a bass doing a Funk groove, a Trip Hop main vocal line sung through a megaphone, two prominent Rap breaks, and a Shoegaze-ish chorus over synths. Then there’s the video, which blends live action with the dark, semi-horror style of early Gorillaz while outside there’s a Miyazaki-tribute flying windmill. There’s a lot going on here, but it WORKS.

This is certainly due in large part to Damon Albarn’s talent at collaboration (for the music) and Jamie Hewlett’s incredible artistic range (for the visuals). However, to continue a throughline from yesterday, I will also point out that the main producer for Demon Days – the album that includes this song – was Danger Mouse. This was fairly early in his career, and the album pushed him to learn even more very quickly. In many ways, the sounds of Gorillaz and Danger Mouse matured together.

Deltron 3030, “City Rising from the Ashes”

Deltron 3030 was (is) a collaboration project between Del the Funky Homosapien, Kid Koala, and Dan the Automator. It is an entire concept album that tells the story of the eponymous hero, Deltron, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. As one of the few Rap Operas, this album certainly influenced Gorillaz, and the whole team helped with the first Gorillaz album. (Del the Funky Homosapien does the iconic rap in “Clint Eastwood.”)

Del’s flow is powerful, relentless, and intelligent, and he is certainly one of the rappers that I point to anytime someone tries to dismiss Rap as an art form (which thankfully happens less often these days). This song drives home images of desperate survival in a ruined environment, a sci-fi topic that is rapidly becoming all too real. It may take more than one listen or looking it up the lyrics on Google, but I highly recommend taking the time to get the story.

If you’re interested in the Deltron 3030 album, my favorite way to experience it is the Live on KEXP performance of the whole thing (with live chorus and orchestra) that you can find on YouTube. If you have the time, it may be the best 45 minutes you spend today.

Dessa, “Fire Drills”

The Doomtree Hip Hop collective has been a major force in the Twin Cities music scene for over a decade now, and Dessa (Margret Wander) has been part of that from their early days. As a group, they are well known for mixing a variety of musical influences and for their highly intellectualized lyrics. Dessa’s solo work is a prime example of that, and her most recent album, Chime, is a tour de force of lyric writing.

I have talked in the past about “5 Out of 6,” and I also connect strongly with “Good Grief,” but I particularly wanted to share this song for this list. It is, like many of Dessa’s songs, a stark but incredibly articulate argument on a deeply personal subject. She lays out her experiences as a woman trying to live in the world and the ways that the world tries to diminish her in lyrics that are eminently quotable:

“By definition you can’t make a difference
If the big ambition
Is simply standing sentry to your innocence”

The song opened my eyes as someone who contributes to this kind of diminishing, and it’s one of the reasons I have worked to remove “stay safe” as a knee-jerk farewell to Jasmin and any of my friends who are women.

If you want to see all the words, there’s also a very good lyric video for the song. (This official video is actually unlisted and you can only find it as a direct link on Doomtree’s channel. If you search for the song, the lyric video is the one you’ll find.) I highly recommend taking the time to listen and read.

Killer Mike, “Reagan”

One of the criticisms of modern Rap and Hip Hop is that it has become just glamourized ego-tripping and gangster rap. People remember the era of Public Enemy and NWA and think that Rap has somehow lost its political voice. But the reality is that Hip Hop has reached a point of saturation where it, like other genres, has its “popular” face that is definitely not the same as what’s going on in the background. If you want political, I present to you Killer Mike.

Killer Mike is one of the most outspoken political activists in Rap today, but he’s not alone. He emerged from the same Atlanta Hip Hop scene that produced Arrested Development and Childish Gambino, and he got his start backing Outkast. Still, it’s hard to argue that anyone compares to Killer Mike in consistency and intensity of political speech. He is relentless and direct in everything he does, and that has only escalated since Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter movement.

I chose this song to give a sense of what I mean by “relentless and direct.” “Reagan” is incredibly dense with messaging, starting with Mike’s own indictment of the messaging of popular Rap, then sweeping through Iran-Contra, the CIA’s importation of cocaine, police brutality, prison labor, oil-motivated military action, and finally a not-so-subtle implication equating Reagan with the Beast of Revelations.

There’s a lot. But don’t ever let anyone tell you modern Rap isn’t political.

Part 3 – Sounds the Olds Might Understand

OK Go, “The One Moment”

I am starting this section with a band I know appeals to people of my generation and Millennials, and also a band that very much influenced one of the new ways we learn and absorb music. It might seem surprising, given the ubiquity of YouTube, but there was a time when that site was no and untested. We had Vimeo, we had Flash (oh BOY did we have Flash), but in general video was seen as a luxury on the internet. In just about 15 years, video through YouTube and streaming has absolutely transformed the infrastructure requirements and expectations we have of the internet. And OK Go helped make that happen.

Most people know about OK Go because of their innovative videos – they’re known for elaborate setups with ridiculously technical performances and camera work. But the video widely acknowledged as their breakthrough was pretty mild in terms of what came later. “Here It Goes Again” was a clever idea and a skilled performance with an unmoving single-camera shot. But what it did to internet video was monumental. The video launched on YouTube in July of 2006 and quickly became one of their most-watched videos. In many ways, OK Go led the migration of music video to YouTube, and today the site is a key method of music marketing and discovery. If you, like me, grew up on the music video aspect of MTV, YouTube is where it’s at today.

I chose “The One Moment” (from 2014’s Hungry Ghosts) for this list for a couple of reasons. First of all, I think OK Go’s music has improved over time, and I really love this song. I wanted to show that they weren’t just about the visual gimmicks but could also write some really powerful pop music. And second, because to be fair the visual gimmicks have gotten pretty impressive. On the off chance you stopped following their video releases at some point, you should definitely see this one.

The New Pornographers, “The Laws Have Changed”

For those who remember the 80s, you will certainly recall that the culture war at that time (because culture wars are not new) was all about music. The PMRC was on a rampage, Dee Snider testified (brilliantly) in Congress, and Jimmy Swaggart made a speech in 1986 calling Rock and the popular magazines surrounding it (like Rolling Stone) “the new pornography.” A.C. Newman took this as inspiration for the name of his Vancouver music collective who, it turns out, just make some excellent Power Pop and not anything offensive at all…unless you’re Swaggart and all Rock music is offensive.

The New Pornographers are the super group made up of a bunch of artists that you might not have heard of elsewhere. You may have heard of Neko Case, and if you have particular interests you might know Dan Bejar of Destroyer, but otherwise probably not. Still, Newman’s project has managed to blend into an extremely successful ensemble, releasing 8 albums over the course of 20 years despite the many side projects the individual artists are developing.

I weighed my options a bit on which song to share for this band. “The Laws Have Changed” is a great song that shows off a lot of the elements the band has to offer. The video is interesting in that The New Pornographers barely appear in it (Bejar is the bartender, and there’s a picture of them). The “live” band in the video is actually a bunch of actors, and that’s where the problem lies – Nicki Clyne plays the lead singer, and this was before we found out she was incredibly toxic. Not only was she married to sex-cult leader Allison Mack, but Clyne now goes on regular social media rants about “victim culture” and being “anti-woke.” And of course the public, preachy toxicity AND the sex scandals are things that Swaggart and Clyne turned out to have in common, so I guess it was never the music that was pornographic, was it?

Chvrches, “Lies”

The rest of this part is going to be a set of “if you like this, try that” recommendations. You know, like Spotify does, but I’m actually going to curate sounds and themes rather than just intersecting audiences.

With that in mind, I will say that Chvrches is a band I’d recommend to people who like New Order and Siouxsie and the Banshees. They lean way more heavily into EDM than either of those, but they definitely scratch the same itch for me. Lauren Mayberry’s vocals unify the band’s heavily synthed sounds into something I find eminently appealing. You can also hear a clear Gary Numan influence in songs like “Lies.” If you’re interested in getting into them and slightly more upbeat vocals, I would suggest their second album, Every Open Eye, which is the album that first grabbed me. If you want a more Goth sound, check out their latest album, Screen Violence, which was partially produced by Robert Smith and even includes a track with him on it.

Even if you weren’t exposed to Chvrches directly, you may be aware of them through video game and/or movie soundtracks. In particular, you may recognize their theme songs for Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst and most recently for Death Stranding. They also have a song in GTA 5, and they covered “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” for the end credits of the movie Vampire Academy.

Paramore, “That’s What You Get”

And here’s one for the Millennials. If you’re a 90s kid who grew up on Emo and Punk Revival, then Paramore is for you.

Paramore is the band on this list that has had one of the most traditional Pop trajectories. Singer Hayley Williams was scouted by labels very early, and the band has enjoyed fairly straightforward label promotion from the beginning. Their similarity to popular artists from the late 90s/early 2000s is almost certainly the reason for this – this was the kind of band that Atlantic/Warner knew how to market.

Paramore’s sound has gone through a number of changes over 15+ years and 5 (soon to be 6) albums. Much of that is due to the frequently rotating band roster. (Williams is the only consistent member.) But also it reflects a band that came together as teens and has matured into their…holy crap, Hayley Williams is in her 30s. Pardon me while I have a moment. Anyway, despite the changes, Paramore’s songwriting remains extremely catchy, and Williams is always a confident and engaging frontwoman.

Also, if you liked Chvrches yesterday, you should check out the video for their song “Bury It,” which features Hayley Williams.

St. Vincent, “Digital Witness”

If you are looking for the modern Art Rock – the visual aesthetic and performance paired with extremely intelligent lyrics – then I would direct you to St. Vincent. St. Vincent is perfect for people who like Devo, Talking Heads, and the photography of Cindy Sherman.

Annie Clark dropped out of Berklee College of Music after three years, toured with The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, hopped around a couple of bands, but kept writing her own music throughout. She took the name St. Vincent from the Nick Cave Song, “There She Goes, My Beautiful World.” She has so far released six solo albums, each of which are noticeably different from each other in tone, style, and themes. She also worked on an album and a half in collaboration with David Byrne, and the orchestration of that project led very directly into Byrne’s work on American Utopia.

Picking one song to represent St. Vincent is challenging to say the least. “Digital Witness” comes from her self-titled album St. Vincent, which is actually her fourth album. This visual and musical incarnation of St. Vincent is similar to the one from her David Byrne collaborations, but it differs greatly from the introspective one from Strange Mercy (her third album), which differs greatly from the frantically anxious one from Actor (her second album), and so on. Some fans have complained as St. Vincent’s look and sound keep changing through her more recent and more popular albums (St. Vincent, Masseduction, and Daddy’s Home), but I understand that she is playing with identity – thus the comparison to Cindy Sherman. (If you’re not familiar with this modern artist, she is well worth looking up.) St. Vincent is similarly interested in telling stories from a variety of perspectives and exploring her own identity in a more fluid way. This may mean that some parts of her discography are less appealing to some people, and I’m pretty sure she’s fine with that.

(For guitar nerds, you may also be aware that St. Vincent has designed a signature Music Man guitar with Ernie Ball that is specifically crafted for her smaller frame.)

Boytoy, “NY Rip Off”

If you like Sleater-Kinney and The Runaways, you will probably like Boytoy.

For the last two picks in this section, I’m going to be highlighting regional bands that deserve more attention than they’re currently getting. I’ll also be telling a little bit about how I came across them. Part Riot Grrl, part Surf Rock, Boytoy is a New York City band with a very classic Punk look and sound. If they had emerged in a different era, they definitely would have been a regular feature at CBGB. As it is, they are currently running that NYC indie-band hustle. They’ve released a couple of albums through Brooklyn label PaperCup Music, but only Night Leaf (the second album) is widely available.

I first discovered Boytoy because they opened for Midnight Oil during the US run of the Great Circle Tour. I was excited anyway for my one and only (it turns out) chance to see the Oils live, so I was pretty hyped for whatever the opening act had to throw at me. But then Boytoy came out and started playing, and it was like the tour became even more tailor-made just for me. They had just the right mix of mellow groove with trashy guitar distortion and I was hooked. Hopefully you will be too.

Catbite, “Excuse Me Miss”

If you like Ska and/or fun, you should check out Catbite.

I have talked before about Ska history and its various waves, so where would this fall? 4th Wave? 5th? Honestly, at this point we’re so far into Ska that we can just call it an ongoing genre. Hopefully Ska has reached the point where it doesn’t fade in and out but rather just keeps going. Anyway, Catbite. This band from Philadelphia is my new Ska obsession. Not only do they give me all the vibes I want from modern Ska, but how often do you see a Latina frontwoman for an American Ska band? I’m all about it.

The way that I discovered Catbite is definitely unusual, but also a bit of an insight into the way I think. Someone on my Twitter feed retweeted a thread the band had posted about some reply guy sliding into their DMs to say he thought they had great potential but needed to fix some of their lyrics, which of course he had specific suggestions about. The sheer audacity of that got me to listen, follow, and then buy Catbite’s album. I am very happy about all of those decisions, and now I’m here to share the band with you so we can collectively raise even more middle fingers to that guy.

Part 4 – Collaboration Lightning Round

Steve Aoki & Walk Off the Earth, “Home We’ll Go (Take My Hand)”

For the next few days, I’ll be featuring collaborations between artists that are independently significant. But because they did a song together, I can rapid-fire my comments and squeeze in two artists per day. Several of these collaborations involve EDM DJs, because Electronic Dance Music is no longer a club-only experience – it pervades popular genres and has become a key element of modern music.

Steve Aoki is one of the hardest-working DJs in North America. He is constantly collaborating, remixing, producing, and touring. He tours more than almost any other big-name EDM artist. Musically, what I appreciate about him is that his mixes lean more toward the uplifting side of electronica. His music is just fun to dance to.

Walk Off the Earth is a Canadian Pop band that received lots of attention for their quirky cover videos on YouTube. The one them got them their initial viral push was their 5 People/1 Guitar cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” In addition to gimmicky covers, they have also released plenty of their own original music. The album that this song is from (both with and without Steve Aoki), Sing It All Away, earned them a Juno Award for Band of the Year.

I enjoy this video, but I will warn you that it perpetuates a dangerous fiction. Contrary to what you see, do NOT give your new alien girlfriend Bud Light and expect her to then make it rain kisses.

Marshmello & Halsey, “Be Kind”

If you have or talk to any kids of a certain age, I guarantee they know about Marshmello (Chris Comstock). The DJ has become a cultural icon of Gen Z in just five or six years through carefully chosen remixes and collaborations designed to put himself in front of young listeners. He also stole the “cartoon helmet” idea directly from Deadmau5 and worked to make his “x-eyed marshmallow head” one of the most recognizable icons in modern music. In terms of transforming the modern musical landscape, Marshmello’s most important contribution was being the first musical act to give a live concert inside a video game. The massive success of his Fortnite concert has paved the way for more and more artists to show up in that and other games, further blurring the line between “game” and “community.”

(Note – Halsey uses She/They pronouns. Out of respect, I will switch back and forth in my commentary.)

Halsey’s story is more fraught, but also more important. At 17, she was hospitalized following a suicide attempt, and immediately after that starting creating music and posting songs on Tumblr and YouTube. Their first big Soundcloud release a few years later (“Ghost”) went viral, and they were approached by several labels and soon signed with Astralwerks. Halsey has been extremely open about her struggles with bipolar disorder and endometriosis. They have also talked about their family difficulties and parental rejection over their bisexuality, and all of these things have helped them connect more to their young audience. In many ways, Halsey embodies one of the strengths of Gen Z – the willingness to express things previous generations like mine often kept hidden.

deadmau5 & Imogen Heap, “Telemiscommunications”

We’re only scratching the surface in terms of the explosion of electronic music in the past 20 years, but this collaboration was too important to leave off. Deadmau5 (Joel ZImmerman) is a Canadian DJ and producer who has brought House music to large venues on a scale that The KLF could only dream of. Because of his high visibility, he helped define the popular image of electronic music in the late 2000s. (Skrillex and helmet-pioneers Daft Punk were the other two big “faces” of electronica for the 2000s.) Deadmau5 is not always a great person, and his outspoken rudeness on numerous occasions perhaps indicates that a silent persona is the better choice.

Many people know Imogen Heap only from the use of her song “Hide and Seek” in a popular Saturday Night Live sketch. (I’ve known plenty of people who have never heard the whole song but can certainly identify the “mmm, whatcha say” part.) But Heap’s work in Electro Pop has been transformative to the music industry. Not only has she pioneered techniques in self-sampling that have become widespread, she also helped develop the Mi Mu gloves – a kinesthetic musical tool that works through gesture. (You seriously need to check out the demonstration videos on this.)

As a side note – I considered having a challenge where people would guess which artists on this list I have seen live. I was pretty sure deadmau5 is the one everyone would miss. (He played the closing ceremonies for the 5th Dota 2 International, which was the one Jasmin and I went to.)

Ariana Grande & The Weeknd, “Love Me Harder”

I put this song here to bridge between this section and the next, because while it is a collaboration, Ariana Grande certainly deserves her place among the divas I’ll be discussing starting tomorrow. She was a performer from a very early age, singing and acting in stage musicals and cruise ships throughout her childhood and early teen years. She performed in a Broadway musical at 14, had a TV show (Victorious) at 15, and started work on her first album at 17. She spent three years working on that album, but it hit number one in its first week of release, so it was time well spent. As a link to yesterday, Grande is also the most prominent artist to use Imogen Heap’s Mi Mu gloves.

The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) is a Canadian R&B artist who started his career with anonymous music posts on YouTube. His work eventually caught the attention of Drake, which led to opening for Drake on tour. The Weeknd started doing shows of his own – including an appearance at Coachella – on the strength of his early mixtapes, and by the time he released his first studio album it debuted at number two. This collaboration with Ariana Grande came soon after that and helped propel him further into the public eye. And of course he performed at this year’s Super Bowl, which has put his music in front of even more people.

Part 5 – A Wealth of Divas

Taylor Swift, “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version)”

Of course I have to begin any discussion of modern divas with the woman who has put the entire music industry on notice by dramatically taking ownership of her own work. The words “Taylor’s Version” in the title of this song (and many others) is part of a fight that Taylor Swift is winning big-time. Last year, her former label released an unauthorized live album and then sold off all her old master recordings to Shamrock Holdings, the private equity firm of the Roy Disney estate. Swift vowed to rerecord her old albums so that she would own the masters, which she has started doing with impressive speed. Red (Taylor’s Version) is the second such rerecorded album, and one that reclaims many of her breakthrough hits.

Swift’s Pop Country stylings and relatable, personal lyrics have made her a giant of the industry, earning the spot of global best-selling artist twice (in 2014 and 2019). Red (Taylor’s Version) also broke Spotify and vinyl sales records, as well as beating out Elton John’s record for the fastest time a soloist has accumulated four number-one records. “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version)” is a perfect example of her style and also a fabulous diss track on a level with Carly Simon and Dolly Parton.

Carly Rae Jepsen, “Party For One (Vertical Video)”

One of the defining shifts in musical discovery over the past 20 years has been the explosion of music contest TV shows. And as Carly Rae Jepsen discovered on Canadian Idol – not winning may actually be better than winning. She has often said that finishing 3rd was the best thing that could have happened to her, because it provided all the exposure without a restrictive contract. (Kelly Clarkson is a great example of someone who had to work extra hard to escape both the contracts and the image attached to winning a contest.)

Jepsen’s breakthrough hit, “Call Me Maybe” was helped along by Justin Bieber’s promotion on Twitter, and this marked the beginning of Jepsen’s massive internet presence. Since then, Carly Rae Jepsen has become a strange combination: an indie Pop star. She has a large and loyal following but makes less impact on the charts than you might think. This may be partially because she has cultivated a more age-diverse audience than a lot of Pop idols, helped significantly by the heavy 80s influence of her third album, Emotion.

That album, along with more recent songs like “Cut to the Feeling” and “Party for One,” also made Carly Rae Jepsen a bit of a queer icon, and this is perhaps where the largest portion of her cult status comes from. And while Jepsen never went out of her way to appeal to an older queer audience, she has repeatedly proclaimed her love and appreciation for that community and their support.

I selected this particular video also because it shows off another unique modern development – the vertical video. This video is specifically designed to be watched upright on a phone, and it is one of the better quality vertical videos out there.

Lady Gaga ft Beyoncé, “Telephone”

Okay, so I cheated on this one and snuck in another double. But can you blame me? How do you choose between giving a slot to Lady Gaga OR Beyoncé?

Beyoncé technically isn’t just a 21st-century artist, since Destiny’s Child debuted in the late 90s, but her solo career is definitely a post-2000 phenomenon. She is the most-awarded female artist of all time, and in 2016 she was the highest paid musician in the world. There’s just no one bigger right now.

Lady Gaga is known for her visual impact as well as her music – I would describe her as a combination of Elton John and Madonna taken to the extreme. But she is also a skilled musician, demonstrating in numerous live performances that she can certainly carry herself with just piano and voice and no backing or effects. (And she’s a skilled actor as well. But no, I haven’t seen House of Gucci yet.)

“Telephone” was the sixth number one for both Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, and it was accompanied by this epic mini-movie. Gaga is known for extending her videos with additional story, but this one certainly takes the cake, interrupting the song repeatedly for additional scenes.

Janelle Monáe, “Q.U.E.E.N. feat Erykah Badu”

Some artists have concept albums; Janelle Monáe has a concept career. (Or perhaps a concept life?) She started acting at a young age, and her sense of theatricality pervades everything she does. She created her “android” alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, during her first album and has revisited that persona often. Monáe uses the android as a symbol for “other,” as well as for her own nonbinary gender identity.

Janelle Monáe’s writing is extremely smart and complex. You can hear the unusual rhythm and rhyme structures in the verses of “Q.U.E.E.N.,” and then at the end she breaks into an unrelenting rap section that is jam-packed with personal and political statements. This density of meaning is very common for Monáe’s work, but she also knows exactly when to keep it simple and straightforward. In 2015 she wrote the most direct and poignant protest song of the modern era, “Hell You Talmbout,” which is structured as just a litany of names of people killed by police violence. Janelle Monáe may not be a chart-topping best seller like some of the other divas on this list, but she is absolutely a modern legend.

Adele, “Hello”

Adele. That’s it. That’s the tweet.

Okay but seriously – Adele Laurie Blue Adkins started as a classically trained teenage singer with astonishing pipes and matured into a soulful and deeply introspective songwriter in just a few short years. If you think there has been no good music in the past 10 years, then you must have forgotten Adele, because you can’t possibly have missed her.

The video for “Hello” has almost three BILLION views. It was absolutely ubiquitous when it came out five years ago, the subject of countless memes, parodies, and late-night jokes. But with all of that, it can be easy to forget that at the core it’s a really good song. Listen again like it’s your first time and remember the chills when the first chorus hits. This is Adele hitting her stride, completely in control of her craft.

If this list weren’t about overwhelming the goalpost-movers with evidence, it could just be this song.

Lana Del Rey, “Young and Beautiful”

This is probably the moment that I have to admit that I’ve never seen The Great Gatsby (2013). I’m neither a Baz Luhrmann hater nor follower – I do think his sense of spectacle works in some cases and not in others, and I was a bit skeptical based on reviews of Gatsby at the time. I suppose I should see it at some point just to have seen it. But at least the movie gave us a ton of memes and also this song.

It can be hard to remember that Lana Del Rey (the stage name of Elizabeth Grant) starting making music this century, because she certainly seems to come from the previous one. Her musical and vocal style very much recalls the sweeping lounge sound of the early to mid 20th century. Partially because of this, you can’t shake a stick at a review or description of Del Rey’s music without hitting the word “cinematic,” but I would argue that that’s because cinema is the only place we hear that sound anymore. Instead, I would argue that Lana Del Rey is a modern chanteuse, perhaps even more so than Celine Dion.

On a side note, this is my last entry in this section, because I have to get to the last one. But I could have done almost a whole month just on this topic. With great apologies to all the fabulous women I couldn’t squeeze in – Katy Perry, Rhianna, Sara Bareilles, Kelly Clarkson, and more. The past 20 years have had so much amazing music, and we’re not quite done proving that!

Part 6 – Gen Z Can Define Itself

Olivia Rodrigo, “brutal”

As we come to the end of this month, I want to highlight a few songs of teenage angst from the current generation to point out that a) they’re extremely relatable, almost like what we experienced wasn’t completely unique, and b) they’re doing pretty well with making music. I don’t think we need to worry about them at all.

I first got to know Olivia Rodrigo through the amazing High School Musical the Musical the Series on Disney+. This is one of my favorite current teen TV shows, and Rodrigo is definitely a highlight, both in terms of acting and musical performance. She released her first solo album earlier this year and is already making waves. “driver’s license,” the first single, broke Spotify records and immediately earned her a couple Grammy nominations. “brutal” is a very different sound, but very much the same heartfelt openness of that first single. Rodrigo’s songwriting is extremely versatile for someone so young, and the range her career launch shows that the “Disney machine” that some people complain about is not the same as it was back in the late 90s/early 2000s.

One of the reasons I wanted to post “brutal” (other than really liking it) is that I also want to talk about the ridiculous scrutiny and criticism Olivia Rodrigo has received because of this song. That descending progression riff that starts the song and keeps coming back? People claimed that it was similar enough to the riff from Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” that Rodrigo was somehow plagiarizing. From a music historian standpoint, this is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard – musicians grab bits of each other’s music all the time. To his credit, Costello himself tweeted a reminder that “Pump It Up” was a direct tribute to Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” which was in turn pulling from Chuck Berry. The legacy is the POINT. And of course nobody gave INXS this kind of crap for “Mediate,” which was even more directly a ripoff of Dylan’s song AND video. And of course if you keep listening, Rodrigo modulates downward twice throughout the verses. The chords might start out the same as Costello’s, but she uses them very differently, chopping them up and building something new out of it. For a random comparison, it’s less similar to “Pump It Up” than M.I.A.’s interpolation was to The Clash in “Paper Planes.”

So why did people pile on her? Well, probably because “driver’s license” got a bunch of teen and twenty-something fans bugged because it seems to be about her HSMTMTS co-star Joshua Bassett. And for some reason people decided they had to defend Bassett (who is three years older than her) against this supposed attack. Which…it isn’t really? Honestly, “driver’s license” is incredibly mild compared to just about anything Taylor Swift has ever done. But yeah, with drama floating around, haters were looking for anything they could use against Rodrigo, so they grabbed onto “Pump It Up” even though they’d probably never heard that song before in their lives.

So yeah, Olivia, it’s brutal out here.

The Regrettes, “Monday”

As you might guess with these various lists, I look up a LOT of different music on YouTube. Because of this, the algorithm is constantly trying to figure out what I’m interested in, and it likes to take random stabs at it. Sometimes it gets more insistent – “You know, I REALLY think you’d like this” – and every once in a while it’s right. Such was the case for me with The Regrettes.

The Regrettes were pieced together from two bands that met in music school, one fronted by vocalist Lydia Night and one by guitarist Genessa Caranno. The bassist and drummer from Genessa’s band were part of the original Regrettes lineup, but they left after the first album. Brooke Dickson, the current bassist, and Drew Thomsen, the new drummer, have helped solidify the band’s sound, and their second album and upcoming third are where I came onboard.

This is one of their most recent videos, and I just adore it. If you like it, also check out “I Dare You” and “You’re So F*cking Pretty.” Plus there’s an Olivia Rodrigo cameo to connect to yesterday.

The Linda Lindas, “Oh!”

If you want to get excited about the future of music, look no further than The Linda Lindas. You may have seen the viral video of this band performing “Racist, Sexist Boy” in an LA Public Library branch, or perhaps covering Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl” on Netflix. But if you haven’t seen them yet, don’t worry – you will. For a four-piece band with barely 50 years of age between them, they’ve got some solid punk grooves. So much so that a variety of music notables including Flea, Tom Morello, and Kathleen Hanna helped make the library video go viral.

And while there is certainly some evidence of parental support in the band’s production and publicity (two of the members are daughters of Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Carlos de la Garza), there’s nothing concocted or artificial here. The Linda Lindas have an infectious and enthusiastic energy that can only be honest. I look forward to many years of watching this band’s growth.

Also, the “picture day punk” aesthetic of this video is very well done.

Montaigne, “READY”

I’m not ashamed to admit that I found out about Montaigne (stage name of Jessica Alyssa Cerro) when the podcast My Brother, My Brother, and Me announced their new theme song (following the drama of dropping their old theme song because it was written by Bean Dad). As soon as the announcement dropped, I decided I wanted to know more about this new artist, and so I did a deep dive into her work…and immediately bought her first album, Glorious Heights.

Montaigne is an Australian singer in her mid-20s, so she is on the older side of the next generation, but still definitely Gen Z. Her music is solidly within a style I would call Electro Pop, but with sweeping, almost operatic vocals throughout. Yet she also infuses many of her songs with humor (humour?) and heart, as you can see not only in the song she gave MBMBAM (“My Life is Better With You”) but also in songs like “Because I Love You” and “Now (In Space).”

I chose this song to end the list for a number of reasons. First, it jumps out as a youth anthem to inspire action – obviously the lyrics are intended that way, but the music serves that theme as well by never quite resolving. Second, I really appreciate the video for the poem at the beginning and the celebration of youth activism. I feel like we’re in an era where we’re starting to respect youth-led movements more, but there’s still a long way to go on that. And finally, I wanted to spread more information about the Stop Adani movement.

As a middle-aged Gen Xer, I am ready to follow the young people. They have the ideas and the will to save the world, and – to paraphrase Sojourner Truth – maybe we should let them.