Pop music is an odd descriptor. On the one hand, it can represent a group of songs that are massively popular in the mainstream. These songs don’t necessarily have to be “pop” in the traditional sense. On the other hand, pop music is also a genre in its own right, encompassing a wide range of sounds and emotions. There are many pop songs that wouldn’t be considered popular. This results in songs that have the attention-grabbing nature of popular music but don’t succumb to the expectations of a radio hit.
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Every so often, there will be a wildly popular artist who enters their “post-mainstream” moment. They are still household names, but their albums don’t get as much airplay as they used to. They might earn one or two radio singles still, but it’s clear that their sights aren’t set on traditional commercial success. The five iconic pop artists below have all moved on from chasing the “song of the summer” or a Top 40 mainstay. This redirection has made their careers all the more interesting.
Lady Gaga
One could argue that Lady Gaga was never after mainstream success. Gaga’s music has always had at least one eye on the counterculture. But there was a period after everyone stopped being shocked by her singular style when her singles started becoming worldwide hits. This was Gaga’s mainstream heyday. From the outside, it seemed like Gaga enjoyed the popularity for a little while. But these days, she’s less concerned with what the radio is doing and more concerned with her creative ambition. Gaga reverted back to her shock pop ways in recent years, adding even more intrigue to her already endlessly enticing career.
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande earned much commercial success with her latest album, Eternal Sunshine. But there was a clear understanding that even if she hadn’t, she would’ve been satisfied with the work. This was an album not made for chart metrics or No. 1’s. Any popularity it earned was secondary to the message she needed to get out.
The record the pop artist made before her latest, Positions, alienated many fans. Many of her closest supporters hated this record and made their feelings known on social media. But for those listeners who championed Grande’s creative freedom, they found a deeply interesting, cleverly arranged R&B record. Grande may not have known how divided the reaction to this record would be, but it feels as though she planned for a little dissension and pressed on in the face of it. Because of that bravery, she made the most intriguing album she’s ever released.
Charli xcx
There was a time, over a decade ago, when Charli XCX was trying to capitalize off a musical movement instead of forging her own. In 2013, the singer was trying to find her place in the internet-driven, electropop scene. Her music, though distinctive enough to earn fame, wasn’t set apart from her peers doing very similar things. There was an element of trying to appeal to the mainstream.
Charli XCX’s recent music isn’t concerned with mainstream appeal at all. Though she inadvertently earned that appeal, she was making music for those who “got” her, without much care for anyone who potentially didn’t. Brat proved to be the masterpiece of her career, catapulting her to counterculture driven success.
(Photo by Jon Kopaloff/WireImage)
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