Out with the old, in with the new: Are we moving on from artists faster than ever?
In the juggernaut train between social media and artistic adoration, we spit out more opinions on music these days than we even have time to digest.
You can divide general opinion on musicians – or, frankly, anyone in the pop culture sphere – into three general categories: stan, cancel, or meh. Trust me, I hated typing those words as much as you probably hated reading them. But it’s also true. Once a viewpoint is asserted on an artist, it’s very hard for them to break free from those shackles, and it means we’re just chewing up more and more as we go.
Of course, without stating the obvious, new artists come along all the time, and always will – so there’s an element of inevitability as far as the sphere moving along at pace goes. But more than ever, it seems that this phenomenon is picking up speed. Artists and bands who were the thing of the moment only a few years ago are now fading into obscurity further and further, only for the next set of new kids on the block to replace them for all of their five minutes of fame.
Take the example of Boygenius as one of the most pertinent cases. Cast your mind back roughly two years ago, and the supergroup trio were everywhere; with a huge hit album, a Grammy, and various festival headline slots, it seemed inconceivable that they would ever bow out of the zeitgeist. But now? Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker are releasing their own mildly successful solo music, and Phoebe Bridgers is nowhere to be seen, so what’s going on?
Part of this is down to Boygenius’ own decision to go on hiatus, but certain overtures of doom could suggest that this is morphing into something far more permanent. It’s as if they’ve inadvertently masterminded their own minor downfall in this sense, but they’re also in the same boat as many others.
Back in Covid times, we took a slightly frenzied obsession with Måneskin after their stint at Eurovision in 2021 – but where are they now? The same could equally be said for the likes of James Bay or Tom Odell, who still have a smaller level of fanbase, but nothing compared to what they were accustomed to five or ten years ago. The world moves on.
This is not to say that there isn’t any appetite or capacity for comebacks – we all know they’ve happened plenty of times – but it seems that the more and more artists crowd the market, the tougher the competition and the more difficult it is to keep your grip. Many artists will be all too familiar with that problem.
It’s also not a campaign for anything to really change in this respect. The music industry naturally ebbs and flows, and there’s nothing much you can really do about it. For all we know, in a few years from now, it might be a sonic drought in the pop scene and we might be crying out for what we once had, so it’s not worth putting all our eggs in one basket.
Consumerism is undeniably a major issue across society, but it is interesting to also witness how this plays out in the musical landscape. Maybe all it takes is for one of these artists to make a truly emphatic comeback and stop the train once and for all. Where are you, Boygenius?
