Emo pop | |
---|---|
Other names | Emo pop-punk |
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Mid-to-late 1990s, United States |
Typical instruments | |
Regional scenes | |
Midwestern United States · Florida |
Emo pop (alternatively typeset with a hyphen, also known as emo pop-punk and pop-emo) is a fusion genre combining emo with pop-punk, pop music, or both. [1] Emo pop features a musical style with more concise composition and hook-filled choruses. Emo pop has its origins in the 1990s with bands like Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids, Weezer and the Promise Ring. The genre entered the mainstream in the early 2000s with Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough album Bleed American , which included its song "The Middle". Other emo pop bands that achieved mainstream success throughout the decade included Fall Out Boy, the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. The popularity of emo pop declined in the 2010s, with some prominent artists in the genre either disbanding or abandoning the emo pop style.
Emo pop is a fusion between emo and pop-punk. [2] AllMusic describes emo pop as blending "youthful angst" with "slick production" and mainstream appeal, using "high-pitched melodies, rhythmic guitars, and confessional lyrics concerning adolescence, relationships, and heartbreak." [3] MasterClass describes emo pop as featuring "soaring vocals and upbeat songs with melancholy lyrics." [4] During the 2000s, emo pop artists would fuse the "lyrical and visual elements of emo with radio-friendly sonics of pop-punk." [5] Emo pop music is notably more commercially viable than other styles of emo due to its minimal influences from indie rock and hardcore punk, [6] and less extreme use of loud/soft dynamics. [7] This has resulted in a sound comparable to boy band pop. [1]
Emo pop was influenced by emo and pop-punk bands in the early 1990s such as Californian bands Samiam and Jawbreaker. [8] Jawbreaker has influenced future mainstream emo pop bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. [9] [10] Pop-punk band Blink-182 has been a very big influence on emo pop bands. [11] The new generation of emo fans view the Blink-182 sound as "hugely influential," [12] with James Montgomery writing, "[...] without them, there'd be no Fall Out Boy, no Paramore, or no Fueled by Ramen Records." [11]
Emo pop truly began during the mid-to-late 1990s with bands like Jimmy Eat World, [3] The Get Up Kids, [13] [ better source needed ] Weezer [14] and The Promise Ring. [15] [ better source needed ] Weezer's Pinkerton (1996) is viewed by Spin as "a groundbreaking record for all the emo-pop that would follow" [14] and went number 19 on the US Billboard 200 chart upon release. Jimmy Eat World pioneered an early emo pop sound in their album Clarity (1999). [16] Both albums were very influential on later emo and emo pop bands. [17] [18] According to Nicole Keiper of CMJ, Sense Field's Building (1996) pushed the band "into the emo-pop camp with the likes of the Get Up Kids and Jejune". [19] Emo pop began to have independent success in the late 1990s. The Get Up Kids had sold over 15,000 copies of their debut album Four Minute Mile (1997) before signing to Vagrant Records, who promoted the band strongly and put them on tours opening for popular rock acts such as Green Day and Weezer. [20] Their album Something to Write Home About (1999) was a major success, reaching No. 31 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. [21]
AllMusic credits the birth of the mainstream success of emo pop to the 2001 release by Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American , and the success of the album's second single "The Middle." Weezer's second self-titled album received major commercial success in 2001 reaching number 4 on the US Billboard 200 chart. [3] The same year, post-hardcore band Thursday released their sophomore album Full Collapse and reached 178 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album featured screaming and overall aggression, separating them from other emo pop bands. [22] The All-American Rejects received mainstream success with their 2002 self-titled debut album. The album sold over a million copies in the US alone. It contained their hit song "Swing, Swing". Dashboard Confessional became a major act in the emo pop scene with their debut album The Swiss Army Romance (2000). The band would later receive commercial success with their albums A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar (2003) and Dusk and Summer (2006). [23] Both albums were released under Vagrant Records which also released music by emo pop bands Saves The Day, the Get Up Kids, the Anniversary, Hey Mercedes, Hot Rod Circuit and Alkaline Trio. In 2004, Avril Lavigne released her second album Under My Skin, which is considered one of the works that anticipated the emotional intensity and theatrical aesthetics of the emo pop in the mainstream. [24] [25] As the genre coalesced, the record label Fueled by Ramen became a center of the movement, releasing platinum selling albums from bands like Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco and Paramore. Two main regional scenes developed in Florida, pioneered by label Fueled by Ramen, and in the Midwest, promoted by Pete Wentz of the Illinois band Fall Out Boy, [3] which rose to the front of the style in the mid-2000s after the single "Sugar, We're Goin Down" received heavy airplay, climbing to number eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. [26] Plain White T's was another Illinois emo pop band that received major mainstream success. Their album Every Second Counts (2006) reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 and featured their number one single "Hey There Delilah". [27] New Jersey band My Chemical Romance was the most prominent emo pop act during the 2000s. MCR's albums Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004) and The Black Parade (2006) both sold more than 3 million copies in the US alone. The latter of the albums debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200. The album's lead single "Welcome to the Black Parade" topped the US Alternative Songs chart and reached number 9 on the Billboard hot 100. [28] Taking Back Sunday's third album Louder Now (2006) debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200. [29] Hawthorne Heights's sophomore album If Only You Were Lonely (2006) reached number 3 on the Billboard 200, achieving mainstream success outside of the hardcore punk scene unlike some of their contemporaries. [30] We the Kings released their debut self-titled studio album, which had an emo pop sound. [31] The album’s lead "Check Yes Juliet" went certified Platinum in the United States. The emo pop band Metro Station fused emo aesthetics with pop music and electronic music on their 2007 self-titled album. The band's single "Shake It" reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. [1] [32] Also in 2008, You Me at Six released their debut album Take Off Your Colours , which had been described by AllMusic's Jon O'Brien as "follow[ing] the "emo-pop for dummies"' handbook word-for-word." [33] The album would later be certified gold in the UK. [34] In 2009 All Time Low released their third studio album Nothing Personal which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200. AllMusic states that the album "helped make All Time Low one of the top emo-pop acts in the business". [35]
Since the early 2010s, emo pop has seen a decrease in mainstream success. While a few 2000s emo pop bands remain popular, some of them have ventured on to different sounds and aesthetics outside of the genre. Emo pop bands Thursday, The Academy Is..., [36] Good Charlotte, [37] Hey Monday, [38] Forever the Sickest Kids [39] and My Chemical Romance [40] disbanded or went on hiatus in the early 2010s. Panic! at the Disco's 2013 album Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! abandoned their emo pop sound, which was heard primarily on their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. The former album contained characteristics and influences from hip hop music, [41] new wave music, [42] electropop [42] and synthpop. [43] Fall Out Boy went on hiatus from 2009 to 2013 but returned with a new sound on their album Save Rock and Roll . The album has characteristics of pop music, [44] alternative rock, [45] and pop rock. [45] [46] Paramore ventured away from their emo pop sound with their self-titled album (2013) which contains influences of power pop, [47] pop rock [48] and new wave. [49] Despite the genre’s decrease in popularity, a number of emo pop bands garnered underground popularity in the 2010s, including Sorority Noise, [50] Real Friends, [51] Boston Manor [52] and Moose Blood. [53] [54]
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Brian Bell, and Scott Shriner. They have sold 10 million albums in the US and more than 35 million worldwide.
Emo is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early-to-mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.
Alternative rock is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States and the shoegaze and Britpop subgenres in the United Kingdom. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock.
Something to Write Home About is the second studio album by American rock band the Get Up Kids, released on September 28, 1999, through Vagrant Records and the band's own label Heroes & Villains Records. Following the promotional tours for their debut album Four Minute Mile (1997), the band were in discussion with Mojo Records. During this period, James Dewees joined as the band's keyboardist. As negotiations with the label eventually stalled, they eventually went with Vagrant Records. They recorded their next album at Mad Hatter Studios in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, co-producing it with Chad Blinman and Alex Brahl. Described as an emo album, Something to Write Home About expands on the harder edge of its predecessor, with frontman Matt Pryor citing the works of the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and Wilco as influences.
Pop-punk is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes. It is distinguished from other punk-variant genres by drawing more heavily from 1960s bands such as the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys. The genre has evolved throughout its history, absorbing elements from new wave, college rock, ska, hip hop, emo, boy band pop and even hardcore punk. It is sometimes considered interchangeable with power pop and skate punk.
My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way. They are considered one of the most influential rock groups of the 2000s and a major act in the pop-punk and emo genres, despite the band rejecting the latter label.
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Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band originated from Chicago's hardcore punk scene and was formed by Wentz and Trohman as a pop-punk side project; Stump joined shortly thereafter. The group went through a succession of drummers before Hurley joined. Their debut album, Take This to Your Grave (2003), became an underground success and helped the band gain a dedicated fan base through heavy touring.
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The scene subculture is a youth subculture that emerged during the early 2000s in the United States from the pre-existing emo subculture. The subculture became popular with adolescents from the mid 2000s to the early 2010s. Members of the scene subculture are referred to as scene kids, trendies, or scenesters. Scene fashion consists of skinny jeans, bright-colored clothing, a signature hairstyle consisting of straight, flat hair with long fringes covering the forehead, and bright-colored hair dye. Music genres associated with the scene subculture include metalcore, crunkcore, deathcore, electronic music, and pop punk.
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This article is an overview of the major events and trends in popular music in the 2010s.
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Emo rap is a subgenre of hip hop with influence from emo. Originating in the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as trap-style beats with vocals that are usually sung. The most prominent artists in the genre were Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice Wrld.
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