Member-only story
What Does it Mean to Be a Pop Star in 2020?
Radio always played a massive role in my consumption of music. Outside of my constant stereo turning to hip-hop stations and CD skipping, pop music was always distinctly different from what I was into. Even when I was in my own little bubble at a younger age, pop music was too big to truly ignore. It also had its own particular identity, it never blended together into one massive blob of nothingness. The charts were always varied but, in a sense, genres were wildly segregated from one another. Even with hip-hop and R&B’s growing status and influence with the times, the Britney Spears and Justin Timberlakes’ were always taking a front seat. Today, the variables in the musical climate truly blurs the lines of what pop music really is anymore.
I think the elephant in the room is how streaming really changed the entire spectrum of how we digest music. I remember when I finally started getting exposed to the internet after lack of exposure when I started trying to digest as much music I could find. Whether it was old gems that I already adored or related jams that led me down to other various rabbit holes, the genesis of the streaming era ushered in a new way for a music geek like me to absorb all the information I could handle. I remember when I first used Spotify and I ravaged the site for anything I could get my hands on, boom bap east coast records, west coast classics…
