-
Streaming: I know a lot of people love to hate streaming services, but they’d be lying if they didn’t agree that platforms like Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal are convenient, accessible and technologically up to date. These platforms allow for instant sharing of music and with smartphone capabilities, you can really take music everywhere you go.
-
Festivals for everything: Like streaming, people love to hate music festivals, but I think that’s just because they haven’t been to one. I was definitely a jealous 14 year old, Tumblr surfing girl who dreamt about going to something like Coachella. Nowadays, a lot of music festivals are popping up in a large, grassy field near you and with big artists too. Just this year, the first annual Dreamville Fest was put on in Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Park.
-
Rap groups, artist collectives: Rap groups and general collectives of artists are such a spectacle in themselves showcasing different talents, styles and sometimes genres under one umbrella. The perfect example is Odd Future of course, a group of wild teens from California who represented the confusion, chaos and fun of being in the spotlight of the music industry. Artist collectives are fun to watch, to listen to and they always make the coolest merch. The hysteria that falls over everyone when a new group bursts on the scene is always an interesting thing to experience—the most recent being Brockhampton or Earthgang.
-
Diverse and inclusive artists: I love seeing more and more color and diverse backgrounds of the artists that I discover and personally listen to. Their differences, struggles and personal tastes really shine through in their music. The first example that comes to mind is Jai Paul, an electronic artist whose Indian descent shows well in his work. Lil Nas X has recently come out as gay, Sam Smith has come out as non-binary and these instances show how much more comfortable artists feel about revealing their true selves to the world. However, the music industry still has a long, long way to go in terms of gender and race diversity, but I think it’s headed in the right direction.
-
Hip-Hop is taking over: Move over Bruce Springsteen, hello Kendrick Lamar. I’m a hip-hop fan, so it’s pleasing to see rap achieve such a big step up in the music world, though it had great influence for decades now. According to Nielsen Music’s 2017 report, R&B/Hip-Hop are the most consumed genres of music in the US. With trap beats and rapped lyrics infiltrating genres like country, rock and pop, this statistic comes as no surprise.
-cellar door xx