Poptimists Review of 2006: Genre Of The Year

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

What was the sound of 2006? That's what we're asking in the second of our end of year polls, discussing the genre of the year. Contenders - drawn from your nominations - include...

Teenpop: Teen confessional and pop narrative (a la High School Musical) drove the genre on in '06 - more teen than ever.
R&B: From Bouncy's hi-gloss dramas through Ciara and Justin's takes on the Prince legacy to Cassie's minimal precision.
Electro: Still the sound of the clubs in 06 (like I'd know) and with big high street traction too.
Emo: The comment box's friend and the parent's foe - whatever it is, it's selling.
Nu Rave: A shot in the arm for indie or a lame NME concoction? 2006's most enigmatic genre.

(A special note: I didn't put "POP" in cos it's all pop, innit. I went for Teenpop as a more specific option, and one picked by as many people.)

[Poll #891678]

You can still vote in yesterday's poll - and still nominate in the remaining 8 categories. Final results collated in the new year!

Tomorrow I'm at home, with YouTube access, which means it's a good day to do the Video Of the Year poll.

Comments

Re: Teen confessional tanked this year

[koganbot]

One thing to say on your side is that the Tashbed's "Unwritten" is in the confessional category (though not teen confessional), and it got huge airplay on Disney. I wouldn't call JoJo confessional, since she sounds* so much more r&b, and she basically had to hit as Top 40 and R&B before Disney would play her (or perhaps I should say "were forced to play her"). Not that Disney is all there is to teenpop. What's happening also is that the artists who are getting older/playing to an audience that skews older, and whose power base was MTV not Disney, are the ones whose commercial prospects seem to be fading (though I wish they were going strong). Lindsay's album was released in December 2005, so if it was going to have an impact it would have been this year. Hope that next year proves me wrong.

*I would call "confessional" a sound and a style; Michelle Branch's "Everywhere" sounds like singer-songwriter confessional even though there's nothing of note being confessed in it.