poptimists | Poptimists Review of 2006: Genre Of The Year

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I dunno. I voted for teen pop in the above poll, of course, and I do prefer the confessional sound. But, I'd steer clear of the "tanked" talk. "L.O.V.E." did fairly well this year, and "Invisible" had a really high peak, though no support. Maybe it's more that it was just a BAD SONG than tanking, per se (same with with Cheyenne methinks). "Boyfriend" still gets some Radio Diz plays. Lohan didn't release anything this year. Aly & AJ did fairly well with the confessional sound though, as you noted. I do see them as confessional, unlike the Jonas Bros. New Avril single doing well (not on RD, but it's inexplicably getting a good number of plays on the local top 40 stations), tho it's the least "teen confessional" song of her career. But Jojo doing well, and she's fairly confessional! "Because of You" a huge smash hit in late 05/early 06 as well. Rihanna's "Unfaithful" is arguably also teen confessional.

I'd wait until next year when we get new Avril, new Aly & AJ, Jordan Pruitt, as you noted, new Ashlee or Lindsay?, it's about time for that. New Kelly Clarkson as well, we'll see if she continues the confessional trend. If they all tank, then we're in trouble.

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.

Poptimists Review of 2006: Genre Of The Year

Re: Teen confessional tanked this year

Re: Teen confessional tanked this year