Avant-pop

Example of Avant-pop

Avant Pop (better knows as Experimental-pop) is a term that can be applied to any style of Pop music which pushes beyond the accepted boundaries of that giver art form, which A. G. Cook describes as "A more transparent [alternative] and more aggressive version of the present", which the genre came to popularity through A. G. Cook's PC Music, a London-based music label surrounding Experimental pop artists such as SOPHIE and Charli XCX. The genre's name is rarely known and used by the mainstream, but the genre and it's sound itself has been put in the spotlight of the mainstream through artists like Lady Gaga, Björk, Grimes and even Billie Eilish. Avant Pop often experiments with escaping the boarders and laws of music and sound, messing with textures, rhythms and sonic palettes.

140314-grimes — Grimes performing "Visions" via 2011

5-4-14 PARTYNAUSEOUS - artRAVE ARTPOP BallTour 003 — Gaga performing "PARTYNAUSEOUS" via ArtRave: The Artpop Ball via 2014.

Background and History[]

Although Avant-pop music can be traced back centuries for its label of being any style of experimental pop music, its significant sound developed from the late 2000's and early 2010's, but its development can be pined back to the late early 90s with Björk.^[1] Grimes^[2] came into the scene in 2010 releasing a delicate and experimental style of pop music, nothing like pop-culture at the time. Her music although appealing to underground listeners at the time started drifting into popularity, being one of the first to popularize Avant-pop music. While the genre's sound was still being developed the genre was introduced again into the mainstream in 2013 by Lady Gaga^[3] with her fourth studio album "Artpop", which at the time wasn't big of a success compared to her other releases, but by the end of the decade gain much more recension from her fan-base, re-popularising the album. The specific sound of the genre though came from the early days of SoundCloud. The specific sound of the genre emerged the same year of Lady Gaga's release, beginning as an underground genre in 2013 with PC Music. It seems as though the genre emerged via 2013 not only with "Artpop" and PC Music but also the year SOPHIE's^[4] debut single released "Nothing More to Say". In 2015 PC Music started getting more attention for their unique and experimental sound, with new artists like SOPHIE and Charli XCX^[5] sharing the same experimental sound getting involved in the PC Music scene. 2015 was a significant time for the genre and SOPHIE, it was also the same year one of the most popular songs under the genre was released by Madonna, "Bitch I'm Madonna" featuring Nicki Minaj and production credits from Diplo and SOPHIE. The genre after finding it's significant was fully reviled to the mainstream via 2016 through Charli XCX and her multiple works with SOPHIE, including at time Vroom Vroom, featuring the whole album having production credits under SOPHIE's name. After this SOPHIE went onto produce numerous tracks for Trap and Hip-Hop artists like le1f,^[6] Quay Dash^[7] and most importantly Vince Staples.^[8] During 2017 SOPHIE produced several songs for Vince's 2nd full-length studio-album "Big Fish Theory", giving it the same Avant-pop production sound. The genre came to the peak of its popularity in the mainstream via 2018 after SOPHIE's debut album "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides" was nominated for best Dance/Electronic album of the year, making history with SOPHIE being both one of the first openly transgender artists to be nominated in this category and one of the three first openly transgender women to be nominated for a Grammy. The most popular and mainstream Avant-pop artists joined the scene via 2018 at just age 17, Billie Eilish,^[9] releasing her debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?", remembering a more darker and terra incognita approach onto experimental pop music, with help from her older-brother and producer Finneas. The album showcased Billie's and Finneas' hybrid blend of pop, electronic, experimental and hip-hop textures with a rock edge. Her music and popularity skyrocketed in mainstream music and media, making her one of the most popular and well-known artists of the 2020s (so far). According to the RIAA and Billboard, Billie is the 26th-highest-certified digital singles artist and one of the most successful artists of the 2010s. Billie later went onto receive 7 Grammys, making her the first woman, the youngest person, and the first artist after Christopher Cross in 1981 to get all four major annual awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Another new and experimental artist came into the scene via the end of the decade, Dorian Electra.^[10] They gain popularity nearly instantly, gaining popularity from the Hyperpop community, becoming one of the most popular Avant-pop artists of the late 2010s. 2020 rolled around at the genre was still in the eyes of the mainstream, introducing Shygirl^[11] into the scene with her EP "Alias", featuring production credits from Sega Bodega and SOPHIE. Avant-pop's most significant time in it's history rolled around in 2021 with the release of a remix album of Lady Gaga's "Chromatica" titled "Dawn of Chromatica" featuring remix's by the whole gang of the genre's most significant artists including A. G. Cook, Charli XCX, Dorian Electra, Arca,^[12] Shygirl, Jimmy Edgar^[13] and more. Via 2022 PC Music released their new compilation album since 2016 "PC Music Volume 3" featuring artists like Laura Les.^[14] Mid way through 2022 a song by Dorian Electra was teased from Paper Magazine via TikTok with JoJo Siwa in the video.^[15] The tease ended up going viral on twitter via the avant-pop community from the shock that Dorian Electra had worked with Jojo Siwa.