The tone of that song \u2014 mournful, dazed, sullen, traumatized, self-absorbed, defensive, remote, morbid \u2014 was pervasive in the pop of 2017. Hit radio and popularity-driven algorithmic playlists lingered on bleak, bummed-out sounds and scenarios, stringing together music that shares the feeling of being alienated, unprotected and besieged.<\/p>\n
And why not? Consider the pressures on the millennial and younger listeners who are clicking to choose a song. They\u2019re making their way into an era of accelerating income inequality. They\u2019re awash in social media that nationalizes peer pressure, that expects intricately maintained self-branding and that shows \u2014 with photos \u2014 how just about everyone else is having a better life.<\/p>\n
They are on college-education tracks that could leave them with a staggering debt burden, or they face the prospect of working in a dead-end retail or service-sector job under the ruthless exploitation of a gig economy. Social safety nets are being shredded, environmental protections are being reversed. For young listeners, there\u2019s no guarantee of a fulfilling career or even of nontoxic food, air and water.<\/p>\n