In mid-June, hip-hop mogul Drake got a surprise: his seventh studio album, Honestly, Nevermind, would drop the next day. Those who hit “play” are in a different revelation: Drake, usually the bellwether for pop-music trends that comes thanks to an appetite for the next big thing, sings about his broken hearts and haters in a rhythm that synchronizes with the heavy beats of the earth. music.
Fast forward to the weekend and Beyoncé, the same sign for pop pop, released the first single from Renaissance, his seventh album. “Break My Soul” is driven by a constant synthesis and feeling that the world is closing, with Beyoncé “looking for a new foundation / With me in that new vibration.”
READ MORE: All We Know About Beyoncé’s New Album, Renaissance
The two most important pop artists who move in the same musical direction can be ashamed of the trends that can be seen officially, but it’s important. House music has been a force in pop since its rise from underground clubs in the ’80s, but the genre has, in recent years, waned slightly in influence. Even at its most upbeat, storming beats and fragmented house instrumentation recall lace lights, sweaty clubs where people get close one-on-one-the perfect place in the nearapocalypse, as Beyoncé waiils on “Break My Soul,” go “looking for something that lives inside me. “
House music initially reacts to ornate instrumentation and disco pop appeal; in its earliest form, it was machine-like at its core, with lengthy tracks underpinned by steady rhythms known as “four on the floor” that would never survive a radio edit. DJs like Chicago club master Frankie Knuckles created house remixes of songs on the fly, mixing and editing selections from his own varied record collection over beats.
When house music became more popular, it moved from Black, a queer space to a whiter, straighter, and in the ’80s and’ 90s, it enjoyed some major moments in the pop charts. Robin S’s “Show Me Love,” which has been sampled on “Break My Soul,” peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 in 1993; Other ’90s songs like Black Box’s groove-front“ Everybody Everybody ”and Crystal Waters’ thumping “100% Pure Love” jumped from the dance floor to the top40. Pop superstars dabbled at home as well: Whitney Houston’s triumphant cover of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” as well as slinky Madonna “Deeper and Deeper” and Janet Jackson’s bouncy “Together Again,” indicating that they know a lot about the sound coming from the club.
Read more: Best Songs of 2022 So Far
Dance music has always been an important part of pop since the era of Twist and the Stroll. House itself has launched a number of subways since its breakthrough, including variants that are in special places. A few years ago, tropical-derived houses were marked by sun-dappled synths and more lightweight-burst beats out of the EDM festivals of the mid-2010s, with artists like Norwegian DJ Kygo achieving hits through team-ups and pop artists like Selena Gomez.
It might be too soon to state that the entire pop will be captured by the house’s harder-hitting beats. But these songs, as well as recent efforts by pop futurist Charli XCX and superstar DJ David Guetta, suggest that the 2022 pop music landscape certainly feels more ready to move from the pre-lime years to the exhaustion of the pandemic era. Beyoncé’s comeback song isn’t necessarily a harbinger for how the Renaissance would sound — six years ago the bare-bones bounce-trap cut “Formation” didn’t necessarily reflect the broad sonic palette of Lemonade. But the lyrics of “Break My Soul,” which include complaints of “damn, they make me very difficult,” continue the trend of combining club-ready beats with lyrics that tell of larger breaks.
Take Bad Bunny’s latest album, Un Verano Sin Ti, which fuses voices from around the world, especially his home region in the Caribbean, while questioning their power structures and abuses. Or “About Damn Time,” the lead single from Lizzo’s new album Special; it’s a fizzy, skating-rink-ready rebuke to the blues, and the singer-rapper-flutist tries to beat her depression with pump-self-up mantras (“I’m way too fine to be this stressed”). Some of the scariest pop songs have a hidden message of hope and longing in a candy-coated structure, from the Beatles ’“ Eleanor Rigby ”to Outkast’s“ Hey Ya !, ”but the contrast seems higher with the now-ready club crop of hits .
It could be because of the way pop stars can be stars these days. The shift in the way music is promoted and distributed means they don’t need the support of radio stations in order to be massive. As a result, they can speak, and sing, more freely — and thanks to the number of streams on the chart becoming a larger consideration, the audience response is seen more directly. The availability of Bad Bunny on streaming services has made its appeal, driven by its incredible charm, and honesty of personal and political stance, which is clear to graphic observers: Un Verano Sin Ti and its predecessor, El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo 2020, both press. No. 1 on the Billboard 200. He is also headlining the stadium this summer.
Beyoncé’s new career makes this point in a slightly different way. Although considered one of the biggest pop stars in the world for almost all of the 21st century, he only got two Hot 100-topping songs from since the 00s that were dominant-“Perfect Duet” 2017, and Ed Sheeran, and 2020 “Savage Remix . ”, and Megan Thee Stallion. (As of this writing, “Break My Soul” has peaked at No. 7.) Yet she can still make the earth move with the album nearby; Lemonade was bought and distributed by consumers enough to make it the fourth largest album of 2016.
With a pop landscape that is constantly unpredictable thanks to TikTok’s hitmaking capabilities and good TV syncing power-who got Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” in the 2022 song-of-the-summer pool? – Drake and Beyoncé return to the club to provide an unexpected tonic for listeners looking to dance out their dread. Separated yet somehow together, the two used their considerable pop power to shine a light on one of modern pop’s genres, luring audiences into his powerful, rhythm-shaking body.
