It's hard to imagine Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers being household names in the 2000's. The '00s were a decade obsessed with maximalism on the radio. Flash, braggadocio and vibrancy dictated the chart trends.
The movement ramped up into the 2010's. Songs like "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO and "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas became year-defining commercial successes. But if there's one thing we've learned in this series, it's that counterculture eventually becomes culture.
And at the tail end of the last decade, listeners yearned for authenticity again. This quest for candor coincided with the social media explosion between 2005 and 2015. MySpace success re-formed as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram ubiquity.
These platforms gave media consumers more access, and the demand for emotional exorcism suddenly exceeded the supply. On top of that, openness about mental health became something to be proud of. Many people, then, turned to songs to process those emotions.
And just like that, heavier songs were no longer reserved for the underground of music. In fact, they made the Top 40. Julien Baker You'll hear this reflected in many album rollouts today.
Every record is an A-list songwriter's most personal one yet . Because in 2024, realness reigns supreme. This is the era that Bridgers and Baker, two of the generation's most gifted and transparent songwriters, achieved celebrity.
Alongside Lucy Dacus, Baker and Bridgers earned six combined Grammy Award nominations th.
