Pop Music

Pop

Pop music, more than any other genre, is closely tied to the economic forces of mass production and mass marketing. The first popular standards were a result of the new market for sheet music in the 19th century. For the first time, songwriters could earn a living from consumers without a traveling show or a supportive patron. The invention of the phonographic cylinder at the tail end of the 19th century, and the more lasting disc technology developed at the beginning of the 20th century took the standardization of songs and potential for mass consumption a step further.

Non-Classical Music in the first half of the 20th century was broadly referred to as "popular" music, not "pop" music. Nonetheless, the popular music from the 1900s to the 1940s that appealed to the most mainstream tastes in America, is generally recognized now as Traditional Pop.

The dynamic post-World War II economy and the advent of the Rock & Roll era brought about a new age of teen consumerism and the first wave of Teen Pop celebrities. Various sources suggest the use of the word "pop" dating back well before the 1950s, but it was certainly the '50s when it took hold as a cultural phenomenon.

Because "pop" can simply mean what is or was popular in many different times and places, defining it more narrowly as an actual musical genre is arguably ill-advised. Nonetheless, most pop music does share many distinct traits. Pop music is generally designed to be catchy, with a beat or a melody or a lyric or a hook (or all four) that are readily accessible, particularly to young people. It is also produced, often by large and expert teams, in way that removes any rough edges.

Pop music, more so than Rock music, also tends to emphasize the vocalist as the lead performer. As such, pop songs tend to be somewhat short with only brief instrumental breaks. A basic intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure, or some mild variation on that structure, is very common in pop music and has remained common over the decades.

In the 1960s, The Beatles brought Pop Rock to the fore, and in doing so challenged some notions of what rough edges might be allowed within the basic construct of pop. In the 1970s, many Soft Rock artists went the other direction and softened pop reducing the centrality of the beat in pop music. By the end of the decade, however, Disco had taken pop in an even more dance oriented direction paving the way for Dance-Pop.

Pop and R&B have always coexisted with a great deal of direct crossover and indirect crosspollination. In the 1980s those lines were blurred even more as Michael Jackson was crowned the king of pop. In the 21st century, Hip Hop has become a major influence in pop music with many pop stars employing the top hip hop producers to assist in making their hits.

Pop music has also become globalized to a tremendous extent (e.g., C-Pop, K-Pop, Indian Pop, and Latin Pop) reflecting both a global economy and a growing consumer class in most of the world.

Adult Contemporary

Adult contemporary has roots in the light Pop of the 1960s; however, the term came to the fore in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart replaced the Easy Listening chart and when it also became a successful radio format. Unlike Easy Listening, adult contemporary is a predominantly vocal form, and it can incorporate elements of Contemporary Country, Smooth Soul, or Smooth Jazz.

With adults as a target audience, the genre tends towards slow to mid tempo songs that follow familiar patterns and are intended to be soothing rather than invigorating. Some overlap exists between adult contemporary and Soft Rock, but adult contemporary is one step further removed from Rock and may utilize more pop instrumentation, be that lush strings in the 1960s or synthesizers in the 1980s and later.

Many of the notable stars of adult contemporary are also known with adjacent genres. This includes 1970s Country Pop stars such as Anne Murray and Kenny Rogers, Contemporary R&B stars such as Lionel Richie, Singer/Songwriters such as Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond, and Latin Pop stars such as Julio Iglesias.

Afrobeats

(also known as Azonto)

Afrobeats is a style of Dance-Pop that originated in West Africa during the early 2010s including elements from Pop Rap, Contemporary R&B and Dancehall. It is also influenced by popular West African styles such as Hiplife and Coupé-Décalé, even though it is musically not strongly rooted in traditional African Music. The genre has been especially popular in Nigeria and Ghana, but has also broken through in the United Kingdom with a local UK afrobeats scene influenced by early UK Funky. D'Banj's single Oliver Twist was the first international afrobeats hit and led the way for greater exposure of the style.

Al Jeel

Al jeel is a style of Arabic Pop that first emerged in the 1970s, as an alternative to Shaʻabi. Al jeel takes influences from foreign Pop music and uses rhythms that resemble those of Reggae, but still has a distinctly Egyptian sound. The danceable beat of al jeel is generally produced by a drum machine, but the genre also makes use of traditional Arabic instrumentation. One of the most famous al jeel performers is حميد الشاعري [Hamid El Shaeri].

Ambient Pop

Typified by its distinct combination of Ambient sound design and Pop music structures, ambient pop emerged in the wake of Dream Pop and Synthpop during the mid 1980s. Though frequently associated with dream pop, ambient pop sets itself apart from its predecessor by not being directly related to the Alternative Rock movement and incorporating a greater variation of styles ranging from Downtempo, Jazz Pop and Krautrock to even Drone.

Ambient pop's sound is often based around multi-layered atmospheric Electronic instruments such as pads and synthesizers. Vocalists tend to sing in a shimmering, ethereal way and the addition of acoustic instruments is not uncommon, mainly keyboards, strings sections, drums and clean guitar.

The varied and unclear definition of ambient pop leads to close resemblance to Art Pop, with many artists falling into both categories, but these should not be treated as the same genre, as ambient pop focuses mostly on calm, slow pop music, rather than the complexity found in art pop works. Important artists include David Sylvian, Deux filles and Julee Cruise.

Arabic Pop

In the 1950s, Western influences became more and more widespread in Classical Arabic Pop. By the 70s and 80s, singers such as Dalida and سميرة سعيد [Samira Said] found success with disco and Western Pop styled music. By the mid 90s, Arabic Pop had reached it's modern form, with the focus on Westernised pop songs sung by female singers such as Nancy Ajram and Diana Haddad. In the early 2000s, Spanish guitar became a prominent feature, mainly popularised by عمرو دياب [Amr Diab]; while the later part of the decade saw increased influence from Electronic music.

Arabic Pop is generally the synthesis of Arabic Music with Western melodies, mostly using Arabic instruments (although some Western instruments such as the guitar are also often used) and sung almost always in Arabic. Lyrics are dominated by themes of love and romance, and explicit material, as well as songs about Islam-forbidden things and practices (such as drinking alcohol) are very rare.

Art Pop

Art pop is a loose subcategory of Pop that is characterized for its manipulation of signs and its synthesis of cultural art forms; where artists reflect an affinity with art school practices or other musical/non-musical art sources such as pop art, literature, cinema, traditional music, theater performances, Experimental, Electronic, and so on. This can be musically expressed through the subversion or deconstruction of various styles, for example, by reimagining historical genres in a disparately contemporary setting, or by adopting traditions from 'serious music' (like those from Western Classical Music). In any case, the music remains in a fairly pop context.

While many art pop examples may also be considered 'experimental pop' or 'avant-garde pop', the music does not have to be challenging or inaccessible. In addition to this, relatively complex or atypical structures (for pop) should not be considered an inherent feature of the genre (unlike Progressive Pop). Art pop's main distinction to Art Rock (a related genre which contains overlapping characteristics) is that it does not confine itself to Rock idioms through the extensive use of guitars, electric bass, drum kits, etc.

Early artists who helped to develop the genre, without necessarily always fully embracing it, include Brian Wilson, John Cale, David Bowie and Brian Eno, most of whom integrated inspirations from their art school studies to their music. They were followed in the 1970s by musicians such as Sparks, Todd Rundgren, Slapp Happy, Godley & Creme and Japan, who continued to integrate art school sensibilities prominently in their work. In the 1980s, Kate Bush was influential to a new wave of melodramatic art pop, while in the 1990s, Björk characterized the genre with a heightened emphasis on digital electronics. Recently, art pop artists come increasingly more often from an Indie Pop/Indie Rock background, for instance St. Vincent, alt-J, Julia Holter. There is also a big part of art pop artists with Contemporary R&B sensibilities, for example Janelle Monáe and FKA twigs.

Balkan Pop

(also known as Balkan Pop-Folk)

Balkan Pop-Folk represents that segment of Balkan Popular Music which blends Pop, Folk and ethnic music. It appears as the modern counterpart of Balkan Folk Music, in which the dominant rhythms are influenced by oriental music, especially Arabic Music and Romani Folk Music. A large segment of this music could be defined as a mix of traditional Balkan folk music and Dance-Pop. The Balkan pop-folk music represents only a part from that ethnic Pop-Folk style which is spread at the junction area of the Asian and European continents, incorporating also genres like Arabesque from Turkey, Muzika mizrahit from Israel and Rabiz from Armenia.

Baroque Pop

Baroque pop is a style of Pop that emerged in the mid 1960s when several Pop Rock recording artists began incorporating elements of Western Classical Music into their music. Many pop songs by then had already made use of instruments previously associated with classical music, such as harpsichord and strings, but baroque pop was distinguished for its majestic, melancholic sound that was more reminiscent of the Baroque Music of the 17th-18th century.

To explain, baroque music usually has constant rhythmic flow (or steady motion), a single melodic idea that develops throughout, and counterpoint (two separate melodies that sometimes intersect). Baroque pop does not preclude non-classical instruments like guitars, electric organ, and/or drum kits, but its orchestral qualities are always placed in the arrangement's foreground.

Popular examples are The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renée", The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows", and The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", all of which feature a string quartet. Others, like The Zombies' "Care of Cell 44" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale", do not contain any classical instrumentation, but are still situated in the style due to their baroque-like features (the former's vocal counterpoints and harpsichord-sounding tack piano, and the latter's Bach-inspired organ melodies that play throughout the song).

The genre largely fell in decline after the 1960s. Some of its characteristics would later be incorporated in the work of some Chamber Folk and Chamber Pop artists.

Beat Music

Evolving from Rock & Roll and emerging out of the late-1950s Skiffle revival, beat music was one of the most popular styles of music in the UK in the early 1960s. Beat groups characteristically had simple guitar-dominated line-ups and melody lines, with vocal harmonies, primal instrumental interplay and traditional popular song structures.

The most prominent form originated in Liverpool as Merseybeat, with The Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers and The Searchers exemplifying this clean, melodic, bouncy sound. The terms 'beat music' (or 'British beat') and 'Merseybeat' have even seemingly been used interchangeably at times, though beat groups were by no means limited to the Mersey sound. The Dave Clark Five pioneered the 'Tottenham sound'; Manchester-based groups The Hollies and Herman's Hermits adopted a sound that was half Sunshine Pop, half merseybeat; heavier, rawer beat styles played by groups such as The Spencer Davis Group, The Kinks, The Who, Yardbirds and The Pretty Things were more entrenched in their rock & roll roots, whilst often incorporating styles of British Rhythm & Blues and the emerging Garage Rock sound. Beat music in turn heavily influenced the American boom of both garage rock and Folk Rock in the mid-to-late 1960s. With the emergence of the Mod scene, Freakbeat evolved around 1964-5 as a distinctly fuzzy, frantic, effects-heavy beat style adopted by bands such as The Who and The Creation.

The genre had a heavily global influence, instigating the first 'British Invasion' in the USA and consequently around the world. A whole host of artists from different countries and cultures adopted similar sounds and performed famous beat singles, for example, The Easybeats and Billy Adams in Australia; Los Bravos and Los Brincos in Spain; The Vanguards and The Beatniks in Norway; the Brazilian Jovem Guarda movement; and a portion of Françoise Hardy material circa 1966. The heavily-Beatles influenced Group Sounds scene emerged as a huge export in Japan, whilst Q65 and The Motions are prime examples of Nederbeat, a style that spawned in The Netherlands. In the UK, Beat music declined in popularity around 1967 with the emergence of various Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Rock styles.

Bedroom Pop

Bedroom pop is a style of Indie Pop which arose in the 2010s, named for solo producers and Singer/Songwriters who created intimate, "authentic" music in their own homes, outside of a traditional studio environment. The genre is generally characterised by a warm, reverbed, and hazy or sleepy atmosphere inspired by the psychedelic and nostalgic sounds of Hypnagogic Pop as well as elements of its intentionally lo-fi recording aesthetic, though in bedroom pop this is often done out of necessity. Other key parts of the sound come from styles that are pastiched by hypnagogic pop, such as the surreal and sometimes comical elements of Psychedelic Pop, Sophisti-Pop's focus on complex chords and influence from Soul and Jazz, and the synthesizer-driven sound of Synthpop and Synth Funk. Also sometimes included are elements from music popular in the 1990s alternative scene, like the subdued, reverbed sound of Dream Pop and the smooth and nocturnal atmosphere of Trip Hop.

In contrast to the often experimental and anti-commercial hypnagogic pop, bedroom pop typically remains within more accessible bounds, and pulls all these influences into a more conventional and modern Pop direction with melodic songwriting and vocal styles often informed by Contemporary R&B (and particularly Alternative R&B). Though some bedroom pop artists use acoustic instruments reminiscent of Indie Folk or electric Rock-based arrangements, many make prominent use of Electronic instrumentation, pulling from 2000s Indietronica and especially the dreamy, summery, washed-out sound of Chillwave, which in mood acted as a direct precursor to the bedroom pop sound. Lyrically, bedroom pop focuses on more personal and confessional songs, sometimes sung in hushed tones to create a more intimate atmosphere, or with a laid-back and lethargic sound to match the music.

The term "bedroom pop" has been in use for decades to describe all manner of home recording projects and DIY artists, particularly those associated with Lo-Fi / Slacker Rock. However, the first hints of a distinct musical style by this name would not emerge until the early 2010s, when the term gained traction with artists surrounding the Orchid Tapes label, including Alex G, Elvis Depressedly, and Ricky Eat Acid, with a sound that was lo-fi, dreamy, and even occasionally inspired by Ambient. At the same time, Mac DeMarco would carve a niche of his own that, while still rooted in rock, combined the laid-back sound of those artists with retro elements from hypnagogic pop that would serve as the genre's foundation. Newer artists like Clairo, Rex Orange County, and Boy Pablo would take and run with this sound in the mid-2010s, with greater R&B and electronic influences that would help to establish bedroom pop as an even more distinct sound. These artists would become popular on the internet through platforms like YouTube, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud which allow independent artists to upload their own music, as well as Spotify, whose "Bedroom Pop" playlist would group these artists and help to define the sound.

Bitpop

Bitpop is a style that fuses Bit Music with additional synths, beats, guitars and modern production values, emphasising highly catchy melodies and relatively fast tempos.

Emerging most prominently in the early 2000s, the style developed from the late 1980s/early 1990s Demoscene, a subculture where computer programmers would create tech demos featuring both graphics and sound clips. The particular 'bleeps' and 'bloops' of the bit music in these demos results from the limitations of the hardware used. Artists typically drew sounds from 8-bit (or Chiptune) and 16-bit video game consoles (including the Commodore 64, Game Boy, Atari 2600 and Nintendo Entertainment System), as well as Sequencer & Tracker textures. Early blueprints for bitpop were set by Synthpop group Yellow Magic Orchestra who utilised chiptune in some of their early releases, as well as later work by Welle: Erdball, who also incorporated elements of EBM into their sound.

Whilst mostly an underground/internet-dominated scene, some of the more well-known bitpop acts include Anamanaguchi, Slagsmålsklubben and Thermostatic. In Japan, a frantic, often child-like variant called Picopop is seen as a spiritual successor to the Shibuya-kei movement of the 1990s.

Blue-Eyed Soul

(also known as White Soul)

Blue-eyed soul is Pop with an affinity for R&B or Soul and usually refers to a pop or Pop Rock song that contains strong Gospel-like elements.

The style is best exemplified by the music of The Righteous Brothers ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'") and The Walker Brothers ("The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More"). Both were singers who gave soulful performances over highly orchestral music that found unexpected crossover success on R&B radio stations of the 1960s. Because they were white, they were referred to as "blue-eyed soul", a reflection of that era's racial division.

Boy Band

A boy band is a type of male vocal group often put together by talent managers or record producers. The members are generally expected to perform highly choreographed dance sequences during their shows and music videos, and to have an attractive appearance. A typical boy band features three or more members who sing R&B-influenced music, but do not play instruments or write their own music. This style began in the 1980s with groups such as New Kids on the Block and New Edition achieving commercial success in the United States, and it has gone through periods of popularity in various countries ever since.

Brill Building

(also known as Brill Building Pop, Brill Building Sound)

Brill Building refers to a type of composition and arrangement style within Pop music, associated with the songwriting teams at the eponymous estate in New York City during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Brill Building itself was a block of music publishing houses where teams of professional writers worked to create the music, including Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka and Gerry Goffin + Carole King, usually for teen idols or Girl Groups. However, the label has been used for music originating from other places, referring to the general template rather than solely being produced in the Brill Building itself.

The subsequent sound associated with the building displayed a variety of influences including Rock & Roll, Doo-Wop, Rhythm & Blues and Tin Pan Alley pop, though its arrangements were more elaborate and polished with a typically melodramatic flair, often featuring orchestras, piano/keyboard hooks and large accompanying bands. Popular hits of the period include Sedaka's "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen", Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion", Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover", Curtis Lee's "Pretty Little Angel Eyes", Paul Anka's "Diana" and Gene Pitney's "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", several of which go to show that a separate songwriter is not necessarily required. The traditional Brill Building song template fell out of favour when the first British Invasion began in the mid-1960s, but it continues to influence popular music to this day, including the inception of Pop Rock.

Producer Phil Spector began his career as a brill building songwriter in the 1950s before developing his Wall of Sound production style at the Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. He began creating productions that acted as a stylistically distinct offshoot of the original Brill Building template, pioneering a sound sometimes dubbed 'Spectropop'. Spector's production style was famously showcased on recordings by girl groups The Ronettes and The Crystals. The 'wall of sound' proved highly influential on pop music in general, directly inspiring The Beach Boys, The Walker Brothers and Roy Wood.

British Dance Band

A British genre that came from the dancehalls of the 1920s and 1930s, combining a British take on Jazz with the Music Hall tradition.

Britpop

Britpop is a subset of Alternative Rock that developed in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s. It has been commonly perceived as a reaction not only to the angst-ridden American Grunge movement but also to the ethereal, noisy Shoegaze style that found some success during the early '90s in the UK. Britpop marked a return to a more traditional Rock music structure, characterized by guitar-driven melodies, catchy Pop-based hooks and a commercial-friendly sound, while also displaying the influence of a wide range of styles that had been popularized by earlier British artists, such as Beat Music, Psychedelic Pop, Mod and Garage Rock from the 1960s (primary focal points being The Beatles, The Kinks and The Who); Glam Rock, Punk Rock and New Wave from the 1970s; and Jangle Pop from the 1980s. Other common musical characteristics include heavily-reverbed lead guitar (influenced by shoegaze, but designed to inject more of an 'anthemic' quality), breezy strummed acoustic guitar, simple chord sequences, accompanying string arrangements, bounding piano parts and jaunty, singalong melodies. The popularity of the Baggy / Madchester scenes in the late 1980s and early 1990s would serve as an important precursor to the genre, though Britpop tended to lack Alternative Dance rhythms. Additionally, in both lyrics and image, Britpop artists were emphatic in displaying elements of the life and culture of the British working and middle classes, a feature that notably limited its commercial appeal in the USA.

Bands like Oasis, Pulp, Blur, Supergrass, Suede, Dodgy and Cast were responsible for developing and popularizing Britpop during the mid-1990s. The genre would experience a steady commercial and critical decline from 1997 onward, largely related to the long-term poor reception of Oasis's third album, Be Here Now and Blur's decision to move away from their Britpop-oriented sound. The attention of the British press and audience thus began to focus on acts like Radiohead and The Verve, which had been less successful during Britpop's peak of popularity. Nevertheless, newer bands formed during the late 1990s and early 2000s such as Coldplay, Starsailor and Travis, were heavily influenced by the Britpop sound while having less British-oriented lyrical themes and an altogether softer, more introspective style.

Bro-Country

Bro country is style of country originating in the 21st century and takes its cues from Hip Hop, Pop and Contemporary Country. This style is heavily reliant on lyrics about girls, partying and drinking beer. This musical style shies away from Traditional Country to feature more modern pop styles such as electronic beats, auto-tune and repetitive choruses. Some artists in this style include Florida Georgia Line, Fast Ryde, Luke Bryan, Tyler Farr, Billy Currington, Jason Aldean and Chase Rice.

Bubblegum Dance

Bubblegum Dance is a sub-genre of Eurodance, which shares similar lyrical themes and childlike atmosphere like Bubblegum. It originated from Scandinavia and Denmark, which also produced most artists dedicated to this music and had the largest audience throughout the world in the 1990s and early 2000s. Typically this music involves a female vocalist singing a happy, bouncy & funny chorus, and a male doing back up vocals. These ingredients give a stronger orientation towards Pop and a childish tinge to this genre even though many bubblegum artists use sexual or suggestive lyrics, which are appropriate for adult audiences. Bubblegum Dance makes the transition from the early 90s harder style of music to the very popular happy Teen Pop music from the early 2000s. Most known artists include Aqua, Vengaboys, Chipz, Me & My, Toy-Box.

Bubblegum Pop

Bubblegum is a subgenre of Pop known for its upbeat, catchy simplicity in both lyrical and musical content. So named for the target audience of children and young teens, Bubblegum featured a concoction of sing-along choruses with simple verses and a repetitive melodic structure. Bubblegum songs were generally carefully crafted for the express purpose of high commercial viability, and performed by studio musicians. The tracks were often credited to an actual band, who may or may not have had much to do with the song itself. Good examples of Bubblegum bands would be The Monkees, The Partridge Family, and The Archies.

C86

(also known as Anorak Pop, Shambling)

C86 is a loose term covering an array of 1980s British Indie Pop groups rooted in Jangle Pop, with a more ramshackle sound that also pulled from Post-Punk and, in the latter half of the decade, Noise Pop. The term arose from the 1986 NME compilation cassette of the same name, C86, whose name in turn was a play on its year of release and the length labelling of blank cassettes - a nod to these groups' DIY attitude. This cassette featured artists like The Pastels, The Wedding Present, and Half Man Half Biscuit, who would go on to define the C86 sound (insofar as there was one) as the press began to use the term to refer to similar bands. Another term, "shambling", was coined by DJ John Peel in reference to the often simplistic lyrics and music of C86 artists, and their overlap with Twee Pop.

Though it was a fairly short period in the British indie scene, C86 would leave its mark as involved artists moved onto different sounds in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with The Soup Dragons and Primal Scream shifting their focus towards the new Baggy / Madchester sound and the connected Alternative Dance, and two members of McCarthy going on to found the experimental French-British group Stereolab.

Cambodian Pop

(also known as Khmer Pop)

Cambodian pop refers to the popular music produced in Cambodia or by Khmer people. It originated in the 1960s when composers began mixing traditional Khmer folk music with Western Traditional Pop, Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll influences. This fusion quickly took off and developed a number of acts such as រស់សេរីសុទ្ធា [Ros Sereysothea], ប៉ែនរ៉ន [Pan Ron] and ស៊ីនស៊ីសាមុត [Sinn Sisamouth], who are still respected in Cambodia as part of the Golden Age singers. Traditional songs were either slow and passionate, giving focus on rich ensembles and a dominant vocal line, or organized for Khmer dances such as the ramvong (slow dance music) and rambach (more upbeat and influenced by Thai music). Since the late 1960s Garage Rock and Psychedelic Pop were also popular within the country and became incorporated and experimented with by Cambodian pop artists Cambodian pop artists, which showed a faster and more rebellious side of the genre. The dominant era of modern Cambodian music came to end in the mid 1970s during the Pol Pot regime, as many of the artists were murdered and records vanished or deteriorated.

The new wave of domestic Cambodian pop music, known as production house music, was established in the late 1990s by labels who today play a major role in the Cambodian media. Production house music is mostly taken from compositions of Cambodian pop classics or other popular hits. Some have criticized production house music for its copycat nature, as ballads, Dance tracks, etc. were stolen from famous C-Pop, Thai pop, K-Pop, and American Pop songs. The original music movement originated as a reaction to the often popular production house music and artists belonging to the movement began writing and producing original tracks to perform.

Internationally, the original Cambodian pop sound is more popular and has received various cult compilations such as Cambodian Rocks and even a documentary film, Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll. An independent golden age Cambodian pop revival dominated by Dengue Fever and The Cambodian Space Project has found overseas success, despite still being a very underground movement in terms of quantity.

Cantopop

(also known as HK-pop, Hong Kong Pop, Cantonese Pop)

Sugary pop music sung in Cantonese and popular in Hong Kong and the Cantonese-speaking diaspora throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Chalga

Chalga is a style of music from Bulgaria, which blends elements of Contemporary Folk (Turkish, Bulgarian, Arabic & Romani) with Dance-Pop. Like its brother genre, the so called Proto-Manele from Romania, Chalga was discouraged in the communist era, while a similar genre from Serbia, Turbo-Folk, was accepted with less restriction. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, it increased in popularity and finally, after 2000, came to overtake the other similar genres from the Balkans like Modern Laika from Greece and Turbo-Folk from Serbia. Despite its ascension, it was received with criticism because of its lyrics and its eastern and Arabic roots. A large segment of population still associate this music with a low morality. It is played in the most exclusive pubs from towns, which are called "chalga dance clubs". Notable artists include: Anelia, Райна [Raina], Азис [Azis], Андреа [Andrea], Глория [Gloria].

Chamber Pop

(also known as Ork-Pop)

A style of Indie Pop also known originally as ork-pop (short for orchestral pop), which developed in the early to mid-1990s in part as a reaction to the rougher Grunge, Lo-Fi / Slacker Rock, and other Alternative Rock styles which were popular at the time. At its core is a particularly "retro" Pop sound based on the smooth melodic songwriting of Lounge and other Easy Listening, especially the work of Burt Bacharach, as well as 1960s pop styles like Sunshine Pop, Psychedelic Pop, and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound Brill Building productions. Of particular interest to the early ork-pop scene was the songwriting of Brian Wilson on The Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds, whose ornate Baroque Pop orchestrations would also be a major influence. Chamber pop artists still usually used guitar, bass, and drums like other indie pop, but they also would often include accents of piano, strings, horns, winds, Rhodes, vibraphone, and other instruments less commonly found in contemporary Rock.

Though foreshadowed by the use of strings by a few indie pop artists in the mid-to-late 1980s and particularly the work of French singer-songwriter Louis Philippe and other artists on él Records, chamber pop would not develop in earnest until the 1990s, with artists on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, the sleepy soft-pop of The High Llamas, the more orchestrated Tindersticks, and Twee Pop luminaries Belle and Sebastian would lead the way. And in the US, there was the likes of pop crooner/trumpeter Eric Matthews (and his short-lived duo Cardinal), labels like Flydaddy Records and The Elephant 6 Recording Co., and the Alt-Country-tinged style of Lambchop. Other similar retro-pop movements would crop up in the 1990s as well and occasionally cross over with chamber pop, like the tongue-in-cheek lounge revival Cocktail Nation scene and the eclectic Japanese Shibuya-kei music and fashion movement which featured many of the same influences.

It should be noted that although an orchestrated pop sound is a core focus of chamber pop, as a term it does not encompass all orchestrated pop. Even during the genre's 1990s heyday, similar methods of orchestration would be used by artists rooted in Art Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, and even some kinds of alternative rock. Similarly, though it is an influence, the 1960s baroque pop style has more of a focus on interlocking melody lines and prominent harpsichord that it borrows from Baroque Music. What sets chamber pop apart from these, as well as the similar retro-pop movements of the time, is its specific earnest combination of indie pop instrumentation with melodic songwriting heavily informed by classic pop and the orchestral accents that gave it the ork-pop name.

Chamber pop's popularity would continue in indie scenes in the early 2000s, with artists like Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, and Owen Pallett (initially as Final Fantasy) releasing acclaimed albums with a more overtly orchestrated chamber pop sound. However, by the end of the 2000s and into the 2010s, the sound had mostly faded from prominence. The term does continue to occasionally be used more broadly to refer to other styles of orchestrated pop music.

Chinese Pop

(also known as C-Pop)

C-Pop refers to the broad range of popular music originating from Chinese countries after the fall of Hong Kong-produced Shidaiqu since the late 1960s. Composers and artists from Mandarin and Cantonese regions began exchanging the vintage elements of shidaiqu with Western structures, scales, chord progressions and styles of music. Artists such as 鄧麗君 [Teresa Teng] and 許冠傑 [Samuel Hui] took part of this development and are hailed today as two of the greatest singers of China.

Today C-pop collects various popular music from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau, as well as countries with Chinese minority such as Malaysia, the United States and the Philippines. Ballads are very common, but recent songs have also been influenced by Pop Rock, Dance-Pop, Hip Hop and Contemporary R&B. Other songs tend to mix contemporary arrangements with folkloric instruments such as the erhu, dizi and gusheng. In the 2010s, a number of Boy Bands and girl groups gained rising popularity, including K-Pop Chinese crossovers such as EXO. C-pop is divided into two branches: Mandopop, covering most of the Chinese speaking region (Mainland China, Taiwan), and Cantopop, which is mainly performed in Hong Kong and Macau.

City Pop

(also known as Japanese City Pop)

City pop is a predominantly Japanese genre which originally became popular with the blooming economy of the country during the 1970s-1980s, mostly having a relation with the everyday urban and luxury life of Japanese metropolitan areas. It often aimed at a more adult audience than J-Pop and had a more contemporary and Western sound than Kayōkyoku and Enka.

The notable precursors of the original city pop sound included はっぴいえんど [Happy End]'s warm blend of Folk and Pop Rock and kayōkyoku's more chilled-out Jazz vibes. These elements were taken in the mid-1970s for the genre's blueprint with Happy End's successor ティン・パン・アレー [Tin Pan Alley] and Sugar Babe. Adding to that was the presence of urban and romantic lyrical themes, clean production, longer structures, and more specifically, the upbeat grooves from Funk and Disco. This is when city pop began to develop itself, being diverse in nature by changing between upbeat and mellow styles. By the late 1970s there was also an increased influence of Jazz Fusion, Lounge and Exotica, with some tracks taking the form of instrumentals (occasionally covering up an entire album, an example being 角松敏生 [Toshiki Kadomatsu]'s Sea Is a Lady).

The second wave of city pop began when Yellow Magic Orchestra's Synthpop and Techno kayō became popular across the country in the late 1970s-early 1980s and caused the commercialization of synthesizers. Newer productions of the genre were more connected with the danceable sounds of Synth Funk and Boogie, which caused the construction of its trademark 'J-Funk' sound while still switching between pop and ballad formats. Meanwhile, the rise of idols in the country caused acts like Anri and EPO to become well-known in the genre.

City pop declined in 1990 with the rise of asset prices in Japan and Shibuya-kei (which was more indie and DIY influenced but still based on the Japanese urban life) replaced its popularity. The genre then acquired a renowned interest later in the 2010s through strong internet coverage, as an underground revival surfaced with acts like idol group Especia and singer 一十三十一 [Hitomitoi] having major popularity.

Classical Crossover

Classical Crossover is a term applied to artists that use strong classical influences in their music, but ultimately have an accessible and popular sound to reach out to a wider audience. The main artists of this genre include Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Russell Watson and Vanessa-Mae.

Cocktail Nation

The Cocktail Nation was a scene connected to the nascent Alternative Rock movement that arose in the early 1990s in the United States, when some associated artists became interested in the Easy Listening music of the 1950s and 1960s, particularly the vocal Lounge style but also incorporating elements of the surreal and comic atmosphere of Space Age Pop and the faux-foreign sonic palette of Exotica. Combustible Edison would come to define the movement in the early to mid-1990s as they released their debut I, Swinger on the influential indie label Sub Pop Records in 1994, coupled with the 'First Manifesto of the Cocktail Nation': "We, the Citizens of the Cocktail Nation, do hereby declare our independence from the desiccated horde of mummified uniformity - our freedom from an existence of abject swinglessness. We pledge to revolt against the void of dictated sobriety and to cultivate not riches but richness, swankness, suaveness and strangeness, with pleasure and boldness for all. BE FABULOUS." As this 'manifesto' indicated, the movement was coupled with a romanticised 'cocktail lifestyle', closely intertwined with the Swing Revival movement that arose around the same time.

Other early defining artists included Love Jones, formed by drummer Ben Daughtrey who was best known for his work with The Lemonheads, and the retro-futuristic space age bachelor pad reinterpretations of 1990s alternative hits by The Moog Cookbook. As the decade wore on, the movement would also come to include the exotica-focused style of Don Tiki as well as artists bringing in more modern influences, like the Downtempo-based Tipsy. It would also have an influence on the decidedly less ironic Chamber Pop style in the 1990s, plus the similar Japanese Shibuya-kei movement which, among other things, also had a fascination with lounge music. The Cocktail Nation scene would decline alongside its swing revival cousin with the beginning of the 2000s, but the sound would notably be kept alive on the West Coast by a few artists. This included the Portland-based Pink Martini and Californian parodist Richard Cheese, who repurposed 1990s alternative hits in a laid-back lounge style with his backing band Lounge Against the Machine (itself a play on alternative band Rage Against the Machine).

Contemporary Christian Music

(also known as CCM, Inspirational)

Contemporary Christian music is a type of popular music focused on Christian spirituality and faith. It dates back to 1960s when Christian artists in the United States began to perform religious themed music in more modern and Pop oriented styles than Gospel or Christian Liturgical Music.

Country Pop

Country pop is a subgenre of Country and Pop which combines the two genres in order to appeal to a larger audience. Country pop takes Traditional Country elements and adds many styles and structures from Pop music of multiple eras.

Nashville Sound is considered to be the first effort in blending country and pop, pioneered by Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. Dominated by artists from Nashville, Tennessee, it resulted in many songs removing traditional instrumentation such as fiddle and banjo and challenged the Honky Tonk dominance in music charts with smoother choruses and more sophisticated production. Such music helped artists like Patsy Cline and Glen Campbell gain acceptance from both country and pop fans, but upset country purists.

Country pop continued to remain popular in the late 1960s and 1970s, with "Countrypolitan" becoming a new term to refer to popular Nashville Sound music during this period, implementing lush string arrangements, background vocals and more elementary subject matter. The genre faced competition from other country subgenres in an effort to return to the genre's roots.

The dawn of the 1980s saw the popularity of the movie soundtrack Urban Cowboy and, in turn, resulted in the genre Urban Cowboy, which saw the genre develop into a sound more influenced from late 1970s pop, including elements of Disco which was popular at the time. No longer based in Nashville, many of these artists originated from the West Coast. However, in the succeeding years, country pop had to contend with more traditionalist country subgenres, once again another reaction in an effort to return the genre to its roots.

Country pop continued to evolve its sound in the 1990s and 2000s, with popular artists such as Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes and Dixie Chicks becoming among the best selling country artists of all time during this period. Such popularity can be attributed to the proliferation of country music to the FM radio dial, and the use of new marketing strategies, with many artists taking the sound of Contemporary Country and developing a much more radio-friendly style.

In the 2010s, Bro-Country began to form by taking subject matter and mass audience appeal of country pop and applying Hip Hop, Contemporary R&B and Electronic musical influences.

Countrypolitan

Countrypolitan was an evolution of the Nashville Sound in the 1960s and 1970s focusing further on Pop music elements in order to re-establish chart dominance in a market increasingly dominated by the Bakersfield Sound and British Pop Rock acts. Countrypolitan producers, chief among them Billy Sherrill and Owen Bradley, emphasized lush string arrangements, often performed by an entire orchestra, to an even greater extent and frequently layered multiple guitar and keyboard tracks over glossily-produced lead and background vocals, the latter of which was often sung by a choir of singers in a fashion similar to Gospel music. This greater focus on ensemble and production-heavy music, often at the expense of many trademarks of traditional country music such as the country guitar "twang", led to much criticism in the industry and beyond. Nevertheless, for almost two decades countrypolitan artists such as Tammy Wynette and Glen Campbell dominated the country charts and saw great crossover success in the pop charts to widespread fame and cultural cachet. Countrypolitan eventually faded in the 1980s with the emergence of Outlaw Country and other developments in Country Pop, like Urban Cowboy; its influence is however felt in country music to this day, with many of its elements being subsumed into later country pop and Contemporary Country.

Cumbia cheta

(also known as Cumbia Canchera, Cumbia Pop)

Cumbia cheta (which translates to "rich cumbia") is a style of Cumbia developed in the La Plata region of Uruguay and Argentina, which became mainstream in the mid-2010s with acts like Rombai and Marama. The style appeals to middle and high class audiences, taking influence from Latin Pop structures, melodies and stereotypes, as opposed to the rougher style of Cumbia Villera. Cumbia cheta keeps the synthesized production of most Cumbia Argentina with a more contemporary touch, occassionally having upbeat rhythmic elements of Reggaeton. Lyrical themes are mostly related to romance, youth and fun.

Dance-Pop

Dance-pop is a subgenre of Pop music that appeared around the beginning of the 1980s in night clubs. It evolved from and alongside numerous other genres such as Disco, House, New Wave, Electropop and Synthpop. Characteristic are simple yet catchy melodies and throbbing beats.

Among the first superstars of dance pop were Janet and Michael Jackson, the Pet Shop Boys, Madonna and Kylie Minogue.

See also: Genres of Dance Music

Dangdut

A style of Indonesian popular music with Indian and Arabian influences which emerged in the early 1970s, the term has been coined by Rhoma Irama, the "King of Dangdut".

Dangdut koplo

Dangdut koplo is a style of popular music which originated in 1990s Indonesia as a new form of Javanese Dangdut music. Building upon the foundations of the original dangdut with influence from Western sounds of Pop, Rock and Reggae music, dangdut koplo is recognised by its faster tempos, and its distinct "koplo" rhythm, played on kendang drums like the original dangdut.

As a primarily performance-oriented genre, an important aspect of dangdut koplo is the "goyang" swaying dance movements associated with it, carried out on stage by female singers and dancers. Popular dangdut singer Inul Daratista's shocking "goyang ngebor" helped lead her to mainstream success in the early 2000s, and as she introduced the new koplo style to her performances, this association with eroticised dancing and dangdut koplo spread across the country. Devout Muslim and important dangdut musician Rhoma Irama denounced the sexualised koplo in an attempt to distance it from the original genre with which he is closely associated, but the association between the two styles is still extant, and koplo is widely understood to be an extension of dangdut.

Dansbandsmusik

A Scandinavian/Nordic form of entertainment music, growing out of the pop/rock explosion of the 1960s, and incorporating swing, schlagers, bland rock music, and sometimes light country music into the repertoire. In its early days, dansbandsmusik (tr. Dance Band Music) also made use of dance-friendly rock and roll standards. Its primary function is musical accompaniment to dancing, primarily for an audience not that much familiar with the more challenging aspects of rock, jazz, classical, etc. Still, the genre also works as listening music in its own right. Arrangement-wise, dance bands have to a certain degree given priority to vocals, keyboards, and saxophone. Guitar, although usually being played by vocalists, has had a rhythmic and harmonic, rather than melodic function, guitar soloing as such never opting for the spotlight. The genre had its heyday in the 1970s, and almost without exception, part and parcel of the dance band style was being dressed in identical, colorful, and glitzy suits. As for venues, dance bands have mostly performed in parks, hotels, at nightclubs, on ferries, and the like, performance patterns having changed only slightly since the early 1960s.

Dansktop

The Danish equivalent to Swedish Dansbandsmusik, German Volkstümliche Musik and US Country, Dansktop is a coming together of folk and pop elements, and a popular form of dance music among older citizens especially, if not exclusively. The genre took its name from a national radio show called "Dansktoppen" (tr: The Danish Top). Some key artists of the genre are Keld & Hilda, Kandis, Lis & Per, Jørn Hjorting, Birthe Kjær, Richard Ragnvald, Gustav Winckler, Bamses Venner and Bjørn & Okay.

Denpa

Denpa is an underground style of Japanese pop music emerged during the early 2000s thanks to groups like Under17 and Mosaic.wav. The name is based on the Japanese word "電波" which means "radiomagnetic/electric waves" for Japanese people who were having their own deep fantasies. The word itself then established to be related to the genre's nature, due to it being oriented on an overly catchy, energetic and cute sound with weird-sounding lyrics, so Denpa songs would get into the individual's brain and have them play on its head repeatedly at various occasions. Denpa songs have polished Electropop and Bitpop-esque productions and cutesy-sounding vocals, with its main visual and lyrical aesthetic being based in moe anime and visual novels.

Most denpa songs are often aimed to an otaku demographic and releases are often distributed on doujin conventions and the internet, causing a small number of anime soundtracks and character songs to be influenced on the genre as well.

Disco polo

(also known as Muzyka chodnikowa, Piosenka chodnikowa)

Style of Polish pop music descended from contemporary folk tunes (played at weddings and feasts) and Italo-Disco. Just like those tunes disco-polo songs are poorly arranged and main emphasis is put on danceable rhythm and catchy melodies. High-pitched and clear vocals are usually accompanied by keyboards. Lyrics concern love, parties, freedom, Gypsy lifestyle. Politics and religion are mentioned too but not so often. Lyricists' sense of humour may be ribald but does not tend to break commonly accepted conventions. The genre was very popular in the early 1990s. Its emergence was made possible when the Polish musical industry stopped being controlled by the state. Thanks to mass production cassettes could be bought on street bazaars, therefore it was often called muzyka chodnikowa (pol: pavement music). TV shows "Disco Relax" and "Disco Polo Live" broadcasted by Polsat and magazines such as 'Super Disco po Polsku', 'Disco Polo', 'Disco Hit' were devoted to it. Some well-known acts are Akcent, Top One, Boys, Shazza. Its huge popularity made several non-disco-polo artists give it a try, like Happy End or Krzysztof Krawczyk who is one of very few male vocalists in the genre who did not use excessively high-pitched vocals.

Disco polo got criticised due to oversimplification - both in music and lyrics - and spoiling listeners' tastes. There were also journalists who defended it as new folk music. It was compared to pre-war inferior dancing-halls, vaudevilles or ballads performed by street bands in Warsaw.

In the first decade of 21st century it was getting back with help of major labels and growing interest of young people.

Easy Listening

Easy Listening is a form of typically instrumental, lush pop music played by orchestras and big bands for light entertainment. It peaked in the late 1950s and in the 1960s. The repertory often includes Pop, Standards, Jazz, Classical Music or Folk themes being played in light instrumental versions. Sometimes a choir is featured. Some artists also contribute original and new compositions.

Electropop

Europop

Europop emerged throughout mainland Europe in the early 1970s, referring to slick, highly commercial Pop songs that emphasise sugary melodies and light, bouncy instrumentation. The vast majority of the music was made in the continent due to the incorporation of minor influences from various European Folk Music and pop styles, including Schlager, Polka, Klezmer and Glam Rock. The term is often used with negative connotations, highlighting 'fluff' and silliness of music described as such as well as unfavourable associations with the Eurovision Song Contest.

By far the most famous and internationally successful Europop act are Swedish group ABBA, whose 1974 Eurovision winner and transnational No. 1 "Waterloo" was a major milestone in Europop's history and later success. The group set the general template for Europop: memorable hooks and refrains; Rock instrumentation plus piano, synthesizers and strings (artificial or live); basic major-key harmonies; key changes for later choruses and a steady dance beat.

By the late 1970s, the style was frequently influencing and overlapping with Euro-Disco, including records by ABBA, Boney M., Luv' and Baccara. Europop had a large impact on the pop music climate of the 1990s, with the success of Ace of Base and numerous Eurodance acts later on in the decade (notably Aqua and Eiffel 65). It was also an influence on UK and US Boy Bands and girl groups such as Spice Girls, Take That and Backstreet Boys, whilst 1980s Europop was a focal point for a wave of K-Pop acts in the late 2000s.

Exotica

Flamenco Pop

Originally developed in the mid 1960s, incorporated palos flamencos (Flamenco subgenres) and Copla into the format of feisty and lively Pop music (particularly, Yé-yé). It was strongly influenced by Rumba Flamenca, but Flamenco Pop isn't a palo flamenco, and is considered 'pop aflamencado', pop with some flamenco overtones, such as the singing style and rhythms.

Since the late 1990s the new acts of Flamenco Pop are commonly referred as 'Flamenkito', a style where ballads and mid-tempos are frequent too, and it has more contemporary influences such as Dance-Pop or even Reggaeton. It is dismissed by critics by its superficial and clichéd 'light' flamenco elements. Nonetheless, it has become very popular amongst a young audience that in most cases isn't interested in more pure forms of flamenco music. Some of the most popular Flamenco Pop artists in the 1960s/1970s were Encarnita Polo and Rosa Morena. In the 1990s Azúcar Moreno was the most succesful band. More recently, Los Rebujitos, La Húngara, Fondo Flamenco and El Barrio have had great success in the 'Flamenkito' style.

Folk Pop

Folk pop is a genre originating from the 1950s which blends Pop music with Contemporary Folk. It has many similarities with Folk Rock of its era and many folk pop bands have been defined as such, as they both tend to use backing bands and pop structures. However, folk pop is characterized by a more commercial sound, with less reliance on electric guitar, a larger presence of harmonized and catchy melodies, and shorter, softer songs. The genre's popularity was at its largest from the mid 1960s to early 1970s, with the success of artists such as Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, and Cat Stevens.

Freakbeat

Freakbeat is a genre of Rock music closely related to the Mod scene of the 1960s. Freakbeat bands took elements of British Rhythm & Blues, Beat Music and Pop Rock and mixed it with the studio effects of Psychedelia - fuzztones, flanging, chorus - to create a type of music often seen as a British relative of American Garage Rock and Psychedelic Rock.

While most of the groups who exemplified the sound of Freakbeat music were obscure, British artists, such as The Creation, The Sorrows and Les Fleur de Lys, it is also sometimes applied to acts who had greater success, such as The Who, as well as bands from other, usually European countries, such as Germany's The Boots and France's 5 Gentlemen.

Funknejo

(also known as Pancadão sertanejo)

Funknejo is a sub-genre of Sertanejo universitário that incorporates Funk carioca's rhythms, production and idioms into the universitário genre. The term gained traction during the early 2010s, especially with the success of João Lucas & Marcelo's Eu quero tchu, eu quero tcha, which incoporated funk carioca's style of production and simple, repetitive lyrics into a mid-tempo sertanejo universitário fashion. From 2012 onwards, this crossover grew in success, spawning many sertanejo universitário hits in this format, thus allowing the genre dominance on the radio and charts.

During the later 2010s, funk carioca's MCs (mostly hailing from São Paulo, which birthed the Funk ostentação scene) started collaborating with sertanejo universitário duos and artists, most notably with the hit song by João Neto & Frederico and MC Kevinho, Cê acredita. This combination of Brazil's most popular genres warranted both sertanejo universitário and funk carioca to branch out outside their typical public, allowing universitário singers to penetrate urban centers and for funk carioca MCs to experience success in other regions dominated by sertanejo universitário. Despite the fusion name, most funknejo songs are just sertanejo universitário songs worked within funk carioca's style, rarely the other way around.

Futurepop

As EBM began to decline in popularity, a more modern version of the genre began to emerge in its place in the mid/late '90s. It features a danceable sound with heavy Synthpop influences, and has become popular mainly in clubs throughout the world, particularly in Europe. Futurepop retains the apocalyptic worldview of EBM and Industrial (a more distant predecessor) but generally adds the more melodic elements of Synthpop and some club-friendly Trance influences. The progenitors of the genre are usually considered to be VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, and Covenant.

Girl Group

Girl Group is a genre of Pop music that combines elements of Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll, and Traditional Pop music, and is typically performed by trios or quartets of female vocalists. The style is typified by a lead singer accompanied by loose backing harmonies.

Girl Group originated with late 1950s Doo-Wop groups such as The Bobbettes and The Chantels, and was popularized in the early to mid 1960s by groups such as The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Ronettes, and The Shangri-Las. It is strongly identified with the style of Brill Building pop songwriters such as Goffin & King and Barry & Greenwich and innovative producers such as Phil Spector. Several notable artists also recorded in this style as solo artists, such as Darlene Love and Lesley Gore.

This synergy of popular styles was a strong influence on the songwriting and production of "boy band" artists such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

Glitch Pop

Glitch Pop is a genre mostly based on the roots of experimental Electronic elements and modern Pop. Productions following the style incorporate the concrete/abstract sounds from Glitch and IDM to a pop songwriting format, mostly related with Synthpop, Art Pop and Indietronica (and on more recent cases Alternative R&B). Some of the newer glitch pop productions lack the experimental techniques of the original scene to allow a more commercial sound but still follow with the simple definition of its glitchy-sounding format.

Group Sounds

(GS)

Group sounds was a wave of Japanese bands in the mid-to-late 1960s who began performing a style of Beat Music primarily in English, inspired by the growing popularity in Japan of foreign groups like The Beatles and The Ventures. The contemporaneous Eleki scene of Surf Rock in the country was also a large influence, with its pioneer, the 寺内タケシ [Takeshi Terauchi]-led Blue Jeans, being also among the first Japanese beat artists. The 1965 single "フリフリ" ("Furi furi") by The Spiders has been heralded as the true beginning of the movement, along with The Beatles' 1966 concerts at Budokan in Tokyo. The scene would spawn dozens of bands from 1967 to 1969, with some of the most popular including Blue Comets, The Tigers, and Ox. All-female groups would also crop up, the most prominent of which was Pinky Chicks.

Many of these groups at the tail end of the movement would bring in strong influences from Psychedelic Pop and Baroque Pop, inspired by their British and American counterparts. However, by the early 1970s, the movement had mostly dissipated and group sounds bands either disbanded or reconfigured into new groups playing new styles. The movement would be succeeded by rock groups like Folk Rock band はっぴいえんど [Happy End] (who, unlike most group sounds artists, performed primarily in the Japanese language) and Psychedelic Rock band Flower Travellin' Band, who had roots in the group sounds scene.

In the late 1980s, a resurgence of interest in the group sounds style led to a new wave of underground acts in Tokyo that were christened "neo-GS". This GS also stood for "garage sounds", as groups in this wave like ザ・ ファントムギフト [The Phantomgift], The Strikes, and The Collectors also brought in the more raucous attitude of Garage Rock. Many of these groups also accentuated the psychedelic rock aspects of the original wave and, like the similar Mod Revival, brought in some Punk Rock influence (particularly Garage Punk). Although the neo-GS movement was short-lived, fading out in the early 1990s, its influence would be felt on the Japanese indie scene in the following decade through garage groups like The 5.6.7.8's and The Pebbles. In addition, foundational Shibuya-kei artists like Original Love and Yasuharu Konishi of Pizzicato Five would get their starts with or assisting neo-GS groups The Red Curtain and Hippy Hippy Shakes, respectively.

Humppa

Humppa is a type of Finnish music related to jazz and the foxtrot. The word also refers to a type of Finnish social dance at which the music is played. This type of dance was introduced in the 1910s and is related to the one-step and two-step.

Hyperpop

Hyperpop is a fusion of Pop and Electronic music that grew into popularity in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Its roots can be traced back to the Bubblegum Bass stylings of the PC Music label and the Electropop of the late 2000s and 2010s, while also often drawing influences from other Electronic Dance Music and Hip Hop subgenres. The name of the genre is believed to have been popularised by Spotify's "Hyperpop" playlist which began to gain moderate attention from both listeners and artists in late 2019 and 2020. The playlist included the likes of artists such as 100 Gecs, Charli XCX and Dorian Electra whose popularity helped expose more people to the playlist and sound.

Songs in the genre typically stick to a standard pop formula but with an emphasis on more unconventional and abrasive sound design (metallic percussion, distorted synth leads, etc.), as well as heavily manipulated vocals making use of effects such as autotune and pitch-shifting, often to the point of making them sound inhuman or robotic. The genre is heavily influenced by electronic dance music, regularly featuring production choices and arrangements that borrow from the tropes of EDM subgenres such as Deconstructed Club, Trap, Trance and Electro House. It is also common for songs to take influence from Trap-style production, including loud, distorted 808s and sharp rattling hi hats. The genre also frequently overlaps with Pop Rap, as can be heard in the music of artists such as Slayyyter and Food House.

Aesthetically, hyperpop builds on the high-tech net art style of the PC Music label and other bubblegum bass artists, as well as its exaggerated femininity, which is often portrayed in an ironic or "camp" manner. The genre is also strongly tied to and was primarily popularised by the LGBTQ+ community to which many fans and prominent artists belong, leading it to be viewed as a safe space for the expression of sexuality and gender identity. As a result, these themes often make their way into hyperpop artists' personal presentation, aesthetics, and lyrics (e.g. Dorian Electra, Fraxiom, That Kid).

Indian Pop

(also known as Indi-Pop, Hindi Pop)

Indian pop is a popular music of India and other South Asian countries, based on an amalgamation of South Asian folk and classical music with influences of music from different parts of the world, especially American and European pop and rock music.

Indie Pop

Indie pop is a genre characterized by Pop conventions and structure, and a melodic, lighthearted sound. Artists generally use typical Rock instrumentation (drums, guitar, bass, vocals), although some artists deviate from this, sometimes including electronics, piano, strings, or even eschewing guitar altogether.

Indie pop artists tend to have a seemingly primitive and simplistic approach to music, taking many cues from punk's DIY ethos. The genre is inspired by the music of The Velvet Underground, 1960s pop music, Power Pop, and Post-Punk.

The genre came to fruition thanks to bands such as Television Personalities and The Go-Betweens, and gained momentum thanks to C86. Important UK bands include early Primal Scream, The Smiths, Belle and Sebastian, The Field Mice and many artists on Sarah Records.

In the mid-1980s, indie pop began to gain a following in the United States of America. Key indie pop bands popped up thanks to this, including Beat Happening, The Magnetic Fields, and Tiger Trap, and labels specializing in indie pop such as K Records began to appear.

Irish Showband

The Irish showband phenomenon lasted roughly from the mid-1950s until the early 1980s, though there are still extant showbands today. Evolving from earlier Big Bands when Jazz declined in popularity in favour of singer-based music in Ireland, showbands often performed a mixture of currently popular music and skits (hence the name showband), with music based on Pop, Beat Music, Rock & Roll, Country and Irish Folk Music, mixed together in a danceable format. Showbands tended to feature 2-3 brass players, a lead singer, guitar, bass guitar and drums.

The first significant showband was Royal Showband, who had the first #1 hit on the Irish charts by a showband. At the height of the phenomenon in the mid-1960s, there were around 800 bands touring the numerous ballrooms across the country, and the most famous bands, such as Capitol Showband, Real McCoy and Joe Dolan and the Drifters, toured overseas. Later that decade, some bands, particularly in urban areas like Dublin, began taking more influence from Rock, Soul and Blues. Showbands began declining in the early 1970s however, and this decline was cemented by the tragic events of 1975, when the famous Miami Showband's minibus was attacked by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force, killing three members of the band.

Due to its central role in 1960s Irish music, many famous Irish musicians such as Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher started out in showbands. The Country & Irish style also developed mainly from Irish showbands.

Italo Pop

(also known as Italian Pop, Musica leggera italiana, Canzone leggera italiana, Canzone romantica italiana)

Italo Pop is a romantic style of Pop music, developed in Italy in the late 1950s, which maintained a popular trend until 1990s. The lyrics are almost always in Italian, but it became a popular style in other European countries also. It supports various influences like Chanson and Schlager, but in its general form appears as romantic ballads with melodious rhythms, composed on the background of traditional arrangements performed by orchestras, remembering of Spanish Canción melódica style. The earlier version of this music supported the influence and the background of Easy Listening music. An Illustrative example for this version is Domenico Modugno. In its later form, Italo Pop shows an accentuate tendency towards Pop Rock. Al Bano & Romina Power, Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini and Umberto Tozzi are representative artists for this later style of Italo Pop. This music has attained an international recognition through the famous popular song contest "Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo", since 1951.

J-Pop

(also known as Poppusu)

J-Pop (aka Poppusu) is a wide-encompassing genre of Pop music in Japan. Whilst originally evolving from Kayōkyoku, J-Pop has since adopted a much broader, slicker, westernized style of music, distancing itself from the more traditional styles of pop music in Japan. Today it is often made with an Electropop, Dance-Pop or Synthpop production, although crossovers with Pop Rock and sometimes Visual kei aren't too uncommon (サザンオールスターズ [Southern All Stars], B'z, Gackt).

The idol business is an important factor on the J-pop scene, formed largely of solo stars, Boy Bands (Arashi) or girl groups (Morning Musume) for marketing purposes. Most Japanese idols work on the national music industry. Some people separate idol songs from the rest of the J-pop genre, but still conform to being called by this term. Still, there can be artists who deviate from the idol business by writing and/or producing their own music, such as Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki.

Some J-pop songs can be marketed as opening, ending or insert songs for anime or Japanese dramas, which are easier to market to international audiences than the standalone music business.

Jangle Pop

Jangle Pop is a Rock music sub-genre with roots in the Post-Punk explosion of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Influenced by 1960s Folk Rock artists like The Byrds as well as the Power Pop of groups like Big Star, Jangle Pop is characterized for merging the sound of chiming, "jangly" guitars and Pop-oriented melodies with a somewhat rawer musical approach and production values. The genre found its greatest critical and mainstream popularity in the mid-1980s, with bands like The Smiths, R.E.M. and Felt.

The Californian Paisley Underground movement, which emerged during the mid-1980s, is considered a derivation of this style, while also incorporating Psychedelic Rock influences.

Jazz Pop

Jazz pop is a style of Pop that incorporates elements from Jazz. The jazz instrumentation is worked into a melodic, accessible pop format that places the primary focus on the vocals. As a result, unlike most jazz, jazz pop contains little to no improvisation, a trait which it shares with Smooth Jazz.

Jovem Guarda

Jovem guarda was a movement that influenced the Brazilian youth, from the music to the clothing. It was based on a TV show with the same name and, like the Beatlemania, helped to define the 1960s in Brazil. The sound is clearly influenced by Merseybeat and Rockabilly and most of the lyrics talk about relationships and aspects of that time, including often being associated with the 'twist' dance. The movement started to fade around 1969 and was almost over a few months after the TV show was dissolved.

K-Pop

(also known as Korean Pop, Keipab)

K-Pop is the abbreviated name for a contemporary pop scene in South Korea. The original Korean pop business emerged during the 1980s after separating from the hippie-influenced wave heard on the 1970s. There was a rise of ballad singers including 이문세 [Lee Moon-sae] and 변진섭 [Byun Jin-sub] which sold many copies during the Korean 80s period. K-pop went to a change and developed by its own thanks to the emergence of Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992, which incorporated elements of Hip Hop, Contemporary R&B and Rock to the popular audience of the country.

The foundations of modern K-pop formed when Lee Soo-man founded S.M. Entertainment in 1996, which led to other music entrepreneurs develop their own entertainment companies - YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment opened nearly in the same period. H.O.T. was one of the first Boy Bands developed in South Korea which would inspire the rest of the newly emerging groups of the genre - Baby V.O.X and S.E.S. were important on the girl group side.

K-pop finally came to an international popularity with the rise of the Korean wave during the 2000s, in an output of dramas, movies, video games and music, based on the developments from Electropop, Dance-Pop, contemporary R&B and hip hop. Fronted by 東方神起 [TVXQ!] since their debut in 2004, other groups that led into this development were BIGBANG, Super Junior, SHINee and 소녀시대 [Girls' Generation]. K-pop since the 1990s had been marketed at other Asian countries through performers rereleasing songs on translated languages such as Mandarin and Japanese, or by writing original songs with them. Contributions to the rising K-pop popularity were the international success of Psy's song "Gangnam Style" and BTS' live performances and recieved awards at the United States.

While the idol girl group and boy band industry is largely dominated on the K-pop scene, there are also popular solo artists such as BoA and 비 [Rain] which today mostly have continental popularity.

Latin Pop

Latin pop is a term applied to different styles of Pop music influenced by traditional Latin American musical styles and known for their use of Latino clichés. Before the 1980s, Latin pop was strongly influenced by Canción melódica, and most popular performers were crooners that incorporated light and traditional arrangements, frequently performed by orchestras.

Following the establishment of Miami as the capital of Latin pop, artists like Julio Iglesias and Miami Sound Machine started to incorporate more international mainstream references while reinforcing some stereotypical elements of Latin music, such as exoticism, as heard in the popular songs "Hey!" and "Conga". Since the 1990s, Latin popular music saw the emergence of two strong stylistic currents. These include Spanish-language Pop Rock music (such as Shakira's first two major releases—Pies descalzos and Dónde están los ladrones?—Julieta Venegas, Natalia Lafourcade, and more recently, Mon Laferte), and a style based on Latin American Dance music, especially incorporated contemporary music fusion (an example being American singer Selena, who fused Cumbia and Tejano music with pop). In 1999, a boom saw several Latin pop artists turn into worldwide sensations with international hits like Ricky Martin's "Livin' la vida loca" and Enrique Iglesias' "Bailamos".

The genre experienced another boom in the mid-to-late 2010s due to the integration of various strains of Latino culture into the worldwide mainstream, especially with the approach of Reggaeton to a more global pop appeal. The latter genre's prevalence resulted in the success of Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" and the popularity of new generation artists such as J Balvin and Maluma, who routinely collaborate with mainstream US acts.

Levenslied

Levenslied is a Dutch music genre that enjoyed widespread popularity in the pre-Rock & Roll era. The rhythm and melody of a Levenslied song are usually simple, and its lyrics are always composed of couplets and refrains. Some of most famous Dutch artists from this genre are: Benny Neyman, André Hazes, Corry Konings, Frans Bauer, Rob de Nijs, Jan Smit, Koos Alberts, Zangeres Zonder Naam.

Light Music

(also known as Mood Music)

Light Music is a term used to describe mainly British instrumental music, which is designed to appeal to a wider audience. With the help of BBC radio programmes, it became popular in the first half of the 20th century. Light Music focuses on a strong melody, is performed by an orchestra or a small ensemble without vocals, and the form of the arrangement is less sophisticated than in classical music. Representatives of Light Music are composers such as Robert Farnon or Ronald Binge.

Lokal musik

Lokal musik (Tok Pisin for "local music") is a genre of music from Papua New Guinea created by local, rural bands and artists that incorporates some elements of Papuan Folk Music into Pop music. It is generally guitar or ukulele based, taking influence from popular music from Melanesia and the south Pacific and string-band music performed in the country pre-independance, as well as Reggae. An electric keyboard is also often used (the Yamaha PSR in particular), and the music is often recorded and created in small home-based studios. The music uses melodies, rhythms, and lyrics reflective of the region in which the music is created (its ples). The language used may be the singer's local language, a mix of different indigenous languages, or Tok Pisin.

Paramana Strangers were one of the first groups to release locally in Papua New Guinea, and were the first artists to release on CHM Supersound (pending), the largest label for lokal musik. The style is often used for Papuan Christian music, which may have some additional influence from Gospel. Lokal musik is still popular to this day, and may be incorporated into modern Papuan "urban" music, which is a term that includes Western genres like Dancehall and Hip Hop that are not influenced by the locality of the artist.

Lounge

Lounge is a style of Easy Listening that emerged in the USA during the 1950s. It emphasizes a tranquil, 'chilled-out' atmosphere with light arrangements and instrumentation derived from forms of Jazz and Traditional Pop. Other sources of inspiration include background incidental music, Light Music, Swing and Latin American Music, on top of the general practice of covers and instrumental versions.

Developing in parallel with other easy listening styles Exotica and Space Age Pop, lounge emphasized a comparatively less zany or adventurous sound, with less reliance on eclectic arrangements and Sounds and Effects. Common instruments and musical features include ice cold piano (akin to Cool Jazz), vibraphones, xylophone, Hammond organ and mild percussion, on top of the usage of light Big Band idioms and orchestration. If vocals are employed, the 'lounge singer' often performs in a Vocal Jazz-esque 'crooner' style or a set of 'backing' vocals act as the lead voice.

The term lounge has been applied retroactively since the 1980s and stems from its historical usage in the lounge areas of hotels, bars, casinos and restaurants. Lounge music has unfavourably both been referred to as and compared to the concept of 'elevator music' and 'muzak', intending to act as 'sonic wallpaper' whilst listeners are sitting talking or relaxing. Its usage as background music lends itself to being used in soundtracks, especially during the 1960s, including works by composer-arranger Henry Mancini.

Aside from other easy listening styles, lounge is often combined with similarly relaxing styles Downtempo, Bossa nova and Deep House. As part of a lounge and 'bachelor pad music' revival, artists such as Pink Martini exemplified Cocktail Nation, which emerged as a modern strain in the 1990s. This added a variety of different influences into the mix, including analog synths and Surf Music. During this time, lounge was also a primary influence on Shibuya-kei and Chamber Pop, as well as (alongside space age pop) the more experimental pop of Stereolab.

Mandopop

(also known as Mandarin Pop)

Mandopop is a substyle of C-Pop in which songs are performed in Mandarin. The genre is often produced in Mainland China and Taiwan, with the latter having the most known artists and groups.

Mandopop was primarily developed in 1970s Taiwan by artists including 鄧麗君 [Teresa Teng] and 劉鳳屏 [Pancy Lau]. In Mainland China, pop music was still banned, but in 1978 the government allowed Hong Kong and Taiwanese products - including music records - to be imported. Mandopop songs, especially from Teresa Teng, were played illegally inside China, until the ban lift in 1986 when music from both regions was legalized and referred to as gangtai music.

Taiwan's mandopop output has been central in the origination of Mainland Chinese pop music, which took into the mainstream since the 1990s. Other known Mandopop artists are from Singapore, Malaysia and the North American continent, as well as Cantopop singers translating and performing songs in Mandarin.

Manele

(also known as Manea)

Manea (plural: Manele) is a mixture of oriental (Turkish and Middle Eastern), Balkan and Romani music, from Romania. The largest segment of this music supports also the influence of modern Dance-Pop music. Most of the Manele singers are from the Romani ethnic group. Adrian Copilul Minune and Nicolae Guță are the most known Manele singers.

Manila Sound

Manila sound is a style of Pop Rock that began in the early 1970s in Manila, Philippines. It is generally sung in Tagalog or Taglish (Tagalog with English mixed) and is Soft Rock-based with noticeable roots of Kundiman, a traditional type of Filipino folk love song.

Merseybeat

(also known as Mersey Sound)

Merseybeat is a light, highly melodic style of Beat Music popular in the UK during the early 1960s, named due to the abundance of bands from Liverpool beside the River Mersey. Merseybeat groups characteristically had simple guitar-dominated line-ups, with close vocal harmonies and catchy tunes. The resulting sound is chirpy, bouncy and simplistic, drawing influences from Rock & Roll, British Rhythm & Blues and late 1950s/early 1960s singles by acts such as Buddy Holly & The Crickets and Cliff Richard & The Shadows. The release of The Beatles' "Love Me Do" in October 1962 is an important focal point for the huge popularity of the sound between 1963 and 1965 in the UK (and the early first 'British Invasion' in the USA), with bands such as Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer With The Dakotas, The Searchers, The Merseybeats and The Fourmost achieving consistent success in the hit parade.

The most popular line-up comprised of lead, rhythm and bass guitars with drums. It is typified by the synchronization of the bass guitar (usually playing only the root and fifth notes of the chords) and the bass drum. Unlike in rock & roll, Merseybeat groups often incorporate two and three-part harmonies, and even those with a separate lead singer will often sing both verses and choruses in close harmony; the Liverpool accent also has a major role in the distinctive overall sound, although Merseybeat can theoretically be made outside of the area. Although there are instrumental breaks, the focus is on the presentation of the song rather than instrumental prowess.

Modern Laika

Modern Laika, as the name implies, is a newer form of Laiki music mixed with popular Western music, most notably pop and dance. One of the pioneer artists was Άννα Βίσση [Anna Vissi]. Other notable artists are Δέσποινα Βανδή [Despina Vandi], Έλλη Κοκκίνου, Γιάννης Πλούταρχος, Γιώργος Τσαλίκης [Giorgos Tsalikis], Αντώνης Ρέμος [Antonis Remos] and more.

Motown

The Motown sound is the signature Pop Soul style developed by the Detroit label Motown Records, founded by Berry Gordy, that found huge success during the 1960s.

The most major contributions to the distinctive Motown sound were the songwriting and production team Holland-Dozier-Holland and the tight-knit group of studio musicians The Funk Brothers. The general template is succinct, catchy songs and structures; complex arrangements, often with multiple drummers and guitarists; Gospel-influenced vocals (lead and backing harmonies); highly melodic and rhythmic bass lines (with embellished 'passing notes' inbetween chord progressions); tambourine-heavy 4-4 drum patterns; pounding, often syncopated piano parts; regular use of horn and string sections; and historically a distinctive reverb and treble-heavy production which was effective for AM radio broadcasts.

During the mid-1960s, Four Tops, The Temptations and Girl Group The Supremes exemplified the Motown sound, with Billboard Top 100 No. 1 hits such as "I Can't Help Myself", "My Girl" and "Where Did Our Love Go" respectively.

Plenty of music released on Motown does not use the Motown sound, especially from the 1970s onwards, as well as considering several subsidiary labels specialising in other genres such as Jazz, Country and Rock. Some artists and producers not on Motown made music emulating the Motown sound, for example The Foundations and Fontella Bass. Motown acts and music made by small labels in the same style also made up the basis of the Northern Soul scene which gained a noteworthy following in the UK.

Musika popullore

Musika popullore is the most popular form of traditional music in Albania, consisting of light, commercial, amplified Albanian Folk Music that is usually professionally arranged and manufactured in recording studios alongside associated video clips.

Initially developing from wedding bands, its urbanised Balkan Pop-Folk style is influenced by Turkish Arabesque, as well as the music of surrounding Balkan countries, particularly Serbian Turbo-Folk and Tallava. This imitation of Turkish and Middle Eastern music sources (directly or indirectly) has led to claims of the 'orientalisation' of Albanian culture and the loss of its European identity. With shared elements of Romani Folk Music and wedding band origins, the genre also draws parallels with Bulgaria's svatbarksa musika.

The most overtly traditional rural element that musika popullore retains is the vocal techniques employed. This includes 'multipart' singing, consisting of multiple singers singing homorhythmically with each other, usually with one pitch being the central line with other voices built around it. This has heightened awareness of a cultural practice that, in modern times, has become an activity usually only performed by professional singers and the elderly (in stark contrast to the mid-20th century, where singing was rife amongst youth culture).

Muzică de mahala

(also known as Proto-Manele)

Muzică de mahala appeared in the 1980s as a counteraction to the Romanian Folk Music style. Traditional instruments from Muzică lăutărească, such as cimbalom and sometimes violin and accordion, were replaced with modern instruments such as electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboard and drum kit. Muzică de mahala was born in Banat region from West Romania, after the model of pop-folk music from neighboring Serbian Banat region, but also it draws other origins from Macedonian Aromanian pop-folk music. A large segment of this music is influenced by Dance-Pop music and Schlager, which make this genre most akin to Armenian Rabiz). Musical mimetism is characteristic for many mahala songs, therefore many foreign ethnic influences from other genres, like Greek Modern Laika, Arabic Music, Filmi and Latin American Music, could be found in this genre. It was very popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, around the period of Romanian transition from communism to capitalism. It was banned during the communist period because it was associated to the underground culture. Muzică de mahala prefigured the apparition of a new popular genre, Manele, which gave up to the Romanian style, retaining only the Balkan Pop-Folk background. Most popular artists include Nelu Vlad şi formaţia Azur din Brăila, Dan Ciotoi şi formaţia Generic and Formaţia Albatros şi Naste din Berceni.

Note: "Muzică de mahala" is also used with reference to a segment of lăutăreasca music which was developed in urban areas. This genre should not be mistook as urban lăutărească.

Nashville Sound

(also known as Countrypolitan)

The Nashville Sound emerged in the 1950s with the idea of broadening the audience of Country music by adding Pop elements. It was established by the productions of Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. The late 1960s/70s version of the Nashville Sound is also known as Countrypolitan with Billy Sherrill and Glenn Sutton being its most important producers.

Nederbeat

Nederbeat was the Dutch answer to the UK Beat Music boom of the 1960s. The scene adopted its own distinct sound and resulted in world-wide hits for Shocking Blue, George Baker Selection and Golden Earrings.

Nederpop

Arising as a term in the 1970s, Nederpop was used to describe the Dutch language Pop scene of the previous two decades. A revived meaning in the 1980s also appeared due to the huge success of bands like Doe Maar, who inspired other Dutch pop acts to use Ska and Reggae rhythms in their music.

New Music

(also known as Nyū myūjikku)

New music is a style of Pop that arose in Japan in the early 1970s, developed as Singer/Songwriter musicians combined Western Contemporary Folk stylings, particularly Folk Pop, with songwriting indebted to Kayōkyoku and light Pop Rock elements. Although rooted in folk, many of these new music artists would incorporate sophisticated instrumental arrangements including strings, taking inspiration from classic Brill Building pop and the arrangements of the Motown Sound and Philly Soul. The name "new music" came from the genre's appeal to young people, and contrasts it with the then-popular idol kayō style, as well as フォークソング (folk songs) with more simple arrangements that had popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The 1973 final album by はっぴいえんど [Happy End], the Van Dyke Parks-produced Happy End, would serve as an early defining album for the genre, marking a transition from the band's Folk Rock roots towards a more lush and pop-oriented sound.

Though Happy End would disband not long after, their members would serve as important figures throughout the new music scene over the next decade, with 細野晴臣 [Haruomi Hosono] and 鈴木茂 [Shigeru Suzuki] retooling the band into ティン・パン・アレー [Tin Pan Alley], intended as something of a Japanese equivalent to legendary session group The Wrecking Crew. Their vocalist, 大瀧詠一 [Eiichi Ohtaki], would also go on to have a fairly successful solo career, initially in the new music style, as well as songwriting and producing for some new music artists. Another prominent early artist that helped to define the genre was singer 松任谷由実 [Yumi Matsutoya] (then commonly known as Yuming), the "Queen of New Music", who had a highly successful career eventually landing her as one of the highest-selling Japanese recording artists of all time. The label For Life Records, established in 1975, would also have a major hand in releasing and promoting new music.

New music would be a fairly short movement itself, mostly petering out by the end of the 1970s, but it had a lasting influence on later trends as artists like Sugar Babe, a group led by 山下達郎 [Tatsuro Yamashita] and 大貫妙子 [Taeko Ohnuki] who would later go on to be popular solo artists in their own right, incorporated elements of Funk and Disco to create a more upbeat and urbane style that would come to be known as City Pop, and grow very popular in the 1980s. Haruomi Hosono of Happy End would also be in large part responsible for the rise of Techno kayō with his Yellow Magic Orchestra bandmates, combining new music's songwriting sensibilities with synthesizers to reshape the sound of idol pop in the country. Many of the most well-known new music songs like "結婚しようよ (Let's Get Married)" and "あの日にかえりたい (Ano hi ni kaeritai)" have also continued to be covered by modern J-Pop artists into the present day.

New Romantic

New romantic was popularized in the UK between 1979 and 1984. The style is a particular niche of the New Wave and Synthpop genres. The music is characterized both by its lush and ornate sound and its heavy use of synthesizers. The genre has also significant importance in fashion, which played a big role in categorising artists as new romantics, the look was often flamboyant and eccentric. Bands like ABC and Spandau Ballet defined the new romantic sound as far less confrontational and more Pop-oriented than some of their new wave peers.

Palingsound

(also known as Palingpop, Eelsound)

Palingsound originates from Volendam in The Netherlands. It is a genre with its own characteristic sound, recognizable for its typical (close) harmony vocals and easy listening tunes, wrapped up in a mix of Country music and Southern European Folk Music, often with bombastic orchestration.

The most representative artists of this genre are The Cats, George Baker Selection, Left Side, BZN.

Persian Pop

(also known as Farsipop, Iranian Pop, Musiqi-e pop)

Persian pop is a term that refers to the hybrid of Iranian and Persian-language popular music with Western musical instruments, such as the ..., ..., and .... The style emerged definitively around 1950s in pre-revolutionary Iran and was anticipated in the late 19th-century Qajar era, as traditional music was being adapted for mass consumption with the advent of sound recording. Another possible early precursor were the motreb lowbrow entertainers. The introduction of the radio format in 1930s prompted the dissemination of musical genres that attained worldwide popularity at that time, such as Rhumba and Tango. Meanwhile, the Iranian film industry facilitated the success of versatile performers, such as singer and actress دلکش [Delkash], whose integration of 2/4 and 4/4 rhythms (along with the Iranian 6/8) into traditional avaz performance is described as exemplary of this intermediary period of popular music. In instrumentation, the ... and ... would often substitute traditional instruments to provide a backdrop of Western-style orchestration to vocal music.

These developments contributed to the emergence of a new generation of artists that further diverged from the conventions and compositional basis of Persian Classical Music, initially opting for Persian-language covers of otherwise unaltered foreign songs—which would later be adapted into a distinctly Iranian melodic framework. A pivotal musician of this period was ويگن [Viguen], considered Iran's first male Pop star and "sultan of Jazz," who is credited with pioneering guitar performance. In the ensuing decade, Tanin, the first professional recording studio in Iran, upgraded the standards of production and mass proliferation of pop music via television or radio. Lead singers from bands within the concurrent underground Rock scene, such as عارف [Aref] of گلدن رینگ [Golden Ring], also achieved success as pop-oriented solo artists in the late 1960s. This scene, although deemed "alternative," socially transgressive, and with less appeal to the general public, was adjacent to the mainstream with artists often collaborating across genres. As a result of this exchange, by the next decade کورش یغمایی [Kourosh Yaghmaei]'s "گل یخ (Gole yakh)" became a hit in a more rock-friendly landscape.

The Iranian pop industry reached its commercial apex during the mid-1970s with the rise of گوگوش [Googoosh], who began performing at a young age and became a bona fide cultural icon by her twenties, with an idiosyncratic repertoire that ranged from romantic balladry to upbeat, Funk-inspired songs. These were contrasted with the more political-oriented, often bleak lyricism of frequent collaborator داریوش [Dariush] and فرهاد [Farhad], who would also anticipate the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Following the revolution, the performance and production of pop music was banned by the government. A number of the prominent performers emigrated to the West, especially the United States. Starting in the early 1980s, several record labels and satellite TV channels were established out of the Los Angeles, CA area, focused on both pre- and post-revolutionary Persian pop music, such as the prolific Caltex and Taraneh Records. The output of these labels, as well as new diasporic artists, would come to be known as losanjelesi music.

During the late 1990s, and in particular under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, cultural and art restrictions were eased. A state-appointed council at the IRIB, which holds the monopoly of Iranian domestic radio and television services, was tasked with supervising the eventual revival of pop music. As a result, acts such as Shadmehr Aghili and the Arian Band, the first government-approved group comprising both male and female singers, emerged in the post-revolutionary era.

Piano Rock/Pop

Piano Rock is a style of rock music that is based around the piano, as opposed to most traditional rock music, which is based around the guitar. In fact some artists, such as Keane, eschew guitars completely.

Piano Rock has been a popular style since the 1970s, beginning with artists such as Elton John and Billy Joel, and it has continued to be so to this day, with the likes of Keane, Ben Folds, and Tori Amos.

Picopop

Picopop is a niche style of Pop that originated in the early 2000s as part of the "neo-Shibuya-kei" second wave of the Japanese Shibuya-kei movement when artists like Plus-Tech Squeeze Box and Strawberry Machine introduced more prominent "bleepy" Electronic elements and faster tempos to their update of the sound, building on the sonic experimentation of Cornelius's landmark 1997 album Fantasma. This would be paired with a more distinctly cute, child-like or cartoonish aesthetic to the music and album artwork, compared to the earlier Shibuya-kei scene. The Usagi-Chang and Contemode labels featured most of the scene's prominent artists, with their Usagi-Chang Superstar!! Vol.0001 and Contemode V.A. compilations acting as a general overview of the sound. Though the picopop scene was rather small, the duo Capsule would see some chart success, and their producer (and Contemode founder) 中田ヤスタカ [Yasutaka Nakata] would go on to produce for J-Pop idol group Perfume whose earliest singles dabbled in this style.

The genre's name was coined by Western fans in the late 2000s from "ピコピコ" (pico pico), a Japanese onomatopoeia for the Chiptune-like computer sounds that are often an element of the style. It was also known as future pop in its native Japan, named for the "Future Pop" column which ran in the Japanese Marquee magazine in the mid-2000s that followed these more electronic-oriented artists in the neo-Shibuya-kei scene. This name would also be used for the "Future Pop Lounge", a series of showcase concerts for the scene which ran annually for a few years in the late 2000s, featuring other prominent artists like EeL, Hazel Nuts Chocolate, and The Aprils.

Pon-chak disco

(also known as Pon-chak techno, Techno-Trot, Trot Medley)

Pon-chak disco is a style of Trot influenced by Synthpop. The term 'pon-chak' derives from a degrading name for trot used since the 1960s. 김준규 [Kim Joonkyu] and 주현미 [Joo Hyun-mi]'s trot medley cassette album 쌍쌍파티 제1집 influenced early pon-chak disco. After this album became popular, pon-chak disco became widespread, often sold as medley tapes by street vendors on the highway rest stops to keep bus drivers awake by playing upbeat music. Pon-chak disco was ignored by the mainstream media in Korea in the beginning, but it found popularity in Japan in the mid 1990s by 이박사 [E Pak Sa].

Like other typical trot music, the genre has melodies based on minor keys and pentatonic scales and Korean Folk Music-inspired vocals, but is based on synthesizer-oriented arrangements influenced by synthpop and Electro-Disco. It features cheap synthesizers and a cheerful Disco rhythm. Most pon-chak disco songs have simple composition, consisting of a few synthesizers and drum machines, with certain rhythms played repeatedly and sometimes featuring an emphasis on vocal or synthesizer improvisation.

Pop Ghazal

The pop ghazal is a prominent genre in contemporary South Asian pop music, especially in northern India and Pakistan. It employs the Ghazal form in a Pop context, keeping the traditional verse meter and poetic inclinations while avoiding the improvisations of classical ghazal in favor of the immediate melodies and build-ups typical of pop music, adopting modern instruments into the traditional ensemble and embedding global pop trends into its sound. The mellow sound of pop ghazal is marked by its slow tempo and smooth, non-percussive timbres achieved by soft string instruments, in contrast to the often bouncy, Dance-oriented sound of Filmi with its loud violins, percussion and beats; indeed, pop ghazal and film music are often regarded as competitors. Lyrically, the pop ghazal is secular, mostly focusing on unrequited love, intoxication and other sensual themes.

The emergence of the pop ghazal coincided with the mass availability of commercial cassettes in the subcontinent beginning in the 1970s. The new cassette medium was embraced by the emerging consumer class in postcolonial India and Pakistan, who thought of film music as too low-brow but regarded South Asian Classical Music as too intellectually demanding, thus propelling the rise of the pop ghazal as a middle-ground which had mass appeal but still retained a sophisticated appearance and wasn't associated with the populist cinema industry.

Pop ghazal transcends the borders of Pakistan and India and is now embedded in the cultures of various ethnic minorities of the region. The cassette boom in South Asia soon grew enormously in the late 1970s, with cheap cassettes allowing the pop ghazal to attain new levels of popularity as it started to be widely recorded in not only Urdu, but also in regional languages like Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Pashto, Hindi, and Tibetan.

Pop Raï

Pop Raï emerged in the late 1970s as Pop elements were fused into the traditional Raï structure, with increased utilization of electrical synthesizers, guitars, and drum machines. The genre gained international prominence during the 1990s with the success of artists like Khaled and Cheb Mami; the process of hybridization with other genres continued during the 2000s, as growing popularity in France saw increased influence of Rhythm & Blues.

Pop Rock

Pop rock is a fusion genre used to describe standard verse-chorus Pop music that can also be categorized under Rock for its use of guitars, drums, and propulsive rhythms. The genre manifested at the tail end of the 1950s as a more radio-friendly alternative to Rock & Roll and R&B, consisting mainly of white performers such as Roy Orbison and Del Shannon. Over the next decade, pop and rock continued to mix together and create new subgenres like Vocal Surf and Beat Music. In the 1970s, pop rock became both rougher (Power Pop) and smoother (Soft Rock); in the 1980s–90s, it fused with some Alternative Rock to make Jangle Pop and Britpop. Today, pop rock remains an active, wide-ranging genre with much crossover between other pop styles.

Pop Soul

Pop soul is a fusion of Pop and Soul that originated in the 1960s as an attempt to give soul music crossover success. The style is exemplified by Motown Records artists such as The Supremes ("Baby Love"), Martha and The Vandellas ("Jimmy Mack"), and The Miracles ("Tears of a Clown"). Pop soul eventually metamorphosed into Disco in the 1970s, and in the 1980s, elements of the genre were incorporated into Sophisti-Pop.

Pop Sunda

(also known as Sundanese Pop)

Pop Sunda is one of the most successful styles of Indonesian Pop since the 1980s. Like Batak Pop and pop Melayu, pop Sunda mixes regional traditions with pop structures and instrumentation. The regional roots of pop Sunda can be found in the western part of Java, home to most of the Sundanese people.

Producer and composer Nano Suratno, better known as Nano S., was responsible for giving pop Sunda its particular sound, which is characterized by the use of synthesizers usually complemented by traditional instruments such as the suling, typical of Gamelan degung. Nonetheless, the most prominent aspect of pop Sunda is its vocal style, which remains deeply rooted in the regional Sundanese traditions, including noticeable variable-speed vibratos throughout each song. Famous pop Sunda singers include Detty Kurnia, Hetty Koes Endang and Nining Meida.

Pops/Popular Orchestra

A pops orchestra refers to a specific type of orchestra that plays covers of popular songs as well as some famous classical compositions. Orchestras playing this style, like for example the Boston Pops Orchestra, will always incorporate the term "pops" in their names to differentiate their function from others. But unlike terms such as "philharmonic" or "chamber" which refer to the size of the orchestra, the "pops" rather refers to the type of music that those orchestras tend to play.

The format was born in the 1930s when orchestral music and instrumental arrangements became increasingly featured on radio programming following several refinements made to accommodate those ensembles to a radio set-up and increase their mainstream appeal. A consequent part of these refinements as well as some technological breakthroughs when it comes to sound design can be credited to the conductor Andre Kostelanetz who played a major role in establishing this orchestral style. Those changes were still relevant in a studio context when the genre made the jump to recorded LPs in the 1950s.

A popular orchestra will almost always focus on creating an extravagant, rich, and accessible sound and avoid technical or complex textures in order to reach large audiences. Typically covered popular songs include Show Tunes, Traditional Pop Standards, hit songs from famous artists as well as iconic Cinematic Classical themes. On the classical side, it tends to be limited to famous compositions that are easily recognizable by most people, although still refined and adapted to the context of a popular orchestra. Therefore pops orchestra performances tend to have a lighter feel to them in comparison to "higher-browed" classical forms. This is similar to Light Music, although pops orchestras are typically less restrained in sound. This preference for popular music has in turn drawn many new audiences to attend orchestra concerts who were previously uninterested in Classical Music and plays as such the role of a gateway style.

Power Pop

Power pop is a heavier style of Pop Rock that combines strong pop melodies with loud power chords. It is characterized by prominent electric guitars, clear vocals, crisp harmonies, economical arrangements, and an energetic performance. Usually people refer to three different waves of power pop. The first one is from the 1970s and features bands such as Badfinger, Raspberries, Cheap Trick, and Big Star. The second originates from the late 1970s and early 1980s with bands such as The Knack, The Beat and The Romantics. The third one is from the 1990s, which also has some Alternative Rock influences and includes artists such as Matthew Sweet, Weezer, The Posies, and Teenage Fanclub.

The roots of power pop can be traced back to 1967 when the term was coined by The Who's Pete Townshend in reference to their single "Pictures of Lily" and the earlier guitar-driven records of The Beach Boys ("Fun, Fun, Fun"). At the same time, The Beatles and The Byrds left their own indelible marks on the genre with songs like "Paperback Writer" and "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better". These bands are generally considered the genre's direct antecedents, with most power pop artists basing their sound on a cross between all four.

In 1970, Badfinger recorded several hit singles that established a template for many power pop groups to follow. By 1972, the genre had received its jumpstart, partly due to the release of Raspberries' Raspberries, Big Star's #1 Record, and Todd Rundgren's Something / Anything. During its emergence, the Raspberries served as a model for many power pop groups, though the genre evolved throughout the decade as it merged with other trends such as Glam Rock, Punk Rock, and New Wave.

The excessive play of the Knack's highly-successful 1979 single "My Sharona" provoked a backlash to power pop, effectively killing the genre's radio presence. During the '80s, power pop became less apparent in the mainstream, but continued to flourish in underground circuits, where it eventually led to the genre's rebirth in the '90s. Bands in this post-revival period often based their sound on a blend between traditional power pop (specifically the style of Big Star) and the new alternative rock. Some, like Jellyfish and Wondermints, continued to emphasize a distinct '60s influence.

Progressive Pop

Progressive pop is a genre known by a few characterizations. One places the genre as a precursor to Progressive Rock. When the two terms appeared in the 1960s, they were roughly interchangeable, referring to a particular style of Pop or Rock music that was more complex and personalized than had been normal for AM radio. Another characterization, most often associated with the 1970s–80s, is thought to bridge the musical elements of progressive rock and pop together. In short, the instrumental virtuosity and expansive structures found in the former are combined with the catchiness, oftentimes simple melodies, and accessibility of the latter, to bring a sound distinct from both.

To properly distinguish this genre, progressive pop is best viewed as a comparatively milder (or "pop") counterpart to progressive rock. Like in prog rock, the term "progressive" refers to the genre's attempts to break with standard music formulas. In the case of progressive pop, this means the standards of pop music prior to the mid to late 1960s, which was often short, simple, and had instrumentation that either involved guitar, bass and drum combos or traditional orchestrated arrangements for vocalists. In contrast, progressive pop usually contains more eclectic (sometimes quasi-symphonic) instrumentation, song times longer than the average 2.5 minutes, unorthodox harmonic structures (for pop), and/or abnormal timbres and textures.

In comparison to Art Pop, which subverts/deconstructs/synthesizes pop music in various ways, progressive pop focuses more on relatively complex, melodic, yet palatable songwriting. Progressive pop should also not be mistaken for "experimental pop" or "avant-pop" styles, as it never overindulges in challenging avant-garde forms.

Progressive pop music was jump-started by the sectors of 1960s Psychedelia which contributed significantly to the emergence of prog rock, beginning with Pop Rock groups who aspired to elevate their music from teen entertainment to artistic statement. The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds was one massively influential example, containing several pop songs that drew from Western Classical Music while experimenting with arrangement, production, form, and tone colors. Progressive pop subsequently lived on for the rest of the decade mostly as an undercurrent within early prog/Art Rock like The Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed, whereas others, like Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle, embraced full-on progressive pop with little to no rock influences.

By 1970, the notion of "progressive" pop music was seen as somewhat antiquated, and was spiritually succeeded by the prog/art rock movements. Later in the decade, some artists formerly associated with prog rock brought the genre closer to its 1960s pop rock roots. These included Electric Light Orchestra ("Mr. Blue Sky"), Supertramp ("The Logical Song"), and The Alan Parsons Project ("I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You").

Psychedelic Pop

Psychedelic pop is a genre that bridges the musical elements of Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Folk, and Pop to bring them together. The sound produced is often intended to emulate the way music sounds while under the effects of psychedelic drugs. It differs from other psychedelia-related genres by emphasizing catchy pop hooks and vocal harmonies similar to Sunshine Pop. However, unlike sunshine pop, psychedelic pop always retains a quality of surrealism, usually achieved with abstract lyricism and/or the liberal use of tape effects like slapback echo, reverb, or flanging. The instrumentation itself somewhat follows that of Pop Rock, but in most cases, is supplemented by instruments considered unorthodox for pop recordings in the early-to-mid 1960s, such as theremin, zither, or tack piano.

The genre was largely a studio creation. The Beach Boys and The Beatles heralded the approach early on, particularly with the albums Pet Sounds and Revolver. Other examples which soon followed include The Zombies' Odessey and Oracle, The Millennium's Begin, and Billy Nicholls' Would You Believe.

After the early 1970s, the genre ran into a steep decline. In the 1990s, psychedelic pop saw some revival with bands such as The Flaming Lips, The Olivia Tremor Control, and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. It also formed some of the basis of the Neo-Psychedelia movement which emerged in the same era as a more modern style of psychedelic music.

Rabiz

Rabiz is a modern genre of Armenian popular music and a subculture centered around it, which first appeared in Yerevan in the 1970-80s and was often associated with migrants from Baku and rural areas of Armenia. The term rabiz presumably stems from the Russian phrase "РАБотники ИСкусства" (Rabotniki Iskusstva, art workers), used during Soviet times to refer to a type of trade unions known as "creative unions". The music retains elements of Armenian folk in its instrumentation, oftentimes incorporating influences from Arabic and other West Asian forms on a background of synthesizer arrangements, mirroring Arabesque and Russian Chanson elsewhere. It is characterized by danceable rhythms in 6/8 time signature, paired with relatively simple lyrical content that tackles romance, partying (known as kef, քեֆ), love of one's family, crime, or even patriotism.

A notable characteristic is the vocal style employed by many performers, which deviates from accepted standards by incorporating Islamic mugham singing. This, along with its appeal to the working class and the materialistic stereotypes associated with its listeners, has often caused rabiz to become a subject of criticism by music critics and the general public alike, with many denouncing it for a perceived lack of "Armenianness". However, since the early 1990s, it has managed to become popular both in the country of Armenia and among the Armenian diaspora in the USA and Russia, especially among the youth. In the mid-2010s, rabiz music received its first exposure to worldwide audiences through "Mi Gna", which became a viral hit, spawning a great number of remixes in various languages and a renewed interest in the genre.

Rigsar

Rigsar is the dominant form of popular music in Bhutan and broke Bhutanese music traditions to move towards a more Western and Indian approach. The rise of rigsar in the 1960s changed the musical landscape of Bhutan fundamentally. The word itself can be translated as "new idea". Sonam Kinga from the Thimphu Centre of Bhutan Studies states that "there is an abrupt rupture between the nature and treatment of subject, theme, form, style, tune and music of the traditional folk song and rigsar." Besides being sung in Tshangla, rigsar songs are often sung in English or Hindi.

At inception, rigsar was usually performed on the traditional Himalayan dranyen - a stringed instrument similar to a lute - with keyboards and electronic elements becoming more common in modern rigsar. Along with a change in instrumentation, the lyrics shifted away from traditional Bhutanese themes about religion or the conveyance of social values. Rigsar is an integral part of the Bhutanese entertainment industry and common part of popular Bhutanese movies. A good example is the label Norling Drayang, a commercially successful record label and film production company.

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