PinkPantheress has come in on the winds of change

FEATURE

What’s driving pop music in 2023

2023.04.11

Credit

Article. Seo Seongdeok (Music Critic)

Photo Credit. The New York Times

On February 3, PinkPantheress released her song “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2.” She released the simply titled “Boy’s a liar” last November, and part two is a remix featuring a rap by Ice Spice. On February 18, the song debuted at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, which looked at how the song did in the first week after its release. This was PinkPantheress’ first time on the chart. It was definitely a surprise that it debuted immediately at number 14 and its continued popularity can’t be attributed to it going viral on TikTok nor the popularity of its music video alone. A week later, on the chart for the week of February 25, the song jumped up to number four. It climbed up to third for March 4, right behind powerhouses “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus and “Kill Bill” by SZA. In line with this high position, “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” was the most-streamed song of the same week. Since then, while “Die for You” (The Weeknd/Ariana Grande) and “Last Night” (Morgan Wallen) remain in a heated battle for first place, swapping spots every week, PinkPantheress’ track has managed to hold onto fifth, all the while receiving increased airplay on the radio and giving the impression it has the staying power to remain on the charts a long time.

Born in 2001, British artist PinkPantheress is suddenly the latest and greatest name on the heels of her unexpected top-10 hit. It wasn’t that long ago (2020–2021) that people first started to take notice of her and the songs she was posting on TikTok. It’s only been a year since she was chosen as an Introducing Artist by the BBC’s annual Sound Of poll for 2022 and her songs naturally started to pop up on playlists. Even people who already knew who she is were surprised at how quickly it all happened. It was simply a question of when—opportunity was sure to knock sooner or later. Why? Because she’s like every strand of every recent pop trend all bundled together in one big knot. If you pull on any pop-related thread, you’ll eventually find her somewhere along its length.

The name PinkPantheress started to show up on everyone’s lips around the same time drum and bass was back in fashion with Gen Z. Drum and bass, you ask? To give the most popular summary, it was a trend in electronica in the mid- to late 1990s that was centered in the UK. That was the era of Underworld, the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and the Prodigy and gave birth to stars like Goldie and Roni Size. In terms of sound, the genre is marked by fast, intricate breakbeats and throbbing, layered bass lines.

PinkPantheress expands on this with self-made bedroom pop production and sweet melodic vocals. The unexpected ripple effect of these catchy breakbeats and sonorous melodies on an app like TikTok where you have mere seconds to grab someone’s attention is, in hindsight, remarkable. The trend is still spreading today. For Sound of 2023, released in January, similarly trendy artists Nia Archives and piri & tommy were ranked third and first, respectively.

This is reminiscent of what’s happened in the US in recent years, where the rise of Jersey club has led to a tendency for its sound to show up in combination with more mainstream genres like R&B (Ciara) and hip hop (Drake, Lil Uzi Vert). Jersey club comes from the club and DJ culture of the 1990s, and its breakbeat-influenced sound, along with its unique dance style, make it perfect for use on TikTok, and it’s made waves in the music world since fusing with mainstream music. Jersey club is also similar to drum and bass in that it’s largely shaped by female artists and listeners as well as indie musicians. What we might be looking at right now is drum and bass, and perhaps all of 1990s British rave music with it, following down the same path as Jersey club has taken.

But there’s an important difference: Now PinkPantheress and other young artists like her are using TikTok as their platform to create smash hits. If you look at the recent developments in DIY (it isn’t called lo-fi anymore) and bedroom pop from that perspective, PinkPantheress is the latest in a line of artists that started with the Weeknd and includes musicians like Billie Eilish. The Weeknd was brought on board to a major label after he had already perfected his skills in his bedroom and Billie Eilish has been able to prove what she’s capable of while retaining the creative freedom she finds in working out of her bedroom. Setting genre aside, it’s a pretty similar story with other young artists like beabadoobee and Clairo. Comparing these artists who got their start around 2017–2018 with the latest musicians, though, an even bigger difference than what you hear between indie rock/pop and rave music is the difference between YouTube and TikTok.