Feng and the Renaissance of Recession Pop

Kids From the West - Music Video shoot

‘Recession Pop’ is defined by Wikipedia as ‘an informal term used to define a genre of dance-pop music that emerged during the Great Recession and remained popular until the early 2010s. Its sound is often described as "feel-good" pop music, characterized by fast BPMs, high-energy production, catchy melodies, and lyrics centered around embracing hedonism, youthfulness, being carefree, and constant partying in the midst of an economic recession.’

What comes to mind when we speak about recession pop is the big pop stars of the late 2000s - early 2010s, who will be nostalgic for so many of our readers; names like Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry etc. However, in recent years, there’s been somewhat of a renaissance of this genre of music. It’s no secret that the global economy has been struggling recently, with particularly notable impacts on the major Western powers; the USA, Great Britain and co - which has had notable effects upon culture in the last few years. Politics have shifted notably to the right, with majority voting intention in both the UK and Germany being that of a far-right vote, and recent elections in Italy, the USA and the Netherlands shifting their leaderships further right. Historically, a struggling economy results in more extreme votes - more extreme economical situations result in more extreme votes as right-wing governments tend to do two things to captivate voters in dire need of change; 1) Collectivise against an enemy - create an ‘Us against Them’ scenario and blame their economic struggles on a segment of the population (usually immigrants or members of a minority religious group) or 2) Promise radical economic change though unconventional means, be it tariffs or extreme tax changes. Neither of these methods address the root of poverty, which is overwhelmingly based in income inequality, and are usually marketed by wealthy politicians as a means of convincing much of the population that the root of their is either previous politicians, or their fellow citizen in the same economic bracket (due to a different skin colour, religion or other social factor), rather than the root of their struggle being wealthy people hoarding their money and exploiting the working glasses to increase their own wealth. 

Economic and political conditions worsening also results in a shift in culture - notably, in music. Music has always been an outlet for people to escape the conditions of the real world, but during times of economic hardship, the music that ends up being most commercially successful and incredibly culturally relevant is always a form of escapism. Recession pop in the early 2010’s was all about escapism - colourful dynamic visuals full of fur, shades, and dancing, catchy, electric melodies and lyrics centred around drinking, clubbing, partying all wrapped up into singles and albums of auditory hedonism resonated so deeply with so many people that it became the music of the time. In recent years, a similar trend has emerged - there’s always music purpose-built to escape into at a club, in a car speaker, or at full volume in your earphones as you drown out the buzz of a declining economy and increasing pressure to do more to keep yourself afloat, but there’s been an explosion of music with similar themes to that of early 2010’s recession pop in recent years. For example, London rapper Feng ticks almost every box. He incorporates themes of hedonism and escapism into an evolved kind of cloud rap, utilising A$AP Rocky-inspired beats laced with sparkly vocal samples to rap bars about feeling free, young, and excited. Songs such as Kids from the west perfectly encapsulate this, with Feng rapping about unity, partying, and wanting to live a moment forever over a colourful beat, which can only be described as sounding inspired by colourful hair, bubblegum and balloons. 

So much of his insanely quick rise to fame in the last few months is purely due to his aesthetics, which are inseparable to his music. There’s a huge demand for music that brings people back to a time when things just seemed better. Whether it’s the recent resurgence of the frutiger aero aesthetic (also incorporated in Feng’s music), or the huge growth of now household names such as Sabrina Carpenter, with her barbie-doll aesthetic - people want colourful, nostalgic, and positive. Art is a form of escapism, and the bleaker the situation being escaped, the more colourful and positive the art will become. Not only were things statistically ‘easier’ in the early 2010’s, but most of the audience of artists like Feng would have been kids during the period he is artistically drawing from, and the combination of pressures of both actual adulthood and the added pressures of being an adult in an era of economical struggle makes nostalgia a much more powerful and enticing drug - making the music of artists like Feng that much more potent. The resurgence of recession pop can also be seen in other emerging artists, such as iamawakesorry and shutupdesikidd, who are both making waves in the UK underground by pulling inspiration from similar places as Feng, and other larger artists, such as Fakemink and Phreshboyswag. Regardless of the box you think these artists individually fall into, be it ‘indie sleaze’ or ‘cloud rap’ or ‘jerk’, they are all the faces of the renaissance of recession pop, and the ways they play on nostalgia is making huge waves in culture at the moment.

By Samuel