Electropop

Electropop
Stylistic origins	Electronic pop synthpop disco post-disco
Cultural origins	Late 1970s and early 1980s, primarily Europe, Japan and United States.
Typical instruments	Synthesizers vocals keyboards electric guitar bass guitar acoustic guitar personal computer vocoder tape loops drum machine drum kit
Derivative forms	Electro techno electro house electroclash teen pop dance-pop chillwave progressive house

Electropop is a musical genre which combines electronic music and pop music, with a primary usage of synthesizers and various electronic and pop musical instruments. The genre has seen a revival of popularity and influence since the 1980s, all the way to the 2010s.

The term was used during the 1980s to describe a form of synthpop characterized by an emphasized electronic sound, with a distinct pop sound.

Characteristics

Electropop songs are electronic and pop songs at heart, often with simple, catchy hooks and dance beats, but differing from those of electronic dance music genres in that songwriting is emphasized over simple danceability. Electropop is characterized by a distinctive low frequency synthesizers which might variously be described as crisp, crunchy, crackly, fuzzy, warm, distorted or dirty.

History

Electropop music began appearing in the late 1970s, with the "Robot Pop" of German band Kraftwerk, the "technopop" of Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra, and the electronic music of British artists who took inspiration from David Bowie's "Berlin period" albums Low, Heroes, and Lodger, as well as late 70s electronic-influenced disco, especially Germany's Munich Machine led by Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer. Some groups also took inspiration from the NYC electropunk group Suicide.

Electropop's early steps, and the Numan Futurist movement in particular, were strongly disparaged in the British music press of the late 1970s and early 1980s as the "Adolf Hitler Memorial Space Patrol" (Mick Farren).

During the early 1980s, the electro style was largely developed by Afrika Bambaata, who was heavily influenced by Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk and the 80s pop music style of Madonna.

21st century

Kesha is one of the most successful electropop artists

The British and other media in 2009 ran articles proclaiming a new era of the female electropop star and indeed 2009 saw a rise in popularity of female electropop artists. In the Sound of 2009 poll of 130 music experts conducted for the BBC, ten of the top fifteen artists named were of the electropop genre. Lady Gaga had major commercial success since 2008 with her debut album The Fame. Music writer Simon Reynolds noted that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s". The second album by British singer Lily Allen released in 2009 called It's Not Me, It's You is largely electropop as opposed to her first ska album. Other female electropop acts that emerged were Ladyhawke, Kesha, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez, Elly Jackson of La Roux and Perfume.

Male acts that have emerged included British writer and producer Taio Cruz, who charted well in the U.S., along with one-man act Owl City, who had a U.S. number-one single, DJ Kaskade, and LMFAO. Singer Michael Angelakos of the Passion Pit said in a 2009 interview that while playing electro pop was not his intention, the limitations of dorm life made the genre more accessible. Some artists have used music technology to convert songs from other genres into electropop; for example, Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost took a record by indie folk artists Mountain Man and turned it into an electropop song.

In 2009, James Oldham—head of artists and repertoire at A&M Records—was quoted as saying "All A&R departments have been saying to managers and lawyers: 'Don't give us any more bands because we're not going to sign them and they're not going to sell records.' So everything we've been put on to is electronic in nature."

See also

• Dance-pop
• Electro
• Techno
• Disco
• Electro house
• Europop
• Synthpop
• Wonky pop
• Electroclash
• Rave
• EDM
• Futurepop

References

• Depeche Mode & the Story of Electro-Pop, Q/Mojo magazine collaboration, 2005.
• Electronic Music: The Instruments, the Music & the Musicians by Andy Mackay, of Roxy Music