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Great topic. Because the hottest pop stars are always in their teens to mid-20s. When you're a preteen to teen, you can look up to your 18 year old idol. When you're in your 20s, you can relate to and enjoy their songs because you and your favorite pop stars are around the same age.
So if you're 30+ years old listening to music released by teens and mid-20s, you'll feel old. Why? You certainly cannot relate to a teen anymore and you can't even relate to a 25 year old anymore. You just feel old.
Hasn't anyone noticed that pop music sounds very YOUNG? Since about 1999 when Britney Spears came out, pop music has always been dance pop and electro pop. Even today. When you're 30+, you don't feel young anymore. Your youth is over. It's embarrassing for a 30+ year old to admit to liking YOUNG music.
But then you have someone like Adele singing more AC music. She was 25 and 27 when her hottest albums were released, yet she has fans of all ages. Why? Because her music sounds more mature.
I don't think this applies to all pop music but there definitely is some truth to it.
I loved pop music up through 2012. In the years following I still liked some of it there is a lot more that I just haven't liked. I personally don't think it's the ages of the pop stars but more what topics most pop songs are centered on. Most of them deal with things like young love, dating, breakups, partying, drinking, etc...things that are very relevant to people in their late teens and early twenties. By the time you get to 30 you start to age out of that phase of life and can no longer relate to a lot of the songs, especially if you are married. In fact, it's statistically proven that people who get married younger stop listening to pop music years before people who stay single do. This is why. Meanwhile, people do continue to listen to the pop music that was popular during the years they were coming of age because of the nostalgia factor.
To me, pop music lately has been depressing because it's a reminder that I am not as young as I used to be and am nowhere near where I wanted to be by this phase of my life.
Most studies say that people slowly stop listening to pop music at some point around age 30, give or take a few years for different people. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule in that some people never like pop music or phase out of it early and there's always those people trying to hold onto their youth by listening to pop music in their 40s and 50s. Most however, will stop in their late twenties or early thirties. The reason is that it seems at that age, new music stops resonating with people. It's why you always hear older people talking about how music was so much better in their day. I am starting to notice it myself as well. I want to like today's pop music, but I don't think its as good as it was back around 2010, during the peak of my young adulthood. Yes, music may actually be getting worse but I think a majority of it is that I'm getting older, and if I were say, 22 again now, I would really enjoy what's on the radio today.
Question is, why is this? Why at around age 30 do we stop being able to appreciate new pop music? It's not like we lack the capacity to appreciate new styles. Most people get about two decades of pop music before they start to phase out of it plus a few more decades that their parents introduce them to. For instance, somebody born in 1985 would have likely been into pop music until around the 2013-2016 time frame. Myself, I started noticing music declining around 2013. There was still plenty of good stuff, it just wasn't quite as good as 2009-12. 2015 was probably the last really good year for music. 2016 had some good songs but for the most part sucked and 2017 has been god awful.
In addition to their own music, their parents would have introduced them to 60s, 70s, and 80s music. So, they have grown to appreciate at least five or six decades of music.
Why does appreciating new music and sounds stop around age 30?
I stopped around 1974, at age 17, with the disco explosion. The deterioration in pop music was sharp and fast. Now my sons, 21 and 20, listen to a good amount of the music I like. There's a reason for that; we were spoiled by pop music's golden age from about the British Invasion to roughly 1972 or 1973.
I stopped around 1974, at age 17, with the disco explosion. The deterioration in pop music was sharp and fast. Now my sons, 21 and 20, listen to a good amount of the music I like. There's a reason for that; we were spoiled by pop music's golden age from about the British Invasion to roughly 1972 or 1973.
As somebody who likes a lot of music that came before my time, I have to agree with you that the disco era was pretty bad. When you consider that it came after the Beatles era and the singer/songwriter era of the early 70s is especially bad. I think the '80s had some gems here and there but overall the decade sucked for pop music. A lot of people will disagree with me on that but that is how I feel about it. I do think things really started to improve in the '90s, roughly about 93-94ish. I would consider the era from about 1994 through 2012 to be a second golden age of pop. Today we are in more of an '80s situation in my opinion. There is some good stuff out there but there is a ton of garbage you have to sift through to find it.
I'm 57 now. I suppose I shouldn't really be answering the O.P.'s question in that I never liked pop music, thus aging has nothing to do with my dislike for the genre.
In 1970 I heard the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin, and that drew me into metal. To this day I seek out new heavy metal and enjoy metal across the decades. Opeth is my favorite band.
I never listened to the garbage. Still like the same songs I did as a teen, and like news ones if they are good. I have never liked pop music, still do not see how people like it. I even understand why people like the various hip-hop music even though I do not like it, but not pop.
I like pop from years gone by and some of today's pop. I don't like it all as I don't all of anything. I prefer R&B, Soul over POP but sometimes they blur the lines. Popular music in my opinion, is music that is popular for its time.
Here's how Wiki defines pop music. Oddly enough the Popular Music vs. POP Music are not necessarily the same.
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid-1950s.[4] The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many styles. "Pop" and "rock" were roughly synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they became increasingly differentiated from each other.
Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other styles such as urban, dance, rock, Latin, and country; nonetheless, there are core elements that define pop music. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks.
I'm in my late 40's & still listen to pop/rock/new wave/alternative music from the '80's & '90's, when I was in my teens & 20's. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, and listening to this music brings me back to that time period.
Also into some '60's & '70's music, but nostalgia is not as strong there since I wasn't listening to that music as it was released.
I think a major reason is that our society (not just the music industry; read the Work and Employment), unfortunately, focuses on the short term at the expense of the long term. Since, unfortunately, the current attitude is that an employee's only purpose is to generate revenue for shareholders (again, read the Work and Employment forum), the major record labels only allow pop singers to release music that is targeted at teenage girls, thinking that is how to make the most money. Unfortunately, that turns away everybody else. Targeting teenage girls may be a good short term strategy (which generates short term revenue for shareholders), even though it is a terrible long term strategy.
I see Ariana Grande as being everything that is wrong with our society. She has an amazing voice (probably the closest that anybody current has to Whitney, Celine, or Mariah), but she does not use her voice at all. All she sings is teenage girl gibberish. People always defend Ariana Grande, and they see her as this great symbol of capitalism. But I see her as how capitalism is not supposed to work. If she used her voice to sing power ballads rather than gibberish, then even if she wouldn't make as much money in the short term, she would have a much longer career and a much more diverse audience. In a few years, nobody will even remember who Ariana Grande is. On the other hand, past artists who sang quality music, such as Billy Joel, still are popular. Billy Joel is able to sell out Madison Square Garden every month. In a few years from now, I doubt that Ariana Grande would even be able to sell out your local high school auditorium.
There are a few pop singers who are still able to target adults, such as Sara Bareilles, Colbie Caillat, and Kelly Clarkson. I enjoyed reading Sara Bareilles's autobiography, "Sounds Like Me". She mentioned that the industry initially tried to push her toward teenage girl gibberish, but she fought back. Colbie Caillat eventually started her own record label, PlymmyLou records, so that she could release the music she wanted to release, and not what the corporate record labels were trying to pressure her into. The result was her album "Malibu Sessions", which many people have probably never even heard of, but is really good. Katy Perry was another artist who was moving in an adult contemporary direction, although her latest album seems weird.
Another adult contemporary singer who was never really marketed here in the US, is Jo O'Meara. She was the lead singer of S Club 7, who you may remember with their song "Never Had a Dream Come True", back in 2000-2001. As a solo artist, she released an excellent, adult contemporary album called "Relentless", back in 2005, which I only very recently discovered. She too had to create her own record label in order to be allowed to release the music that she wanted to release.
In an odd way, S Club 7 could be considered the end of one era and the start of the current era. Although they were a corporately produced group targeted at a very young audience, they were when talent still mattered.
I think it is because life is full of new experiences during the first three decades, and they often go hand in hand with certain songs that happen to be popular at that time.
From a certain age on, the brain also becomes less open and flexible.
It was the same with me, I never listen to the radio anymore, except for the news at the full hour. I have zero interest in today's music, I still listen to the music I grew up with. New music means nothing to me, there are no emotions and experiences attached to it. When I listen to the music of my youth, I feel young again.
I'm 41. I hear a lot that people my age, maybe older, maybe just a touch younger, say new music sucks. Most people listen to what was popular when they were in their teens and 20's. (That's just my observation)
So I still listen to new stuff - new metal, indie, rock, alt rock, stuff like that. I hate pop. In the 80's as a child I listened and liked, but that's because that's all that was available in my area. Also, I was a kid and the pop starts were adults to me, so it was "grown-up" I guess. Which, that's what I like. Grown-up stuff.
To me pop is childish, and I started really hating it when Britney, Christina, Nsync and all that came up. JLo esp, she was brand new (her music I guess?) and some stupid MTV show said her song was going to hit number 1. I was like, but it just came out, who's had time to hear about it? Basically overnight it was "all the rage". Said who?
It all seemed processed and fake. Females weren't about talent but gimmicks, sex appeal, etc. Again my opinion. I'm aware people say they can really sing... and I know in the 80's ppl like Madonna were all about that... but anyway, I just felt like it was all fake and pushed on us by execs.
Now stuff like Nickie Minaj and Katy Perry seem awful. Seems fakey and bland. I agree with the above poster - no feelings or emotions, or experiences attached to it. Most of the people I know that go nuts for it just settle for what's shoved in their face. They like the gimmick. They like booty shaking and catchy, silly rhymes with trendiness. I also agree with above poster about attention span - they just like "what's cool" at the moment.
I also feel - if you take a singer, add 40 pounds to her (or him) dress her in head to toe plaid, and take away the flashiness and the back-up dancers, would they still be as popular? If not, then NO thanks. I can't take them seriously or enjoy what they do.
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