The Playlist Generation

How society and technology has shaped the music created by those born between the mid-1990s and early-2010s

A generational name often reflects the prevailing musical atmosphere of that era. The Greatest Generation, born between the two World Wars, is often called The Swing Generation because of their relationship to jazz music. The 1960s heyday of the Baby Boomers is linked to a background of rock ’n’ roll. Additionally, Generation X is sometimes referred to as The MTV Generation, with the music channel emerging during this time period. When it comes to Generation Z, we are The Playlist Generation.

The Playlist Generation and Society

A playlist, in musical terms, is a list of songs curated by an individual. Just as this personalised collection is defined by a sense of atmosphere, so is a generation: our group, born between the mid-1990s and early-2010s, has been moulded by a rise in populism, a growth in inequality fuelled by a recession, and climate concerns. These social conditions have created an age group more prone to stress and mental health issues, with the American Psychological Association reporting in 2019 that 27% of The Playlist Generation would describe their mental health as “poor.”

Additionally, we are a self-aware group noted for their social consciousness, espoused by the advent of social media and having grown up in a technological world. Just like a playlist, an identity can be designed and controlled online, creating a more individualised — yet insular — world; with a 2019 Cigna report stating that The Playlist Generation ranked as the loneliest and more isolated.

A Post-Genre World

These societal factors have influenced the music is consumed by our group. The rise of streaming services, most pertinently Spotify, provide access to a large library of music, enabling people to discover and listen to records from a wide range of genres. Sweety High, a digital media company for Playlist Generation females, released a 2018 report which displayed this post-genre world: it stated that 97% of participants listened to more than five genres of music on a regular basis. They also embodied the shift from physical music to playlists, with 61% of people using Spotify to listen to music as opposed to 38% by CD, showing how our choice of consumption displays our individual, rather than collective, relationship with our environment.

Whereas previous generations had been defined by their relationship to genre, such as Generation X with grunge, the change in listening habits has seen The Playlist Generation transcend this by creating a post-genre world. Instead of being viewed as a boundary, genre has become a plaything, a fluid entity in which multiple styles are interwoven, from the emo rap of Lil Peep to Post Malone’s fusion of disparate genres from trap to grunge. Previously artists, such as Taylor Swift, have jumped between defined genres from album-to-album, this new crop of musicians have incorporated a blend of styles as their signature sound, showing how this generation unconsciously defies categorisation.

Technology has also altered the way music is made by our generation. Access to a laptop provides young musicians with a digital studio, enabling a DIY and homemade style to emerge. Artists, from Beabadoobee to Khalid, have been labeled as ‘bedroom pop,’ a genre signifying the circumstances of their musical creation, revolving around a lo-fi and minimalist sound.

Whereas previous generational genres, from punk to grunge, relied on an external and brash aesthetic, technology has enabled The Playlist Generation to concoct a private, subdued yet ethereal world from their bedroom. The introverted and introspective lyricism of our music reflects this, delivered in a confessional and hushed tone, such as Lorde’s description of heartbreak in Green Light. The music, though created in an solipsistic setting, is highly personal and relatable, mirroring the openness our group has towards sharing aspects of our lives to the rest of society.

Social ME-dia and Identity

The usage of social media as a medium for self-promotion highlights the symbiotic relationship of the self and social media within The Playlist Generation. The formulation of a distinct musical identity online developed as a trend in the early 2010s by artists like The Weeknd and Lana Del Rey, who utilised this to build hype and mystique around their acts, helping them to establish an authentic persona. Billie Eilish is one of many artists to take this approach online, stating to The Independent that, “It’s cooler to keep a mysterious aspect to you. Putting everything out there for everyone to see is not unique.”

Although the creation of their music is often insular, the world has become an audience for these musicians from their bedrooms. Traditional industry tenets, from media support to record labels, has been bypassed by platforms — from SoundCloud to YouTube — designed for songwriters to distribute their music for free online.

Many modern musicians have risen to prominence through these services, namely Rex Orange County, who was discovered by fellow musicians after uploading an album to SoundCloud, leading to a major increase in profile. TikTok, an app where users create short and often lip-synced videos, has also emerged recently as a mode of musical discovery, as embodied by Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road. His record-breaking country-rap collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus became a viral hit thanks to this platform due to the #Yeehaw challenge, with these collective user posts having been seen over 67 million times by July 2019.

Historically artists, from The Beatles to Oasis, relied on external mediums to express their identity, from television to magazines. Nowadays artists, from Clairo to Phoebe Bridgers, use social media platforms from Twitter to Instagram to control and create their own narratives. This can be used as a portal into the artist’s life, an arena for fan engagement, or a place to release news or statements directly to their audience. This allows musicians to promote their music in a personable and direct fashion, helping them to build and maintain an audience.

A New World

Playlist Generation artists fall into a Bermuda Triangle of identity, technology, and style. The musical flag bearer of these changes is Eilish. Having been discovered on SoundCloud, her active social media presence — from openness about her mental health to spreading awareness of societal causes — has been key to her becoming on of the biggest artists of recent times.

Her idiosyncratic style jumps from the folky undertones of 8 to the Kanye West inspired rhythm of Bury a Friend, to the trap beat incorporated into Bad Guy. This iconoclastic approach to genre is underpinned by a minimalist style, which stems from the music’s DIY and homemade production, and a unique sense of style and identity.

Her music and identity is emblematic of a generation of new artists. In a world increasingly dissolute and beyond our control, our individualistic and personalised approach to music shows how we at once engage and distance ourselves from our surroundings. The Playlist Generation, having been shuffled around by a collapsing society, has responded by using the technological tools at our disposal to curate our own identities in self-contained worlds where we refuse to be categorised.