‘There are no rules now’: how gen Z reinvented pop punk

Twenty years ago, it was made by juvenile men in shorts. Now, from Meet Me @ the Altar to Olivia Rodrigo, diverse young women have reclaimed the genre – and made it the sound of the summer

A white man whining about high school, his mediocre hometown or a faceless girl: that is what most people picture when they think of pop punk. In the 90s and 00s, all-male bands such as Green Day, Blink-182, New Found Glory and Sum 41 ruled the charts, looking like Jackass extras in Dickies pants and wallet chains and sounding – albeit mildly – like rebellion. Now, though, a diverse group of women are emerging who have kept the genre’s sense of belligerence and fun, but are developing it to create something youthful that also has a quality those older bands eschewed – emotional maturity.

Today’s pop punks go to therapy (I’m Gonna Tell My Therapist On You by Pinkshift) and sing self-reflectively about relationships. Their vocals recall the soprano gymnastics of the genre’s 00s matriarch, Paramore’s Hayley Williams more than her nasal male contemporaries. Pop punk has become a defining sound of 2021: Olivia Rodrigo’s splenetic Good 4 U recently spent five weeks at No 1 in the UK, the longest stretch for a rock song for 25 years, while Willow, the daughter of Will Smith, released a pop punk album last week that discusses her personal growth and confronts the fake people in her life.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/23/there-are-no-rules-now-how-gen-z-reinvented-pop-punk

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