Do Today’s Pop Artists Make Albums Anymore?

Even if no one wants to narrow it down to just one, everyone has a favorite album of all time — the one piece of art they would save if every other work of music vanished from the place we call Earth. My album would be Blue Neighbourhood (2015) by Troye Sivan. 

Albums are supposed to tell a story, whether it be through the lyricism, vocalization, or melodic progression. Albums are a way for people to escape the bigger problems they are facing in life. They make us feel seen and heard in a way that sometimes the closest people in our lives cannot. When I first heard “THE QUIET” (2015) by Troye Sivan, it felt like the secluded words of my journal had been broadcasted to my ears in a strikingly relatable way. The thing is though, do today’s pop artists make personable albums that grab at your heart in a jarringly accurate way? 

In a technical sense, artists still do make albums: collections of tracks combined under one name. But do these “albums” stem from an effort to create an honest narrative that invokes a connection with the listener? Are their intentions coming from a place of emotional relief, or the desire for chart success? 

Maroon 5 has been on the pop music scene for a hot minute. Anyone who listened to the radio in the 2010s knows that their songs were inescapable. Whether we like it or not, “Moves Like Jagger” (2011) and “Sugar” (2014) score our childhood memories. However, the place Maroon 5 finds itself in is that their recent music sounds like it was made for the radio — to be heard on your way to your 9-5 job or to be played in the background at parties. There seems to be no personable touch to it. Of course there are exceptions: Maroon 5’s most recent hit “Memories” (2019) deals with the loss of the band’s manager who tragically passed away in late 2017. Their debut studio album Songs About Jane (2002) still hits a nostalgic beat in my heart, and “I don’t mind spending every day / Out on your corner in the pouring rain” is still a lyric I cannot help but belt in hopeless unison. But overall, Maroon 5’s lackluster songwriting is emblematic of the impersonal music capturing the world today.

Another perpetrator of the single-making machine are the Imagine Dragons, who always seem to make it to the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with every song release. Justin Bieber has been contributing to this generic pop phenomenon for a decade now, with his first offense being “Baby” (2010). And then there is Drake, whose singles always reach number 1 on the charts, regardless of the quality. These artists’ intentions are clear: to make money through consistent streams and future karaoke nights. 

The reason artists continue to create top-10 hits mainly relies on the internet. I do not mean to sound like a “pick me” who believes that the only good pop music was released in the 20th century, but it is undeniable that pre-internet musicians had to work much harder for their songs to reach number one. Instead of simply hitting “play” like we do today, fans had to buy physical copies of their favorite albums. Now, thanks to social media, a song can go viral within minutes. Look at “Astronaut in the Ocean” (2019) by Masked Wolf, which unlawfully ruled TikTok in 2021. Most of the online appreciation for this song was ironic, rather than genuine. But as long as the song gained publicity, its position on the charts rose.

Photo Credit: TikTok

The effect TikTok has had on the music industry is— and I do not use this phrase lightly— course altering. By just looking at the Billboard Hot 100 (chart dated: March 12, 2022) we see that a majority of the Top 10 songs gained their popularity through TikTok. If a person hears a snippet of a song multiple times while they are scrolling on their ‘for you page,’ they are more likely to listen to the full song. Now, multiply this practice by 1 million, and you’ll get a Top-10 single. 

Streaming platforms such as Spotify also contribute to the rapid success of sub-par music. Fans do not need to pay for songs or albums and can play any song without listening to a full album in its entirety. This marks a vast deviation from the listening style required by CDs and vinyl, which was once the main source for consuming music. Popular artists try to cater to these circumstances, producing hit songs that can be added to a multitude of playlists for a long period of time.

Popular artists such as Beyonce have thoughts on the decline of heartfelt albums. In her 2013 HBO documentary Life Is But a Dream, the musician remarks, “people don’t make albums anymore…they just try to sell a bunch of lil’ quick singles.” She gave this statement right when the internet started to garner a chokehold on the music world. Nine years later, one can only imagine how far this phenomenon has expanded.

Selling hundreds of thousands of copies during an album’s first week used to be a common occurrence in the music industry. For example, Britney Spears’ second studio album Oops!… I Did It Again (2000) sold 1.3 million copies in its first week and became the fastest female album to reach this level of success. Adele beat this record with her album 25 (2015), which sold an unprecedented 3.3 million albums in its first week. Unfortunately, selling this many albums is not as common today. The most recent album that got anywhere close to accomplishing this feat was Taylor Swift’s folklore (2020), which sold 846,000 units in its first week. 

In addition to her success in album sales, Taylor Swift continues to defy this phenomenon through her artistry. Swift recently released Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021), a re-record of her 2012 album, along with a longer version of the fan favorite “All Too Well.” Sitting at ten minutes in length, this song was not written for the charts. But rather, it was released for the fans, who have unanimously deemed it her best song to date. Swift’s fanbase is so passionate that nearly everything she releases will reach record success, even a track triple the length of an average song.

Other outliers include The Weeknd, whose latest album Dawn FM (2022) takes the listener through a radio show while in purgatory. In an interview with Billboard, the artist further described the concept as “waiting to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.” Or Adele, whose recent record 30 (2021) tackles the emotions of a woman going through divorce and newfound motherhood. There is even a haunting voice recording of a conversation between her and her son on the track “My Little Love” (2021).

Do not get me wrong, there are some songs created for the sole purpose of being a hit single that I do love. I would be lying if I said I did not catch myself singing the chorus of “Peaches” (2021) by Justin Bieber to myself every now and then. Something about “I get my peaches out in Georgia (oh, yeah, shit)” is so funny, yet so infectious to me. I do wish more pop artists would make personable albums, and ignore the ongoing internet influence. But I guess the 2020s have only just begun. Music industry trends have the capacity to change at any moment in time, and for that I remain optimistic and curious.

Written by Adrian Ceja.

Featured Image by Nick Milanes in Gear Patrol’s “The Real Story of Record Store Day.”