(2) One thing that makes A-pop different from something like K-pop is that America has way more people and is still one of the big three economic engines (China, combined Europe are the other two). So even if America is no longer the automatic source or reference point for as much of the world's music as it once was, it's still packed wi…
(2) One thing that makes A-pop different from something like K-pop is that America has way more people and is still one of the big three economic engines (China, combined Europe are the other two). So even if America is no longer the automatic source or reference point for as much of the world's music as it once was, it's still packed with so much stuff, is something massive to try to take in *as* *a* *coherent* *entity* in the way that one *can* reasonably take in Korean idol pop or amapiano. Of course you wouldn't altogether be right about the supposed coherence of K-pop or amapiano either – people (incl. me) don't totally know what they mean or agree on what they mean when they say "K-pop", and also it's less distinct now that it's more internationally famous – but still, it's kinda sorta take-in-able.
Yeah, I think "American pop" is a very wide field, and it's interesting to see who becomes a huge megastar within the larger field. It would make a lot of sense for there to be more American stars at the megastar level just on numbers, though that hasn't really helped Chinese pop break through to the same transnational stage as far as I can tell, probably due to their media environment, but I don't really know enough about it to know for sure.There seems to be much more pop ferment in Taiwan than in China from what I've sampled.
One thing I said to Brad over on Bluesky was: "in some ways you have to figure out the 'lanes' retroactively once the monster has arrived." And that seems to be the case right now in American pop, lots of huge breakout superstars that don't necessarily feel like they are either leading or following a specific zeitgeist, are just big but disconnected outsized personalities.
(2) One thing that makes A-pop different from something like K-pop is that America has way more people and is still one of the big three economic engines (China, combined Europe are the other two). So even if America is no longer the automatic source or reference point for as much of the world's music as it once was, it's still packed with so much stuff, is something massive to try to take in *as* *a* *coherent* *entity* in the way that one *can* reasonably take in Korean idol pop or amapiano. Of course you wouldn't altogether be right about the supposed coherence of K-pop or amapiano either – people (incl. me) don't totally know what they mean or agree on what they mean when they say "K-pop", and also it's less distinct now that it's more internationally famous – but still, it's kinda sorta take-in-able.
Yeah, I think "American pop" is a very wide field, and it's interesting to see who becomes a huge megastar within the larger field. It would make a lot of sense for there to be more American stars at the megastar level just on numbers, though that hasn't really helped Chinese pop break through to the same transnational stage as far as I can tell, probably due to their media environment, but I don't really know enough about it to know for sure.There seems to be much more pop ferment in Taiwan than in China from what I've sampled.
One thing I said to Brad over on Bluesky was: "in some ways you have to figure out the 'lanes' retroactively once the monster has arrived." And that seems to be the case right now in American pop, lots of huge breakout superstars that don't necessarily feel like they are either leading or following a specific zeitgeist, are just big but disconnected outsized personalities.