Humor and goodbyes: five fall trends in pop music

We danced, sang, ran back and forth between stages, waved fists and wavedhair. For many, the summer of 2022 became an unbroken chain of celebrations,festivals and celebrations, finally again.

And now it is October. For the first time since 2019, a music season with afamiliar rhythm seems to be approaching: this month dance festival ADE inAmsterdam and rock festival Left Of The Dial in Rotterdam, in November gourmetmarathon Le Guess Who will follow in Utrecht. There are again performances byforeign artists, such as the hit group Swedish House Mafia, who arecelebrating their three-year ‘reunion tour’ in Ziggo Dome, and De Dijk willsell out Paradiso three times in December as usual.

You might think we’re continuing where it left off in 2020. Yet the musicworld looks different, there are wrinkles that have not yet been ironed out.How is the autumn going, what can we expect musically?

A few autumn trends in a row.

1 The future is Dutch

Because although the situation in the Dutch concert halls is now unconcerned,many American artists are still holding back. They do not organize overseastours – because of corona, or due to the consequences of the war in Ukraineand rising energy prices: a series of concerts in Europe is then financiallynot feasible.

This already had consequences for the program of, for example, the Lowlandsfestival. Eventually every canceled American was replaced by a Dutchman. Andwith success: the rapture during the concerts was no less.

This fall, performances by English and American artists are still beingcanceled for a variety of reasons (Brexit, visa, personal circumstances),including those of Rex Orange County, The Weeknd, Obongjayar, Years & Yearsand Anne-Marie.

Perhaps that offers an advantage for Dutch musicians. With a smaller share ofthe Anglo-Saxon countries, more Dutch people can show their talent. If that isconvincing, the interest can shift, so that Dutch artists acquire betterpositions in concert halls, at festivals, as headliners.

ckay Chukwuma Ekweani.

Photo MOHAMED MESSARA/ANP/EPA

2 The future is West African

More artists fill the space. Musicians from hitherto unexplored areas conquerthe Netherlands. This trend was already underway before the pandemic, and isnow gaining extra momentum. Acts from South America, Korea, African countriesappear to be able to compete with America and England. It also speaks from thelistening behavior. Spotify announced early this year that rapper Bad Bunny,from Puerto Rico, was the most streamed artist of 2021 (and 2020), Korean boyband BTS was in third place. The self-evident hegemony of the American popmusician is over.

The Dutch public is looking south these days. French music fills the halls,that of the disco group L’Impératrice, of psych rock band La Femme, or of thetropical house duo Polo & Pan.

Further south, in Nigeria, came the beautiful songs of singer Rema, the R&B ofCKay and the brooding hip-hop of WizKid. The now popular trend Amapiano(lounge dance with piano) started in South Africa.

The dyke Huub van der Lubbe

Photo Andreas Terlaak

3 The future is interrupted

A number of artists started their careers during the lockdown. After a calmstart in a stagnant world, the newcomers have been on the carousel of thesummer festivals in recent months: they traveled from hot to here to showthemselves to fans on all continents. Rock group Wet Leg, founded by two womenon the Isle of Wight, was embraced by an international audience to theirsurprise during the pandemic. Since February, the group has performed almostdaily, somewhere in the world. Recently, the two singers, who emphasize ininterviews that they make music ‘for fun’, became too much and canceled a fewAmerican concerts (the performances in Groningen and Amsterdam, in November,will continue for the time being).

Sometimes the collaboration ends permanently. After seeing a spate of reuniontours at the beginning of this century (The Police, Fleetwood Mac, SpiceGirls), the farewell tour is now in vogue. Kiss and Slayer came to saygoodbye, Elton John waved off. Dutch musicians also celebrate the farewellwith a series of performances. It often becomes the most successful phase intheir career. Kensington played six nights in a sold-out Ziggo Dome. Of thesix ‘farewell concerts’ that Nick & Simon will give in April in Ahoy,Rotterdam, four are sold out. De Dijk, who announced their farewell last June,is now busy with a three-month, sold-out series of farewell concerts. Thenit’s over, the musicians hug each other and each goes his way. Until thereunion tour is announced.

gold band

Photo ANP/Paul Bergen

4 The future is funny

And what do the Dutch artists that will present themselves this autumn soundlike? There is a need for humor and bouncing rhythms, as is apparent from somenew techno producers who adorn themselves with names like Natte Visstick orVieze Ashbak and make rattling tracks, with a nod to the old ‘gabber’.

Also at Goldband, one of the most popular groups of the moment, you can laughand jump. As the main act at Lowlands, the trio, supplemented by a fewmusicians, overwhelmed the audience with choral singing and moshpits. Theformer plasterers from The Hague, who present themselves as anti-heroes, singabout laundry (‘Witte Was’) and about being rejected (‘Ja Ja Nee Nee’).Actually, the lyrics are quite melancholy, but because of their bravado it isnot noticeable, as is apparent on the new single ‘Psycho’, with its shrillbeats and excited singing voice.

For a number of newcomers, the emotion is supercooled. This applies to the duoDe Witte Kunst from Amsterdam, and Don Melody Club, a solo project by DonaldMadjid, also from Amsterdam. Old-fashioned-sounding drum machines and hazynoises figure in his dreamy songs, Madjid declaims in drawling talk. De WitteKunst also frames the surrealistic observations through primitive electronicswith elegant accents. Both sound romantic in an ironic way.

Bente

Photo ANP/Hollandse Hoogte/Harold Versteeg

5 The future is bleak

Behind the rough rhythms and comic style of some, however, another sound canbe heard. And that sounds wavering and sensitive. It sounds like the sense ofalienation that – sometimes – comes with adolescence has been exacerbated bythe effects of the lockdown. You can hear that double dose with a new batch ofyoung – mostly – female musicians, with only one first name. After Meau andFroukje, Nienke and Bente now also name their powerlessness or gloomy,unvarnished and well articulated. One with a full band, the other with just anacoustic guitar, but all tough in their honesty. Bente wrote a campaign song,’Stil Bij Mij’, to encourage young people to talk about emotional problems.She sings about doubts and fears and says ‘When you talk about your worries/It’s never too late’.

The approach is not exclusively feminine. Joost Klein, alias Joost, also seemsto fit in with the trend of frankness. The former court jester of Dutch-language hip-hop, known at performances for his physical effort and great urgeto conquer the public, processed the events of his youth into painful songs,on the new album Friesland. As eager as he used to use humor as a crowbar,he is so forthright now. For example in the opening track ‘Life Story’: ‘Callmy father every day, but that man is dead’.