I know that I am an old soul when it comes to choosing music, and I can pinpoint why. Out of the roughly 1,200 minutes of music I listen to on a weekly basis, a vast majority of the albums and songs were released before the turn of the century. This is largely because music that is being put out today is overproduced. Too much flash, too much fluff with too little talent.
When listening to “Exile on Mainstreet” by The Rolling Stones, one of my favorite Stones albums, you can hear the imperfection, which is what gives the music character. Specifically the sixth track of the 1972 album, “Sweet Virginia,” the piercing guitar strings, Mick Jagger’s shaky voice, the band’s laughter and the saxophonist seeming to improvise is what keeps the song interesting. The song paints a scene of a group of friends turning on a recording and singing around a campfire. The flaws are what make the song authentic, and this authenticity is what the 2025 pop music scene craves.
Females are dominating the previously largely male dominated genre of pop The voices, witty songwriting and personalities of today’s top female musicians like Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and, Oliva Rodrigo are unique. They deserve every accolade that comes their way, but unfortunately, they are a product of the current day overproduction era.
In any of their latest albums, you can’t find a single non-calculated moment. Every vocal, adlib and note played were purposeful, and while their songs’ lyrics show intense emotion at some point, it gets lost because you can tell they are trying to be perfect. That is a reason why most artists are better to hear live, because their true talent is unveiled through their raw performances.
It is not until you reach the indie and rock, and earlier pop genres that you find a glimpse of this authenticity. In the Backseat Lover’s 2022 album, “Waiting to Spill,” they present a taste of less produced tracks. In tracks like “Snowbank Blues” and “Viciously Lonely,” the lead singer Joshua Harmon is clearly not taking hundreds of takes of the same line to find the absolute best one. The songs sound real, not as over thought as much of today’s pop music feels. When I saw them live in the summer of 2022, their live shows sounded very close to the recordings. Electric, raw and real, all traits that you want in the recordings.
Obviously, TikTok is quickly becoming the most influential platform to the music industry. It has launched and shot down the careers of countless musicians. Half of my “for-you page” is people making their own music in their rooms; “Bedroom Pop,” as it is called online. The songs being uploaded sound soulful and thoughtful when it is in the form of a 60 second video shot on an iPhone camera. But, the second that an artist gets popular enough and attains the funds to record professionally in front of a $1,000 microphone, suddenly it sounds forced. Artists like Jake Minch with “Handgun,” Pearl with “I Like You But” and Sydney Rose with “We Hug Now” have all become victims to this.
What is this the result of overproduced music and how will this affect the music industry in the future? I think, and I hope other people agree, we need a new sound. Something different than a sad girl with a guitar and some humorous promiscuous lyrics over an 80s synth pop track. Something more emotional and authentic.
