You will have heard of recession meals and wardrobes. Now, now we have “recession pop” – bangers from 2008-2010 gaining reputation with a youthful viewers.
ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Let me take you again to the autumn of 2008. The nation is within the grip of the Nice Recession. Unemployment is rising. Residence foreclosures are spiking. It’s darkish occasions. However whenever you activate the radio…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHATEVER YOU LIKE”)
T I: (Singing) Stacks on deck, patron on ice. And we will pop bottles all night time. Child, you could possibly have no matter you want, when you like. I stated you could possibly…
MA: (Laughter) It is a completely different vibe. “No matter You Like” by T.I. was the No. 1 track within the nation, an anthem about proving your love by way of wealth and luxurious, irrespective of the worth.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WHATEVER YOU LIKE”)
T I: (Singing) Anytime you wish to decide up the phone, you understand it ain’t nothin’ to drop a pair stacks on you.
MA: “No matter You Like” was a part of a wave of songs that captured millennials’ creativeness as a result of the financial actuality they confronted was simply so brutal. These days, there’s really a time period for this type of pseudo music style – recession pop.
TAYLOR CRUMPTON: Nearly all of songs that got here out through the Nice Recession wax poetically about partying, optimism.
MA: That is music and tradition author Taylor Crumpton.
CRUMPTON: And it was made in response to the financial turmoil that occurred within the late aughts.
MA: She wrote a bit for Time Journal referred to as “Possibly We Want Recession Pop Proper Now.” If you look again on the Nice Recession, unemployment was the best it had been in many years. So to keep off the financial demons, folks on the golf equipment and on their iPods – they needed enjoyable, dancey (ph) tunes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LADY GAGA SONG, “JUST DANCE”)
MA: Crumpton says recession pop supplied an escape. Songs with relentlessly optimistic lyrics and tempos designed for dancing – the combo was irresistible.
CRUMPTON: That is the factor about recession pop. It is actually that woman as a result of it is so catchy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “JUST DANCE”)
LADY GAGA: (Singing) All proper, all proper. Simply dance, going to be OK, da-da-doo-doo. Simply dance.
CRUMPTON: Girl Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Katy Perry – they have been recognized for making these dance pop songs that simply inspired you to maneuver and dance.
MA: And at a time when a whole lot of the nation was tightening their belts, recession pop songs stated spend, spend, spend. Like, take this Black Eyed Peas hit…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I GOTTA FEELING”)
WILL I AM: (Singing) I obtained a sense.
MA: …”I Gotta Feeling.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I GOTTA FEELING”)
WILL I AM: (Singing) That tonight’s going to be night time.
CRUMPTON: That track is saying, hey, we all know that you will spend an sum of money. It might be the whole lot of your paycheck, however it is going to be price it. There was virtually a form of sinister nature to the lyrics of recession pop songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I GOTTA FEELING”)
WILL I AM: (Singing) Good night time.
MA: Minimize to 2025, a time of financial uncertainty, what with the tariffs and the inventory market gyrations. And these songs from the Nice Recession have regained reputation.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WAY I ARE”)
TIMBALAND: (Singing) I ain’t obtained no cash. I ain’t obtained no automotive to take you on a date.
MA: In line with Luminate, which is an organization that tracks music trade information, these cheery recession pop songs have seen a notable bump in streams this 12 months. Taylor Crumpton says, now we have Gen Z and social media platforms like TikTok to thank for that.
CRUMPTON: It is so humorous to me that you just guys are saying that Girl Gaga making good music is a recession indicator, and I do agree with you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: McDonald’s introduced their snack wraps again. Hollister dropped a complete anniversary line. Is that this a callback again to the 2000s, particularly late 2000s?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: A video simply popped up on my FYP, and the woman was carrying two cami tank tops layered on high of one another, and that’s actually what we wore in 2008.
MA: Have a look at that, millennials and Gen Z discovering some widespread floor.
CRUMPTON: Gen Z and the era that got here of age through the COVID-19 pandemic are experiencing a lot of financial and political realities that millennials have been experiencing in 2008. They’re desirous to hearken again to a time the place the one factor they have been worrying about was, does this man like me? – and, this vodka cran is simply too robust.
MA: And Crumpton says perhaps that is what we’d like proper now.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WAY I ARE”)
TIMBALAND: (Singing) I ain’t obtained no Visa. I ain’t obtained no Purple American Categorical. We will not go nowhere unique. It do not matter ‘trigger I am the one which loves…
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might range. Transcript textual content could also be revised to right errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
