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On the Sub-genre of “Wealth Pop”
A critique of popular music‘s obsession with fame and fortune
In the words of one of the most prolific lyricists of our time, Ariana Grande,
“My wrist, stop watchin’, my neck is flossy
Make big deposits, my gloss is poppin’
You like my hair? Gee, thanks, just bought it
I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it, yeah” — 7 Rings
May all of us college kids, service industry workers, girls in the club, and side hustle-slaying wannabes recite these lines as a holy manifestation to our future selves.
When we need something shorter, we can always recite the mantra, “all I do is win, win, win,” by the very prosaic DJ Khalid. We can pump iron at the gym to become the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time, for those of you unfortunate souls living under a pop-culture-starved rock), manifesting those muscles bulging alongside the swelling of our fat bank account.
A lot of people complain that music these days is too sonically similar. There are ample about the “spotification” of music; where artists and labels are making increasingly generic music that…