Folk-pop is a broad musical fusion genre that includes contemporary folk songs with pop music arrangements, and pop songs with intimate, acoustic music-based folk music arrangements. Folk-pop has been popularized by mainstream media in recent years.
Musical elements
Folk-pop incorporates the sounds of the acoustic
guitar and
banjo of traditional
folk music and combines it with the more electronic and synth beats of today's
Pop music genre.
The folk genre is recognized for its simple melodies, story-telling nature, and cultural themes and messages, while pop music is recognized by a repetitive but catchy chorus and fast-paced tempos.
History
Recording production values created an unblemished style that appealed to a mass audience, and thus led to commercial success as measured by high record sales, particularly as illustrated by hit records reaching the Top 40 on
AM radio in the United States. Folk-pop developed during the 1960s folk music and
folk rock boom.
[
] Key example of folk-pop artists include the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary with contracts with major record labels (
Capitol Records and Warner Bros. Records, respectively).
Current
Folk-pop not only contains musical aspects of both the folk and pop music genres, but is recognized by its popularity in mainstream media.
Social media platforms such as
TikTok have allowed artists a large platform to reach a broad audience, which has led to the increasing popularity of songs and artists that use folk-pop elements in their music.
Some rising artists exploring the folk-pop genre that have appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 in the last year include
Tyler Childers,
Noah Kahan,
Zach Bryan, and
The Lumineers.
Popular music today contains "inherently nostalgic properties"
See also
