Bedroom pop has left the bedroom

I’ve been a closet fan of bedroom pop since before we were calling it that. The name is a bit unfortunate I think, because a lot of people take it to mean that the music sounds like it was literally recorded in some kid’s bedroom while their parents were asleep. Which I guess it often is. But I’d argue that’s not the point.

For me, what defines “bedroom pop” as a music genre is the fact that you feel like you’re listening in on a deeply guarded personal confession. Academics call this style “diaristic,” because it reads like a page ripped straight out of someone’s very private diary. Bedroom pop sounds like it was recorded when the artist thought no one else was listening, and then locked away in a small drawer somewhere, hopefully forever. Not because it sounds bad, but because it’s just too embarrassing.

So for me, writing songs in this way demands that you be completely vulnerable and authentic in your emotions, as awkward as that might be if it ever got out. That’s exactly why I love a lot of songs from this genre, and it’s a thing I strive for as a songwriter. It’s no coincidence that this is also one of the reasons I’m such a fan of the Song Exploder podcast, where for some reason the musicians frequently seem to end up crying. 😭

“Some musicians doing this, like Billie Eilish, the once-poster-child of bedroom pop, now rank among the most successful musicians on earth.”

Now, take this concept of raw emotional vulnerability and imagine it up on stage. Instead of sitting cross-legged on the bed, playing guitar with your headphones on and the door locked, you’re standing in front of a big room full of people, belting out passages from your actual diary. And everyone loves it. Of course, many performers have done this exact thing before, it’s not a new concept. But they never earned platinum records for it. That is, until now.

Some musicians doing this, like Billie Eilish, the once-poster-child of bedroom pop, now rank among the most successful musicians on earth. With her signature “whispered” vocals, in 2020 Eilish became the youngest person in Grammy history to win Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist all at the same time. She’s also won two Oscars. Her breakout single “Ocean Eyes” was, in fact, recorded in her brother’s bedroom at their parent’s house in a Los Angeles suburb.

Bedroom pop was once just a spin-off of indie rock’s “lo-fi” branch, which started in the early 1990s with records like Beck’s “Loser” and Propeller from Guided By Voices. Some recordings took a more hushed approach to the lo-fi sound, like 1993’s Roman Candle by Elliott Smith, which might rightly be considered the first real bedroom pop record (feel free to debate me in the comments!) Smith’s basement recordings definitely captured a uniquely intimate sound, but I feel like the main reason he’s cited so much by other musicians as a key songwriting influence is that his lyrics were often even more private and fragile than his lonely electric guitar and subdued, plaintive vocals.

“By the mid-2010’s, having now evolved somewhat away from its lo-fi origins, the bedroom pop ethos suddenly exploded into the mainstream.”

For years this type of music was the underground domain of truly indie alt-pop artists like Perfume Genius, one of my own early musical influences. But by the mid-2010’s, having now evolved somewhat away from its lo-fi origins, the bedroom pop ethos suddenly exploded into the mainstream. Funny names like Clairo and Beabadoobee started climbing the charts. Spotify launched a Bedroom Pop playlist in 2018, and now it has a million-plus followers.

Today, I think few people would classify Eilish’s music as “just” bedroom pop. But I don’t think that’s because the genre was merely a short-term Gen-Y angst fad. My pet theory is that the art of the raw diary confession was on a steady, slow-burning upward trend in pop music for decades, and it finally reached enough critical mass to spill out into its own sub-genre. Some recent research supports me in this: a detailed study of lyrics from the past 50 years has confirmed that while music lyrics have been getting simpler and more repetitive, the emotions expressed by those lyrics have grown increasingly dark and personal—across every genre of music.

Although terms like “real” and “authentic” have always been words of praise for musicians and songwriters, in the past they’ve been largely reserved for critical darlings rather than Top 40 hitmakers. Somehow it seems we’ve recently turned a corner on this, and the most emotionally unguarded songwriters can now take their personal diaries straight to the top of the Billboard charts—and to the bank.

“Taylor Swift is taking a page straight from the bedroom pop diary, turning her amp up to 11, and opening all the windows so everyone in town can hear her sing from it.”

Which brings me to Taylor Swift. She’s well known for penning lyrics that feel like they come directly out of her diary. Except that she’s not super shy about it the way Elliott Smith was. It seems to me the main reason her fans love her is because she comes across as truly unguarded and vulnerable in her songwriting, but in a totally empowered “I will kick your sorry ass for making me feel this” kind of way.

As I see it, Taylor Swift is taking a page straight from the bedroom pop diary, turning her amp up to 11, and opening all the windows so everyone in town can hear her sing from it. Her vulnerability is exactly her strength—and it’s working. I’ll confess that I’m no Swifty; her music simply doesn’t hit me the way it does her fans. But I get what she’s doing, and if it helps drive a foundational shift in pop music toward a higher collective emotional IQ, then I’m sooo here for that.

I’m sure I’ll listen to The Tortured Poets Department some, but to be honest I’m more excited to hear the new Billie Eilish record coming out this month, Hit Me Hard and Soft. Rolling Stone got an early preview and described it as “devastating.” They also point out that she goes full-throttle with her voice at several points on the album, “putting all those lame ‘she’s just whispering’ critiques to rest.”

Bedroom pop, but out loud. More, please.