Photo: Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash

With the UK’s economy only set to grow by 1.7 per cent this year, Britons resort to tuning into leading recession pop princesses for their next dopamine fix. 

Do crazy supermarket prices and unmanageable rent sound familiar to you? I mean, olive oil costs £8 these days for crying out loud. But popping on a pair of headphones on your way to work and having a main character moment makes it all seem worth it, especially if you have Billie Eilish’s BIRDS OF A FEATHER blasting through your AirPods.  

As a loyal hip-hop fan, I found myself embarrassingly pressing play on Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet album until I became obsessed with the dopamine boost her music gave me. It started with her most popular Espresso, then Please Please Please being added to my Spotify liked songs. Until one day, her entire album crept into my playlist.  

It popped off at the Grammys 

The 2025 Grammys made a statement about popular music this year. Pop artists dominated major award categories. Even in the broader Best New Artist category, queer icon Chappell Roan received her flowers.  

Amongst eight Song of the Year Grammy nominations, five of those were sung by pop newbies or legends. Kendrick Lamar’s rivalry with Drake edged his track Not Like Us to the top of the list of names but we cannot ignore the impact of pop.

Why are we obsessed with pop artists right now? Is it the catchiness of pop music that we like? Are we hate listening to the point of enjoyment? Do we love dancing to the fast-paced beats? These are all reasonable factors as to why pop music does well commercially.

But research shows that music has the capacity to alter the brain’s chemistry. Artists use a formula to make a song catchy to keep the listener’s attention and improve mood, in turn boosting sales. So, if you’re feeling carefree after listening to Ariana Grande’s the boy is mine, it is intentional.  

So, what has popular culture got to do with the economy?  

Since, Covid-19 global economies have struggled to regain a healthy status. The Labour government have attempted to save the UK from economic turmoil by increasing the national wage by 6.7 per cent and raising the State Pension by 4.1 per cent among other promises. But British citizens are disgruntled by Rachel Reeve’s Budget.  

An opinion poll was carried out in December 2024 which shows more than six in ten of Britons are dissatisfied with the Labour government. But who can blame us when we are stuck in economic stagnation. And pop music is an agent of regaining power.

History has shown that listening to pop music can also act as a form of escapism. The 2008 economic crisis kicked off recession pop when a pattern of increased popular music listenership was identified. Noughties teens and adults were jamming to the likes of Timbaland and the Black-Eyed Peas in clubs to cope with the financial pressures of the recession. This encouraged a boom of drug and ‘club rat’ culture.  

BRAT, the defining example of recession pop  

During the UK’s post-election summer, Charli XCX made clubbing a trend again. So, brat. 

Gen Z hyper-pop fans were obsessed with tracks Von Dutch, Girl, so confusing and 365. Not to mention Billie Eilish’s surprise appearance on Guess remix which received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo.

Anything messy, confident and off trend is labelled ‘brat’ on TikTok. But it’s not just about wearing a top braless and posing with a neon bic lighter, fans offer a deeper meaning to the pop subculture.

A fan claimed to feel empowered and confident after listening to BRAT. This is a nod to the psychological impact that pop music has on us when our socio-economic situation is challenging. It is not only about hitting the club, but recession pop is also about how music affects our mind and body.

Is there more to recession pop than clubbing? 

We are fully immersed in a refreshing era of pop but is it a revival of recession pop? Disappointing facts show Gen Z do not club as often as millennials did in the 2000s during the height of recession pop. Long-working hours and a low salary are to blame but Gen Z are also becoming more sober curious.  

So, what defines recession pop? Is it the coping mechanism of partying to chart hits in the club with a vodka coke in hand or is it the boom of pop listeners during an economic downturn using corny lyrics and gimmicky merch to get that dopamine rush?

Arguably, it can be both, but with young Britons struggling to afford a night out, they resort to listening to Pink Pony Club in the confinement of their homes, which circles back to the idea of popular music being a byproduct of economic decline.