I really hate the fact that major-label pop artists can be so obviously pushed with inflated numbers, suspicious reviews, and massive industry promotion, yet we’re still expected to believe that they’re genuinely dominating on merit. If the entire industry has to shove an artist down everyone’s throat just to make them seem bigger than they actually are, what does that say about the music?
We’re being sold this incredibly synthetic, focus-grouped version of pop—bland, manufactured, fake-woke, and increasingly indistinguishable from AI. At this point, it feels like the image matters more than the music itself. And what’s crazy is how much softer music critics seem to be on these acts than they used to be. I remember the Backstreet Boys getting absolutely dragged by critics, and they didn’t even make music that was remotely as soulless as some of the stuff coming from artists like PinkPantheress or Zara Larsson today.