In 2024, the musical landscape experienced a shift. Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, Doechii, Chappell Roan, and Charli XCX flocked to the top of charts and the Grammys, dethroning artists like Drake, Future, and Playboi Carti, causing their relevance to plummet slowly. The key difference between these artists? Authenticity.
Authenticity has always been what is at the core of great artistry. Think of the times you walked out of a movie theater feeling changed, shaken to your core, or made anew. Chances are that the movie was extremely authentic, vulnerable, and human. Art that is authentic and filled with individuality is what has, throughout history, touched people to their core, and it seems listeners are seeking this again.
Take rapper Tyler, The Creator for example. In 2024, he released Chromokopia, his most commercially successful album, which not only debuted at number one on the Billboard 100, but also sold 299,500 units in its first week, and received an overwhelmingly positive reception from fans and critics alike. Many noted that this was Tyler’s most vulnerable work, with Rolling Stones magazine saying that through Chromokopia, Tyler, “released his most sonically polished, introspective record to date.” On the record, he discusses personal struggles with relationships, loneliness, self-doubt, fear of fatherhood, and more, which, as shown through the album’s success, has resonated with an astounding amount of fans, making it a standout album of 2024.
Another show of authenticity came from Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 run, which was marked as the definitive standout event of the year, in which he released numerous diss tracks towards Drake and an album titled GNX. This success rewarded him with five Grammys and a Superbowl performance. Through his feud with Drake, he exposed Drake for his inauthenticity and morally questionable behaviors. He called out Drake’s imitation of various music styles, in which Drake frequently incorporates various cultural accents for commercial gain which causes many to view it as disrespectful cultural appropriation. Lamar echoes this sentiment through the catchy viral hook, “They not like us,” emphasizing Drake’s cultural imitation and promoting values of authenticity and individuality. Lamar has preached the importance of authenticity throughout his career, but it seems that 2024 was the year this virtue came through in full force.
2024 was also considered to many a revival of pop music through the meteoric rise of superstars Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, and Sabrina Carpenter. Through Chappell Roan’s theatrical drag aesthetic to Charli XCX’s unapologetic Brat summer aesthetic, the genre experienced what had been missing in it for years: personality. It became clear through the rise of these artists that listeners are ready for a fresh wave of artists who are willing to take risks and be their most authentic selves. Unfortunately for some, that means out with the old.
Since Kendrick Lamer dethroned Drake as hip hop’s leading artist, there has been a noticeable decline in the popularity of a certain group of artists: the “nonchalant rappers”. Alongside Drake, artists by the likes of Future, Playboi Carti, and 21 Savage held top positions in not only the hip-hop sphere, but in the discussions of music fans as a whole. These rappers hold a stark contrast to the aforementioned “authentic” artists, instead opting for stoic personas marked by emotional detachment and shallow lyrics. These “nonchalant rappers” dominated the charts in an era of youth filled with many young male listeners seeking to embody this nonchalant persona. Although these rappers still hold extremely high streaming numbers, their numbers are beginning to wane, with Drake’s most recent album “$ome Sexy Songs 4 U” earning one of Drake’s smallest debuts of his career. Future’s streaming numbers have declined in the past year, and Playboi Carti lost thousands of followers on Instagram.
If there’s anything that this shift in pop culture has shown, it is that fans are ready for authenticity. Societal values are shifting away from nonchalant and stoic ideals into vulnerable and real perspectives, even if that means being “cringe” every once in a while. Only time will tell if this shift toward authenticity continues to be realized, though new up-and-coming artists like Doechii are indicating that strong winds are certainly blowing in that direction. In any case, this current of authenticity should be embraced with open arms, not only as a key to creative success but as an ideal to become more human. It is only through this value, through being human, and vulnerable, that we can truly understand one another and pave the way for a better future.
