Pop-Punk in 2021

I think it’s fair to say that 2020 saw me diving years back into the music catalogue to find music that was comforting in such a strange year. I went back and revisited a lot of albums that I loved when I was younger as well as albums that maybe I never listened to in full before, but knew of and still took me to that place where my younger self found solace.

As someone who enjoys music that leans more on the alternative rock side of things this meant listening to Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, My Chemical Romance and All Time Low, especially with the release of Wake Up, Sunshine. That was what made sense to me, in a year where my plans of spending the summer inside fields at festivals with my friends as my last year of being a teenager were lost to the pandemic. However, as the year went on I started to see more of this 2000’s influence bleed through into other media and music. I guess you could argue that this resurgence started well before the pandemic with the return of My Chemical Romance and album releases from YUNGBLUD as well as bands such as Waterparks and With Confidence that never went anywhere to begin with.

So, this asks the question of why? Why is pop punk and nostalgia from the 2000’s now becoming mainstream again (though some say it never was to begin with)? I don’t have the answer to that question, but I know that maybe it’s because it’s comforting, and maybe others feel the same way I do? Or maybe it’s because the new artists and bands that are releasing music now grew up in that era, the same way I did. But what I do know is that there is some incredible music coming from this ‘resurgence’ and I want to share some of it with you now.

There are many positives about the return of pop-punk music in my opinion, one of the main things to me being the diversity we are finally seeing in the scene. In the 2000’s the pop-punk scene was dominated by white men, with only a few bands like Paramore pushing the boundaries of that. The fans of the music however have always been diverse, and now we are seeing that represented in the music from the scene. Some of the best new music I have heard recently comes from bands such as Meet Me @ The Altar, Stand Atlantic, Yours Truly and Hot Milk.

Meet Me @ The Altar - Feel A Thing

Stand Atlantic - Hate Me (Sometimes)

Yours Truly - Funeral Home

Hot Milk - Glass Spiders

I have also really enjoyed WILLOW’s t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l which features punk legend Travis Barker of Blink-182 on drums.

This to me truly shows that alternative music is ever-evolving and is finally becoming a space that feels inclusive for all genders and sexualities. It’s great to see bands like Meet Me @ The Altar touring with All Time Low, who have also had a mainstream comeback with Monsters and then Once In A Lifetime. They have also indirectly created the Tik Tok trend ‘Mom, It Was Never A Phase’ which saw their 2007 hit ‘Dear Maria, Count Me In’ charting again after a user posted himself singing along to the song in his car.

So, was pop-punk ever really dead? Probably not, but I think 2020 and subsequently 2021 has seen a rise in it’s popularity again, which isn’t something I’m complaining about.

Thanks for reading, this was just a quick one today about some things I’ve been thinking recently. I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know if you’d like to see some more long-form content from me, I have some things planned but it’s always nice to know.

Until next time…

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