Similar to modern society, creativity and effort in music media have been reduced to minimalism. To not try is to seem “effortless,” and maximalist self-expression is seen as desperation to be successful in the music industry. However, there has been a drastic rise in newfound creativity amongst current and upcoming artists that could bring immense change to music media. As their effort is not meant to impress, but rather to express. From the bland, “nonchalant” music media era surrounding the 2010s, these particular artists will bring on a new era for music revolution.
Cooperate, low-effort music media has hit an all-time low due to the succession of AI. Based on the article “Artificial Usage Statistics,” AI usage has evolved from 0 to 72 percent usage, just from the span of 10 years, 2014 to 2024. This includes the drastic jump from 2023 and 2024, as it increased by 22 percent. Therefore, AI is seen as an easy route. For example, why spend hours working when you can just generate your creativity through complex and popular machinery? There is no human thought process in the generation of ideas, as people can’t think for themselves. Nature.com claims that humans can and will still outperform AI, as creativity seen in humans is exclusive to their divergent and convergent thinking skills. This is especially seen in the music industry, putting them in a dilemma: Do we save time, or do we put our human effort, thought, and originality into creating something? Luckily, the rise in AI has also begun to bring out some of the most creative artists of the decade to fight for human thought and effort.
Upcoming pop singer Chappell Roan has won the best new artist award based on her loud, expressive, and colorful style in music media. Biography.com claims she earned this title by “garnering attention on social media for her glitzy performances and receiving praise from critics for her campy and upbeat songs.” Her effort in making pop music expressive again has been more than successful, as this was merely her first official album. This shows a lot of potential for her change in the music industry in the future.
Similarly to Chappell Roan, upcoming rap singer Doechii has won the best rap album after only starting her independent music career in 2020, as claimed by The Root: Doechii’s Rise to Stardom. This was mainly based on her artistically smooth and distinct performance structure, especially in her Late Show performance. Fader.com recalls this performance: “Backed by two dancers, the group was tied together by their braids and clad head to go in Gucci. They danced in perfect symmetry around the minimal staging and brought an air of theatricality to the stage that is often missing in these scenarios.” This shows it isn’t typically the current norm, yet it successfully outperforms it anyway.
2024 has seen the intense music rivalry between popular rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar. As seen by many, one drastically outperforms the other. Why is that? Kendrick shows passion for his lyrics and effort in what he loves, as seen in “Not Like Us”, while Drake shifted towards the nonchalant style of music and has even been in legal trouble for using AI in his recent music. The Coast Law Group claims that in Drake’s diss track, Taylor Made Freestyle, features “AI-generated Tupac and Snoop Dogg mimicking voices used without the artists’ permission” and has put him in legal trouble. On the other hand, the very passion and originality Kendrick shows in his work led him to do the halftime Super Bowl show. Billboard.com has confirmed that Kendrick Lamar’s show was “the most viewed show out of all halftime shows”, earning a staggering 133.5 million views, while the actual sports show itself had 126 million views. This gave the halftime show way more viewers than the show itself. The same creativity was rewarded in the 2025 Grammys, where Kendrick had won five Grammys in one night.
Previous Grammy winner Tyler, the Creator, has recently released his new album Chromakopia in December 2024. The album exploded in popularity because of its distinct and unique music and artistic design. This ranges from his eccentric appearance in music videos to his visuals from the tour itself. This has led to having 300k record sales in the first week of its release. However, Tyler, the Creator, has given many pieces of advice on his key to success in the music industry.
In multiple interviews, Tyler has expressed his thoughts on the current age of music media: “Conformity is the antithesis of self-expression.” This shows that the most successful people come from not following what everyone else is doing, but spreading your wings and being yourself.
In conclusion, self-expression and uniqueness are growing, and they reach further than minimalism and AI because of these rising artists. There is a bright future for the music industry if artists continue expressing themselves and showing effort.
