What many believed to be the reign of Pop music amidst Sabrina Carpenters, Olivia Rodrigo, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, and more, we're seeing a surge of Independent artists within the Folk genre who are climbing the charts and breeding a whole realm of artists.
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The 90s bred the landscape for the Modern Folk music genre where it currently sits comfortably between Alternative Rock, Pop, and Blues. Despite it being a relatively newly formed category within the music industry, it contains old world qualities with its simplistic instruments, heavy reliance on the acoustic guitar, and lessened focus on the presence of modern technology.
Many of the most prevalent artists who inspired the emergence of the Folk genre include Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel. This intellectual sound has since shifted but today's musicians draw inspiration from those who laid the groundwork. With their heavy influence from poetry, emotional vulnerability, and relying on more stripped qualities, this old-time music continues to remain relevant today.
Modern artists, such as boygenius, comprised of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, Hozier, Noah Kahan, Bon Iver, The Lumineers, and Fleet Foxes are some of the current trending and current names leading the Modern Folk music space. Although many seem to blend this beloved nostalgic concepts from its origins with other categories, such as Pop or Rock, many still revert back to the roots.
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Noah Kahan has successfully mended Folk & Pop music into a collection of stories centered around utilize vulnerability and life experience into multiple breathtaking albums. "Stick Season" was made deluxe shortly after its initial release and featured other popular artists, including those within the hailing genre, such as Gregory Alan Isakov and those outside of it, including Kacey Musgraves. The decision to utilize other musicians within various realms of music, is not only a way to bring people together but shows the pliability of Folk music and how its roots lie within various sectors of sounds. Kahan quoted Sam Fender, who joined him on this piece of work as well as Phoebe Bridgers as his inspiration to stray away from his original indie-pop sound and instead explore the vastness of Folk.
Due to his pivot away from his previous sound, millions of fans have been newly or even reintroduced to the power that Folk music holds on present day's industry and gave music fans the ability to fall in love with the simplistic side of music, to one of its foundations.
As many newcomer artists have chosen various avenues within their artistic sound, such as the resurgence of Punk, early 2000s house, and a new era of Rock music, multiple artists are leading fans their way, towards the stripped side of the industry.
Even those singers who've famously curated a massive career have tried their hand at Folk music, such as Taylor Swift. The Pop singer has been known to explore other genres of music to tell her story, expand her discography, and reignite her love for the craft. In 2020, Swift released her album "Folklore", which was a complete pivot from her previous work, "Lover". She worked alongside infamous Folk singer, including Bon Iver and producer, Aaron Dressner. Despite the notes of her well-known Pop sounds, it was purposeful in utilizing lo-fi and calm qualities, aligning more so with its genre.
The choice of producing an entirely Folk-based album aligned not only with the pressing times, such that the entire globe was under the stress of the pandemic, but with her current state. As we were all forced to relive nostalgia and return to basics, Swift did the same with her 8th studio album and focusing on the basics of her artistry.
With a star like Taylor Swift opening her massive fanbase to the beauty of Folk music, she's drawn attention towards other musicians who reside there. She remained in this realm for yet another album, "Evermore", where she blended the previous sound with more qualities of Pop & Rock. Unlike her previous works, where she pokes at multiple themes, such as heartbreak, love, and the media, with a more fun undertone, these bodies of work revolve around similar backstories as well as fictionalized stories and loss but in a more soft and even heartfelt tone.
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