Throw my phone in the ocean
2026 Mix 19: Generational discourse reluctantly indulged, Dollyrots channeled, and various subgenres of Asian pop (named or unnamed) continue their statistical predominance on my mixes.
Do I dare wade into recent online conversations about the “quintessential millennial song?” It combines two things that I find annoying—first, imagining that being born at a particular time imparts obvious and universal features to a very broad cohort of people (the conversation almost immediately broke down even among Bluesky spitballers between British and American respondents). And second, projecting one’s individual taste onto how a diverse group “hear” something. I mean, just imagine— casting yourself as the voice of a whole generation! Er…don’t google that.
All that said, I resist waving away generational discourse altogether. I think that there are probably important effects of generation size, and of the aging of what is currently the largest generation in US history (sorry Boomers, we’re number one now!). I just don’t think this is necessarily related to how particular songs from the past might operate socially now. Most of the examples cited online appeal to multiple generations, and the ones that don’t often weren’t (and still aren’t) very popular within any particular generation according to the imperfect measures of popularity we have (lots of indie rock).1
The importance of there being a “millennial music generation” to my mind has mostly to do with how the size of this age cohort interacted with changing norms in marketing and distribution as they/we grew up. These are ideas I’ve been kicking around in a stubborn draft of the Disney series that won’t seem to get itself together enough to publish: more kids meant more consumers, specifically in a time when consumer targeting by narrow demographic characteristics exploded. The rise of cable television in particular provided a way to organize lots of young consumers without needing to appeal to broader (that is, older) demographics.
In doing some research on the millennial teenpop boom—where music marketing crashed into cohort size—I was interested in how the term “teenpop” evolved over time in the press, using NYT’s archives to get a sense of its use in that publication. Here’s what I have sitting in my draft folder:
The person who used it the most frequently in the 1970s was New York Times columnist John Rockwell (styled “teen-pop”) to describe a wide range of contemporary artists—David Essex, Paul McCartney, Bootsy Collins—usually in comparison to some more “mature” counterpoint. His use of the term was part of a larger grappling with the shifting tastes of aging Baby Boomers outgrowing the tastes of their childhoods. In 1977, he captured the point at which this generation was growing too old for childish things and into a maturity that record labels would need to address:
“Americans are getting older, and after 25 they don’t seem to hit as many records as they do when they’re younger. Though the record industry has been able to grow steadily without worrying unduly about how to attract the adult buyer, one of these years the moguls are going to have to sit down and retool their promotional effort. But given the stakes and the fact that a good deal of present‐day popular music is a lot more mature than teen‐pop used to be, one doesn’t feel too concerned.”
Discourse about music “for millennials” is similarly grappling with a large aging cohort, and there are probably some interesting things to say about this. I think the jury’s out on how the age cohort of US millennials will make their generational size felt in a music industry that has changed in ways that I think are bigger than US demography no matter how you slice it.
1. Lavalove: Go Go Boots
US
Anything that reminds me of the Dollyrots will probably make a mix at some point, and this is no exception.
2. Güner Künier: Kes
Turkey-Germany
Are there any US artists that make their sequencers throb and thrust like this? Seems like a waste of one of the great affordances of the technology to make it sound so damn soft all the time.
3. Tallandskiinny: I Wanna Dance
Canada
Montreal artist is inspired by Jersey club but to my ears gets closer to the tamborzão of classic Brazilian funk. Had never really thought about the possible connection between the two (which probably runs through Miami bass?).
4. Juana Rozas, Six Sex: Splash
Argentina
Have enjoyed all of the team-ups I’ve heard between Juana Rozas, my artist of the year last year, and Six Sex, potentially my artist of the year this year. (Their collab “I’m a Star” from 2024 is currently in the second round of the Pop World Cup and it’s up against my team.) There is supposedly a Six Sex full-length album in the works, which would immediately shift the balance of power in the Other Dave Moore Yearly List of Albums I Enjoyed Universe.
5. IRENE: Don’t Wanna Get Up
South Korea
Red Velvet singer with a mid-tier midtempo melodic bonbon.
6. Crescendo: Diam-Diam Suka
Indonesia
The occasional K-pop-style Indonesian pop number not by No Na to make it through.
7. Starjunk 95: Error 4 on the Floor
Japan
8. MilMoon: True Mind
Japan
Two different approaches to hyperactive J-pop, via triple-shot espresso from a hip coffee shop and novelty oversized Pixy Stix from an abandoned arcade, respectively. The hipsters probably merit an album listen. The Pixy Stixers are singles only for the time being.
9. NASAAN f. That Mexican OT: Luke Combs
US
10. Trap Dickey f. Key Glock: Down South
US
Two rap tracks that have finally gotten ubiquitous rappers That Mexican OT and Key Glock onto my mixes. The first one sets a terrible joke accent against a trap beat without really achieving Trap Daniels velocity (probably better for it as song and as joke). The second one uses a reliable Other Dave mix hack—throw in the “Rump Shaker” sax.
11. Dallo: El 2ashash
Egypt
Egyptian electro palate cleanser. I’m not beating the “doesn’t include Egyptian music unless it’s augmented with some arty cosmopolitan adornment” allegations.
12. ERISTHEPLANET: Geezer [2025]
US
Glad to hear that Vayda’s casual whispery flow has some traction in the wider world of up-and-coming MCs, via DC rapper Eristheplanet. Less glad to discover as I write this that this is originally from April 2025 (woops) and went viral early this year soundtracking Drake gambling content. But on the plus side, I also learned that the first album she ever bought was Selena Gomez & The Scene’s Kiss & Tell: “I loved the album cover and it was the first album I had downloaded on my iPod Nano as a purchase. I was like eight years old but I knew what I liked.”
13. SY3: Tell Me
China-US
Chinese-American group based in L.A. on a Dutch label. A bit caught between stools, too slow for contemporary electropop and too upbeat for throwback downtempo trip-hop. They claim it’s influenced by ‘00s Chinese pop from Faye Wong and Zhou Xun, which is as good an excuse as any to listen to Faye Wong’s 2000 album Fable.
14. Ea Othilde: Florence
Norway
Whither windowpane? I think my indie installment in the A-pop series has aged most poorly so far (if you don’t count the continued implosion of Eurovision, which to be fair I accounted for in the fourth installment). My fascination with a deluge of mush-pop was probably just noticing the glut of a landfill at the end of a trend. I hear far less uncanny valley indie rock/adult contemporary this year—even this one, which puts me in mind of it, clears out some of the mush and falls more cleanly on the indie side. I do think that Sombr is the Bruno Mars of this particular era of indie/pop, so maybe he just “won” the mush landscape, gave it a shave and a haircut, and is on his way to becoming a sui generis monster. (Yes, I can link three A-pop installments in one blurb, what of it.)
15. Rachel Lime: Jangdan
US
A nifty little art-pop number that has the feel of being in 12/4. Lime’s vocals are really the only part of the mise en scène operating as wallpaper, which suits her, like the vocals are printed as a Magic Eye and you need to relax your vision for them to really pop out (I’ve never been able to do a Magic Eye but would probably ace a Magic Ear).
16. Daisy Grenade: Girls Are So Lucky
US
Third or maybe fourth lifetime appearance from neo-(neo?-)teenpop duo Daisy Grenade, who no longer sound like Skye Sweetnam with cursing and now sing glittery but grizzled songs about life on the road (“full glam in the minivan,” which I misheard as the better line “four grand and a minivan”).
17. MikkyZia, Club Dangdut Racun: Skip Dulu
Indonesia
18. Thắng, Wala: Hoá Ra Là
Vietnam
Two watery R&B numbers, sloshing aimlessly but not unpleasantly. The first I think is from a hipdut playlist (which from what I can tell just means “alt R&B from Indonesia”) whereas the second is one of many contemporary V-pop songs that makes it onto my radar each week without having an organizing subgenre that I’m aware of.
19. Vanessa Carlton: Woke Up High
US
Vanessa Carlton woke up high, but not that high. Sounds more like Earl Grey.
20. Rachel Kitchlew, DOUGH: Spook
UK
21. Lyra Pramuk: Ending (Djrum Endless Rework)
US-Germany/UK
22. ((( O ))): Evolve
US
Ending with three mostly-instrumental mood pieces. The first is a heist scene jazz jam by harpist Rachel Kitchlew, the second a defacement of Lyra Pramuk’s already pretty viscous experimental vocal pop stretched into a rictus smirk by DJrum, and finally, mix-closing standby ((( O ))) brings things to a soft landing sounding like she’s trying to smother some Afrobeats in a sweater.
That’s it! Until next time, don’t be afraid to speak for yourself rather than your whole generation (note to self).
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title from Vanessa Carlton: Woke Up High
That said, I did make a tongue-in-cheek response with thee millennial song based on the parameters I was picking up in the chat: “New Soul” by Yael Naim.