When It Comes Around: Why Emo Is Back.

Last week an arrow was expertly shot into the bleeding hearts of millennials around the globe with the announcement of ‘When We Were Young Fest’. Boasting a line up greebo rockers, pop-punk pioneers and hardcore headbangers, the festival’s poster took the internet by storm and was shared by thousands of formerly angst ridden teens (myself included) fuelled by raging nostalgia.

The roster is indeed eye-watering for any skaterbois, goth girls and emos, present and past. Even though the event will be inaccessible for many - it’s in Las Vegas and costs nearly $300 for a ticket - the outpouring of joy at the mere existence of it is truly a thing of confounding beauty. But why has the reaction been so notably amplified? Is it just the “noughties kids' that crave the return of checkerboard laden guitar bands or has the thirst for emo spread beyond the period’s contemporaries?

In the peak lockdown of 2021 I found myself vacuuming my flat in need of a soundtrack to accompany my good, honest labour. I’m normally reticent to delve into the ‘New Releases’ category on Spotify, largely down to my own snobbery, but this time I put my prejudice to one side. I listened to the entirety of Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ during the hoover session and I’m not ashamed to say that I extended my cleaning duties just to tick off the final tracks. I loved it. Don’t get me wrong it’s far removed from the persistant, relentless hardcore guitars of some of my favourite pop-punk and acts, but there was enough familiar sounds and motifs there to tap into my nostalgia. It’s well crafted, catchy pop music but filtered through the sounds and "rebellious", accusatory agony of Y2K rock music.

Obviously I wasn’t the only one loving Rodrigo’s debut work, many of my contemporaries were also praising the album. The comparisons between her track ‘Good 4 U’ and ‘Misery Business’ by Paramore were plentiful but, while some were shouting plagiarism, others were just thrilled to be hearing more of what they loved when they were a teenager. But it’s not my generation that I’m the most intrigued by, it’s Gen Z’s apparent excitement around the genre, aesthetic and attitudes. Yes, it probably helped Olivia’s cause that she was already a known star, being one of the leads in the High School Music TV series, but her divergence from the pop formula of recent years was certainly a risk. A risk that paid dividends due to the teenagers of today buying what she was selling in great numbers.

How has the penchant for punky and petulant pop resurfaced though? For years it seemed as if guitar bands would never see the bright lights of the charts again. The 2010’s biggest artists peddled out mumble rap and trap  alongside pop princesses that climbed on board whatever the trendiest beat was. Okay I know I’m making sweeping generalisations here, there were 100% some pop artists that were outliers; notably Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish. Dua’s disco revival deserves an article for itself but perhaps Billie’s contribution to pop is fairly prevalent for this topic. Billie Eilish embraces the alternative in all aspects of her output and her arrival in popular music might have just paved the way for emo’s revival. The creepy vocals of ‘bury a friend’ and her frequently disturbing music videos (see ‘all the good girls go to hell’) are easily linked to the darker displays of expression found in 90s grunge and progressive rock and metal. Billie might just have whet the appetite of the modern pop consumer for something out of the ordinary, something challenging and, at times, unsettling.

It’s not just Olivia Rodrigo that’s been tempted by the sounds of the era of three-quarter length shorts. The Fresh Prince’s own daughter, Willow Smith, recently released a pop-punk album featuring the drums of the genre’s best percussionist Travis Barker and its iconic queen, Avril Lavigne. If nothing else, give ‘Transparent Soul’ a listen; it’s cracking. Similarly Machine Gun Kelly left his hip-hop sound to one side, gone are the days of Eminem diss tracks, to embrace pop-punk. The release prompted NME to speculatively write in 2020, “maybe pop-punk still has something important to offer the world.” It turns out that they were totally correct in their assumption, after years of hip-hop dominance, we are witnessing a resurgence of emo and pop punk.

But why did the dice land on the emo sound? Why has pop-punk found its way back into the limelight? Perhaps the music industry, much like fashion, functions in cycles? When I was in my late teens, circa 2007, the bright neon colours and clashing patterns of the 80s were once again finding their way onto the racks of high street shops (R.I.P Topman). This style resurgence went hand in hand with the dawn of “nu-rave” and the emergence of bands like Klaxons, Enter Shikari, New Young Pony Club and Hadouken. Whether or not they were influenced by the other, the synth-led disco of the 80s had undoubtedly resurfaced via the indie rock of 2007. So is that the proof we need that it was only a matter of time until emo reared its black hair dyed head once again? 20 years after Y2K, much like the timespan mentioned above, cultural touchstones have come back around. You only need look at the fashion sense of students and current popstars to see that. It might be a fairly decent and easy explanation but I’d suggest that there’s more to it than simple inevitability.

Perhaps the, quite honestly, horrendous state of the world in 2020 and 2021 enforced a shift away from stating one’s feeling in ballad form or melodically over a catchy rhythm. Instead what we have been presented with, by the likes of Olivia Rodrigo and Willow Smith, is aggression and disdain. The COVID19 pandemic, the baffling and infuriating goings on in the political landscape and the almost daily revelations that another celebrity or public figure has been despicable in one way or another; all of these events make it difficult to put on a brave face and listen to the usual “bops” and gleeful pop tunes. After all, the original punk movement of the mid 70s grew large due to the rising animosity felt towards the UK government. While the topics of the songs might stay the same, broken hearts and being misunderstood, has the presentation shifted to reflect the mood of the listeners?

Whether it’s the cyclical nature of pop music, a shrewd move by a label and a production team or a necessary reaction to a sorry state of affairs, it is indisputable that pop punk, emo and garage rock have crept their way back into pop culture in a big way. It might seem trivial to many but the fact that female mega stars Megan Fox and Kourtney Kardashian have cosied up with tattoo covered, punk rockers Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker is enormous in terms of its affect on trends in style and maybe even music. The presence of the aforementioned Blink 182 drummer within the world’s most famous family will doubtless be introducing his music to a whole new audience and maybe, as sad as it might be to acknowledge, it is validating the genre as something less underground and worthy of attention.

For some the Y2K fashion sense and musical style might be a costumey, retro nod. I even saw the term ‘the rawring twenties’ knocking about online which made me spit out my coffee. (For the uninitiated the word ‘rawr’ was bandied around in picture captions within the emo community on mysapce, often combined with a cat-like claw hand and upturned lip.) However there is a groundswell of new artists making totally serious music within the genre. I’ve mentioned some of the big hitters but there are plenty of independent acts that are taking up the pop punk mantle, two of my favourites being Beach Bunny and Meet Me @ The Altar. Both of these acts are making music and styling themselves in ways that would have been wildly popular in underground scenes 15 to 20 years ago. It’s also notable that both bands are led by, or totally comprised of, women. Pop punk in particular was a genre rife with snotty boys and skater bro’s. Aside from trailblazers like Hayley Williams and Avril, pop-punk could often suffer from a misogynistic culture with there even being a few cases of sexual misconduct from some of genre's leading men.

It is absolutely no wonder that the organisers of ‘When We Were Young’ saw potential for a wildly successful venture. They knew they would have the emollennials, like me, frothing at the mouth with their ridiculous line-up but what they might not have expected is the reaction from the growing scene in 2022’s teenage generation. Is it perhaps time for the revival of  festivals like ‘Give It A Name’ or ‘Taste of Chao’? Does Kerrang magazine need to regain its throne in alternative culture? And will the charts once again be populated by long fringes, punchy guitars and that one guy who does a bit of screaming in a song. Time will tell… but as ‘WWWYF’ announces that it’s adding a second and third day to the occasion due to the demand for tickets, it is clear that the rawring twenties are in full force.

What do you think? Is emo and pop punk’s comeback into popular culture purely a ‘matter of time’ sort of thing? Are you are a fan of the genres or is this your worst nightmar? I’d love to know your thoughts. Get in touch via social media at @auxdotapp to share your opinions, even if you wildly disagree with everyone I’ve said here.