Bedroom Synth Pop
tagStarted 2014Peak 2018-2022Last big hit still active
Located in 2 routes
Synth-forward bedroom pop where the bed of sound is soft analog or VST pads, chiptune-ish leads, drum machines, and arpeggios rather than guitars. Vocals stay close and unprocessed over warm, slightly nostalgic 80s-leaning electronics. Programmed at home in a DAW, it pairs glossy synth color with lo-fi intimacy and diaristic lyrics.
History
As home synths and soft-synth plug-ins became free or cheap, bedroom artists swapped guitars for keyboards. girl in red's synth-driven heartbreak songs, Bo en's chiptune pop, and Yumi Zouma's hazy synth-pop typified the turn around 2017-2019. Internet virality and Spotify's bedroom-pop ecosystem spread the soft-synth palette widely among self-producing teenagers.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedroom_pop
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Girl_(Clairo_song)
- https://www.melodigging.com/genre/bedroom-pop
- https://medium.com/@theooo_is_typing/the-2010s-indie-bedroom-pop-scene-a-celebration-of-individuality-3286bf3ea548