Torch Pop
tagStarted 1960Peak 2003-2011Last big hit still active
Pop sung in the traditional-vocal idiom: a crooned, jazz-inflected ballad over brushed drums, upright bass, piano and swelling orchestra or big band. The torch song's unrequited ache reframed for modern pop, with a smooth, microphone-intimate lead phrasing standards-style melodies. Elegant, romantic, supper-club warm.
History
The torch song descends from cabaret and the Great American Songbook, but modern torch pop crystallized when Michael Bublé and Harry Connick Jr. revived crooner balladry for new audiences in the 2000s. Drawing on Sinatra and Tony Bennett, they paired orchestral standards-style arrangements with original ballads, keeping the traditional-vocal love song commercially alive.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torch_song
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bubl%C3%A9
- https://www.allmusic.com/style/traditional-pop-ma0000004436