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Can you believe the 2010's are almost over?
A very singular decade musically, it started off with the energetic and colorful "club boom" which sadly vanished sometime in 2013. After that it came the time for bubblegum pop, tropical house, mumble rap and reggaeton, right in this order.
But there's one genre that has been slowly increasing its popularity since the start of the decade. That genre is synthwave.
In this article I'll do my best to introduce you to this curious musical genre. Let's go!
What is synthwave?
It is a genre of electronic music, inspired by movies and video games from the 1980's. It is also called outrun or retrowave. The first synthwave artists appeared in the mid 2000's but the genre became an underground sensation only in the early 2010's.
Where can we find synthwave music?
On YouTube there is a channel exclusively dedicated to synthwave. The channel is called "NewRetroWave" and it was created in 2011.
Initially just a platform to share music, NewRetroWave is now a proper record label that signs and promotes synthwave artists.
Other popular synthwave-themed YouTube channels are "Electronic Gems" and "WeRuleNation".
How to describe the synthwave aesthetic?
There is a considerable amount of subgenres, each with a different aesthetic. PopWave finds its roots in Italo Disco and 80's pop music and movies, DreamWave is more ethereal, moody but still catchy and it can be both instrumental and vocal, SpaceWave is entirely instrumental and it can be described as cinematic, spiritual, deep and "grand", CyberPunk is inspired by 80's sci-fi action movies like Terminator, Blade Runner and Aliens. This subgenre is similar to SpaceWave but generally more upbeat. DarkWave is the heavier subgenre and finds its roots in Synth-rock and even Heavy Metal. Nu-Disco mixes 80's synthpop with 70's disco music. Outrun is the subgenre that started it all and it's inspired by 80's video games like the driving arcade game Out Run and movies like Back to the Future.
Classic 1980's anime and manga series like Akira, Bubblegum Crisis, City Hunter and Wicked City also serve as inspirations for many PopWave and DreamWave acts.
Who are the most important artists?
Check Timecop1983, The Midnight, FM-84, Futurecop, VHS Dreams, Marvel'83, Kalax, Forhill and Crockett if you're interested in DreamWave.
Definitely Dynatron, Waveshaper and ALISON for SpaceWave. Mecha Maiko, Michael Oakley, Siamese Youth and Ollie Wride for PopWave. Robert Parker, Miami Nights 1984, Lazerhawk, Morch Kovalski for Outrun, FM-Attack and Lost Years for Nu-Disco, Orax and Deadlife for DarkWave, Scandroid, Turbo Knight, Wice, Neon Nox for CyberPunk.
Honorable mention for the extremely versatile Tommy '86 who has played with every subgenre, always with excellent results.
Is synthwave going mainstream?
It is a slow process. Luckily, the genre is not getting overexposed and that is definitely the thing I was hoping for. No synthwave artists are played on mainstream radios as of now.
Still, some points have to be made.
The 1980's were a huge inspiration behind the "club boom" of the early 2010's.
In 2014, Taylor Swift released her record breaking album 1989. That album was the big push synthwave and 80's culture needed to truly come back in vogue. Carly Rae Jepsen then followed with her albums Emotion (2015) and Dedicated (2019).
In 2016, the TV show Stranger Things, set in the 1980's, became extremely popular and it has since been getting bigger and bigger with each season (the most recent one aired this year on Netflix). The show makes a heavy use of synthwave and 1980's pop music. Two of Madonna's 80's hits, Material Girl and Angel, have been enjoying new popularity after being featured in one episode of the show. In particular, the video for Material Girl has doubled its daily views on YouTube and the track has reached 100 million streams on Spotify.
In 2017, the movie Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to Blade Runner (1982) came out. Its soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, inspired by the original soundtrack Vangelis composed for the first movie, received critical acclaim. The aesthetic of the movie has since served as an inspiration for CyberPunk acts.
Last but not least, this renewed interest towards the 1980's also gave new popularity to cassettes and vinyls, which are profiting almost as much as CDs, if not more.
Is Madonna an inspiration for synthwave artists?
Absolutely.
Female synthwave artists like Mecha Maiko, Nikki Flores and Holly Dodson are heavily inspired by Madonna and her irresistible 80's pop melodies. Their vocals have also been compared to Madonna's girlie voice. Holly Dodson's voice in particular has been compared to true-blue era Madonna.
Nu-Disco act Lost Years is inspired by Madonna's earlier output. His albums "Black Waves" and "Amplifier" pay homage to Madonna's debut album and the song Amplifier is highly reminiscent of Holiday.
Has Madonna done synthwave?
Yes but it's Madonna we're talking about. If she decides to be nostalgic she does it her way.
The most classic synthwave song Madonna has done is Beautiful Killer, which to me is one of the best things she's done this decade. It is a PopWave gem.
Other examples are God Control and Beautiful Scars which could be described as Nu-Disco, at least musically.
Good goin' Madonna.
In conclusion....
I wrote this article because I think Madonna fans have to know about this genre, especially those who've been following her since the 1980's.
Also, it is always nice to witness the birth of a new type of music and notice how Madonna has been one of the many inspirations behind it. She was the queen of the 1980's after all.
Who knows? Maybe the 2020's will be the decade of synthwave and the world will experience the 80's again!
Let your body move to the music
A very singular decade musically, it started off with the energetic and colorful "club boom" which sadly vanished sometime in 2013. After that it came the time for bubblegum pop, tropical house, mumble rap and reggaeton, right in this order.
But there's one genre that has been slowly increasing its popularity since the start of the decade. That genre is synthwave.
In this article I'll do my best to introduce you to this curious musical genre. Let's go!
What is synthwave?
It is a genre of electronic music, inspired by movies and video games from the 1980's. It is also called outrun or retrowave. The first synthwave artists appeared in the mid 2000's but the genre became an underground sensation only in the early 2010's.
Where can we find synthwave music?
On YouTube there is a channel exclusively dedicated to synthwave. The channel is called "NewRetroWave" and it was created in 2011.
Initially just a platform to share music, NewRetroWave is now a proper record label that signs and promotes synthwave artists.
Other popular synthwave-themed YouTube channels are "Electronic Gems" and "WeRuleNation".
How to describe the synthwave aesthetic?
There is a considerable amount of subgenres, each with a different aesthetic. PopWave finds its roots in Italo Disco and 80's pop music and movies, DreamWave is more ethereal, moody but still catchy and it can be both instrumental and vocal, SpaceWave is entirely instrumental and it can be described as cinematic, spiritual, deep and "grand", CyberPunk is inspired by 80's sci-fi action movies like Terminator, Blade Runner and Aliens. This subgenre is similar to SpaceWave but generally more upbeat. DarkWave is the heavier subgenre and finds its roots in Synth-rock and even Heavy Metal. Nu-Disco mixes 80's synthpop with 70's disco music. Outrun is the subgenre that started it all and it's inspired by 80's video games like the driving arcade game Out Run and movies like Back to the Future.
Classic 1980's anime and manga series like Akira, Bubblegum Crisis, City Hunter and Wicked City also serve as inspirations for many PopWave and DreamWave acts.
Check Timecop1983, The Midnight, FM-84, Futurecop, VHS Dreams, Marvel'83, Kalax, Forhill and Crockett if you're interested in DreamWave.
Definitely Dynatron, Waveshaper and ALISON for SpaceWave. Mecha Maiko, Michael Oakley, Siamese Youth and Ollie Wride for PopWave. Robert Parker, Miami Nights 1984, Lazerhawk, Morch Kovalski for Outrun, FM-Attack and Lost Years for Nu-Disco, Orax and Deadlife for DarkWave, Scandroid, Turbo Knight, Wice, Neon Nox for CyberPunk.
Honorable mention for the extremely versatile Tommy '86 who has played with every subgenre, always with excellent results.
It is a slow process. Luckily, the genre is not getting overexposed and that is definitely the thing I was hoping for. No synthwave artists are played on mainstream radios as of now.
Still, some points have to be made.
The 1980's were a huge inspiration behind the "club boom" of the early 2010's.
In 2014, Taylor Swift released her record breaking album 1989. That album was the big push synthwave and 80's culture needed to truly come back in vogue. Carly Rae Jepsen then followed with her albums Emotion (2015) and Dedicated (2019).
In 2016, the TV show Stranger Things, set in the 1980's, became extremely popular and it has since been getting bigger and bigger with each season (the most recent one aired this year on Netflix). The show makes a heavy use of synthwave and 1980's pop music. Two of Madonna's 80's hits, Material Girl and Angel, have been enjoying new popularity after being featured in one episode of the show. In particular, the video for Material Girl has doubled its daily views on YouTube and the track has reached 100 million streams on Spotify.
In 2017, the movie Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to Blade Runner (1982) came out. Its soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, inspired by the original soundtrack Vangelis composed for the first movie, received critical acclaim. The aesthetic of the movie has since served as an inspiration for CyberPunk acts.
Last but not least, this renewed interest towards the 1980's also gave new popularity to cassettes and vinyls, which are profiting almost as much as CDs, if not more.
Absolutely.
Female synthwave artists like Mecha Maiko, Nikki Flores and Holly Dodson are heavily inspired by Madonna and her irresistible 80's pop melodies. Their vocals have also been compared to Madonna's girlie voice. Holly Dodson's voice in particular has been compared to true-blue era Madonna.
Nu-Disco act Lost Years is inspired by Madonna's earlier output. His albums "Black Waves" and "Amplifier" pay homage to Madonna's debut album and the song Amplifier is highly reminiscent of Holiday.
Yes but it's Madonna we're talking about. If she decides to be nostalgic she does it her way.
The most classic synthwave song Madonna has done is Beautiful Killer, which to me is one of the best things she's done this decade. It is a PopWave gem.
Other examples are God Control and Beautiful Scars which could be described as Nu-Disco, at least musically.
Good goin' Madonna.
In conclusion....
I wrote this article because I think Madonna fans have to know about this genre, especially those who've been following her since the 1980's.
Also, it is always nice to witness the birth of a new type of music and notice how Madonna has been one of the many inspirations behind it. She was the queen of the 1980's after all.
Who knows? Maybe the 2020's will be the decade of synthwave and the world will experience the 80's again!
Let your body move to the music
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