Nostalgia is the New Wave of Music
Image Courtesy: Rolling Stone
Lately, artists are pulling from the past to inspire their work. Two weeks ago, many of the 2022 Grammy winners relied on old sounds to create something new. Silk Sonic, a group channeling the energy of the ‘70s, took home Record of the Year. Olivia Rodrigo, who won the title of Best New Artist, derives influence from iconic ‘90s and early 2000s groups like Paramore.
Image Courtesy: GRAMMY
Grammy winners aren’t the only musicians dipping their toes into the fruitful pool of nostalgia. Dua Lipa recently released her new album Future Nostalgia back in March 2020, which serves as an homage to her parents’ favorite songs that she listened to growing up. Classic rock has also experienced a resurgence with Greta Van Fleet, an American rock band that has been compared to Led Zeppelin in both sound and look.
Image Courtesy: The Echo
Nostalgia is something we’re all drawn to, especially in tumultuous times. Listening to the songs of your childhood may make you feel that sense of youthful wonder and serenity you experienced when you were six years old and listened to the radio, humming to the tune of 2000s pop hits on the way to school. Even sounds from times we weren’t alive to experience can have a similar effect. The Ronettes’ Be My Baby came out in 1963, and it was just trending on TikTok a few months ago. What is it about old songs and retro sounds that draw us in?
I think that older sounding songs take us away from the stresses of the here and now. Traveling back in time through a song pushes us away from the life that we’re currently living and gives us a rose-colored glimpse of the past. Music is meant to be an escape. Whether that’s from the 3000-word essay you have to write for school, the fight you’re in with your friend, or the pile of dirty laundry on your floor, music is a way to relieve the pressures we place upon ourselves.
Image Courtesy: Strike Tallahassee
While I love the revival of nostalgic sounds, their reemergence poses a question about the future of the music industry— Is old music killing new music?
For the music industry, falling back on old sounds is a profitable business.
There’s nothing wrong with this, and it’s kind of just how music works. Artists build upon what has been done before them. However, there seems to be a lack of that hungry drive to “create something new” that we’ve heard from rising artists in past decades. If recreating old sounds is much more profitable, this makes sense.
As long as artists can still create something new with older sounds, I don’t see anything wrong with nostalgic music. Our society is currently going through a very nostalgia-obsessed phase, and musicians should play into that where they can. This era of the throwback exposes new generations to sounds they may not have heard before.
Music is an ever-changing, ever-growing art form, and nostalgia does not take away from its beauty and impact; rather, our reverence for nostalgic music signals a renewed appreciation for the music of the past
Strike Out,
Writer: Lydia Coddington
Editor: Noelle Knowlton
Graphic Designer: Jackie Esguerra
Tallahassee