Why Recession Pop Is Hot-Even When Its Not a Recession Discover why fans turn to party anthems during times of economic crisis-or just when the vibes are off. Plus: a playlist of recession pop hits old and new, from Lady Gaga and Pitbull to Charli XCX and Chappell Roan.
By
Bryan Parys
October 11, 2024
Recession pop, a dancey genre that emerges during periods of economic recession, is having a resurgence. There's just one problem: We're not actually in a recession.
According to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US saw over 250,000 new jobs added in September, nearly doubling the growth projected for the month. The report prompted Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, to say on X (formerly Twitter) The economy is at full-employment, no more and no less. Wage growth is strong. . . . One couldn't paint a prettier picture of the job market and broader economy.
What Is Recession Pop?The numbers don't lie, and yet, the musical trends over the last few months indicate a desire among listeners to find escape in high-energy pop music. Enter: Recession pop. Escape is a common theme in popular music, but in the case of recession pop, music critics and cultural commenters have spotted a seeming correlation between a dour national mood and the kind of blissed-out pop that focuses on liberation via the dancefloor.
Early examples of recession pop include songs that found their commercial peak during the Great Recession of 2008-though accounts vary of how long this original period lasted, with some saying it dates from 2007-2012, and others dating it as far as 2015. Songs from this era would include Don't Stop the Music, by Rihanna, I Gotta Feeling, by Black Eyed Peas, and Teenage Dream, by Katy Perry. Lady Gaga first found her meteoric rise during this era, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better mission statement for recession pop than the chorus to her mega-hit Just Dance, which goes Just dance / Gonna be ok.
Recession Pop and the Art of DistractionPitbull was another artist speaking to this cultural moment (and getting massively popular because of it) with songs such as Hotel Room Service and Time of Our Lives, whose first verse just came right out and said it:
I knew my rent was gon be late about a week ago
I worked my a** off
But I still cant pay it though
But I got just enough
To get off in this club
Have me a good time, before my time is up
Life got you down? Just dance. Bills bearing down on you with no relief in sight? Better have you a good time before your time is up. It's not practical advice, but in times of national and global crisis, it can sometimes feel as if distraction is the only antidote one can afford.
It's not as if artists are consciously setting out to write recession pop, however. The term itself was applied after the 2008 recession, and started its resurgence on TikTok over the course of summer 2024. Musicologist Joe Bennett, professor of professional music and songwriting, has become a go-to expert on the trend, and recently told MarketWatch that recession pop is essentially a label that mashes up a style with a timeline.
So why, during an otherwise Brat Summer, were people going back to Katy Perry and Flo Rida? For one, there's the nostalgia factor, which is something every generation eventually faces. It's why the newly reunited 90s-era band Oasis could come back in 2024 to sold-out arenas, for example. As Bennett explains, There's a certain maxim in the music community: All the best pop music in the world came out in the same year, and it's the year that you were 17.
But that reasoning only goes so far as fans have started to apply the recession pop label to a new generation of mainstream music, which includes HOT TO GO! by Chappell Roan, Nasty by Tinashe, and 365 by the brat herself, Charli XCX.
Its Not a Recession, but Is It a Vibecession?While there isn't a clear answer to why recession pop is trending when it's not a recession, one way to sum it up is to say the vibes are just off.
Economist and cultural commentator Kyla Scanlon coined the term Vibecession in summer 2022 in her newsletter to try and put a name to this phenomenon. [T]here is a lot going on and no one really knows what is going on, she wrote at the beginning of her essay, which gets to the heart of why the economy can be one way, but people can feel another. Scanlon wrote this at a time where the height of the pandemic wasn't too far in the rearview, housing prices and interest rates soared, and inflation reached record heights. And even as inflation has started to decrease, those same issues continue to loom in the collective consciousness.
With that in mind, perhaps it's clearer to say that the term recession pop is much more about the listener than the artist. There will always be party music that climbs the charts, but party music when times are tough just hits different, and perhaps listeners end up reading more into it because they're looking for something to make sense.
Listen to a playlist of recession pop hits from its original era as well as more recent additions:
Recession Pop by the Lyrics As you listen to our recession pop playlist, take a look at some of the key lyrics from each song that put the recess in recession.
1. Just Dance, Lady Gaga (2008)Keep it cool, whats the name of this club? / I cant remember, but its alright, alright / Just dance / Gonna be okay
2. Time of Our Lives, Pitbull and Ne-Yo (2014)Have me a good time, before my time is up / Hey, lets get it now / Ooh, I want the time of my life
3. 365, Charli XCX (2024)When Im in the club, yeah / Im bumpin that / 365, party girl / Im bumpin that
4. I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas (2009)Tonights the night / Lets live it up / I got my money / Lets spend it up
5.
North America Stories
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...
21/10/2025
Kokusai Denki Electric America will mark the U.S. debut of a new 4K camera at the 2025 NAB New York, Oct. 22-23. Now available, the Z-HD6500-S1 UHD/HD productio...
21/10/2025
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting, and quality assurance solutions, will showcase its entire NEXTGEN TV ...
21/10/2025
Radio Azzurra FM, longest-running radio station in the province of Novara, northwest Italy, has invested in an DHD SX2 audio routing and mixing console for inte...
21/10/2025
Globecast, the leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, has announced the appointment of G Morgan as Executive Vice President of...
21/10/2025
Visual Data announces the appointment of Maz Al-Jumaili as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Localization, to advance client engagement, strategic partnerships, ...
21/10/2025
As Amazon's Prime Video prepares to launch its coverage of NBA basketball under a major new deal, Grup Mediapro has announced that it is working with the st...
21/10/2025
ATLANTA Good news for consumers using an Atlanta DTH receiver to watch ATSC 3.0: with a new software update, they will be able to blanket their homes with Wi-Fi...
21/10/2025
While recent news has been heavily focused on Hispanic migration into the U.S., The 2025 Hispanic Market Report from Claritas highlights the fact that this gr...
21/10/2025
MAIDENHEAD, UK RWS has hired Michael Wayne as its head of media and entertainment in Los Angeles where he will lead the company's media localization busines...
21/10/2025
Imagine Communications and Rohde & Schwarz today announced a definitive agreement under which Imagine will acquire Pixel Power Limited, a wholly owned subsidiar...
21/10/2025
Atlanta DTH (ADTH) today announced a major update that will expand the functionality of its NEXTGEN TV receiver by enabling gateway capabilities allowing viewer...
21/10/2025
Heartland Video Systems, Inc. (HVS), a premier video systems integration, consulting, and expert ATSC 3.0 implementation firm announces that it has partnered wi...
21/10/2025
QuickLink, the leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest integration solutions, today announced the appointment of Austin Hinton as it...
21/10/2025
nternet connectivity startup Miri Technologies Inc. will use this week's NAB Show New York as the launch pad for its latest ground-breaking innovation, the ...
Why Recession Pop Is Hot-Even When Its Not a Recession Discover why fans turn to party anthems during times of economic crisis-or just when the vibes are off. Plus: a playlist of recession pop hits old and new, from Lady Gaga and Pitbull to Charli XCX and Chappell Roan.
