Music was about to die – then these pop girlies saved it-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan saved music in 2024 (Picture: Getty Images)

Before Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX came along in 2024 music was dying – literally. Then they, alongside Taylor Swift, saved it.

Pre-2024 the music world was obsessed with older, established acts from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s – and these golden oldies turned up in their droves to fill this demand.

The Rolling Stones released their 24th studio album in 2023, Hackney Diamonds, with hip-thrusting Sir Mick Jagger aged 80.

Sir Elton John headlined Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, attracting one of the largest crowds the festival had ever seen.

And this year, Oasis announced their big comeback after 13 years of brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher feuding, making us all think we were in the 90s again.

Bruce Springsteen made a triumphant return, Sir Paul McCartney shimmied out of the woodworks for Beatles fans, and 00s lovers were left in awe as S Club 7 announced a huge reunion. Even Girls Aloud joined the club.

Chappell became an overnight megatar this summer with The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess (Picture: Dana Jacobs/WireImage)

While Sir Elton John headlined Glastonbury in 2023, it looks as though for 2025 it’s out with the old (no shade to Sir Elton, he’s a legend) and in with the new (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Where were all the new, exciting artists before 2024?

The demand for nostalgic bands seemed to far supersede any new, relevant acts in the mainstream.

The only current(ish) artists to have matched this hubbub for nostalgia and Beatles-like mania are Harry Styles, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. And they’ve been around for years.

So everything felt a little stale, as if no new artists to get excited about were finding mainstream success. That’s until Charli, Chappell, and Sabrina strutted onto the scene with their unique and very different brands of genius.

We can see their popularity reflected in the research. StubHub has found that demand to see older and more well-established acts has fallen from nearly a third (28%) in 2022-23 to less than a fifth (19%) this year.

Sabrina Carpenter has proved that women can be sexy outside of the male gaze (Picture: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)

Charli XCX pretty much started a Brat cultural revolution this year (Picture: Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

And surprise, surprise: pop is the number one genre this year, accounting for a third of the top 100 acts recorded by the ticketing platform.

While these three women can’t claim all the statistics, they are certainly the frontrunners of pop today and so emblematic of this shift in interest from old to new artists.

They’ve been here all along

Charli, Chappell and Sabrina have all been around for 10 years. They are not technically ‘new’ – but they are in the eyes of many members of the public as 2024 was the year of their so-called big breaks after years of simmering underneath the mainstream.

Charli has been making albums since 2014 – with Brat being her sixth – while Chappell made a self-titled album that year too, and again in 2014, Sabrina’s career fully kicked off when she starred in Disney Channel series Girl Meets World.

This is Chappell in 2017, so it’s taken 10 years for her brilliance to be discovered (Picture: Jim Bennett/Getty Images)

Charli XCX was rocking out in 2012 (Picture: Tabatha Fireman/Redferns)

It took exactly 10 years for all three of these women to ‘make it’ and their success in 2024 has been nothing less than stratospheric.

Charli XCX sparked a cultural revolution, even came up in the US presidential race, and her Brat was even made the Collins English Dictionary’s word of the year.

Meanwhile in March 2023, Chappell had around 3million monthly listeners on Spotify. By June 2024, that number had soared to over 20m. 

Sabrina – who is everywhere right now – hosted her own Netflix special A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter after having created the song of the summer in Espresso.

So… why now?

Sabrina Carpenter got her big break in Nickelodean in 2014 (Picture: Chelsea Lauren/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

The Taylor Swift effect

Taylor Swift might have just paved the way for these three now-megastars.

Charli, Chappell and Sabrina’s brands are so totally different to each other, and frankly, the former couldn’t be more polar opposite to Taylor.

Where Taylor is cheese, Charli is bite. But while Taylor doesn’t seem like a natural trailblazing predecessor for Brat, I think she was.

Historically, Taylor was always mocked for being this girl-next-door, cheesy pop singer, who in many ways lived up to the stereotype women had been fighting against for years: one that is obsessed with her ex and loves crying to sad songs.

And yet she’s grown the boldest fanbase out there.

Swifties are not ashamed to be swifties and through these obsessive glitter-wearing, cheesy pop-loving fans she has emerged as the most successful solo artist on the planet. Perhaps even of all time.

Taylor Swift proved that women can still be a stereotypical ‘girly girl’ and be a rockstar. She proved cheesy music and singing about your ex isn’t just okay: it’s celebrated here. In short: women can be anything they want to be, even if it falls under the image of a stereotype.

Taylor Swift might have just paved the way for Charli, Chappell and Sabrina (Picture: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management )

In turn, women can also be Brat, like Charli: obnoxiously bolshy, unapologetically confident, and rockstar party-lovers just like Jagger. Or better, like Charli.

But women can also be overtly sexual outside the confides of the male gaze. Just like Sabrina, who struts around stage in her tiny dresses, gyrating on the floor and winking at the audience like it’s 1950. Except she’s doing it, unmistakably, for the girls.

Then there’s Chappell Roan. Her drag-inspired looks, witty and ever-explicit lyrics, and anthem-worthy bangers have cemented her in a matter of months as a global superstar.

She will go down in history as one of the most ground-breaking, talented artists ever to have emerged in the 21st century.

So what does the future hold for pop?

Guess what? We’re living in the Chappell, Sabrina and Charli era right now. It’s not a party we’ve missed and is occasionally revisited for a moment’s nostalgia.

These women are making history right now, and as a result, have saved the future of music from the haggard arms of male-dominated 20th century rock and roll.

What’s on the horizon to tip these queens off their thrones is anyone’s guess – perhaps a resurgence of boybands if Simon Cowell has anything to do with it.

But for now, long may they reign.

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