Pure Risk Partying: The History Of Recession Pop

How can I meet Pitbull at the hotel room if I can’t afford the hotel room? How can party rock be in the house tonight if the housing market is collapsing? How am I meant to turn up when the economy is taking a downturn?

In 2008, my world revolved around my kindergarten’s social politics and my struggle to tell time on an analogue clock. Outside of my narrow scope, the word was imploding on itself. The financial crisis of 2007 to 2008 was a global phenomenon that led to the loss of 2 trillion dollars from the global economy, which is enough to give everyone in Singapore a five-bedroom home in Detroit or a closet and a slap in the face in New York City. Dubbed the Great Recession, it certainly led to greatly detrimental effects: job losses, increasing poverty rates and the collapse of the housing market. As all of this was happening, Flo Rida was singing about apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur, and spending all of his money at the club, while the rest of us couldn’t even afford the cover charge.

Some might say one of the few good things to come out of this dire situation might be Recession Pop. Recession Pop is usually looked at as the hooky music of the late 2000s to the early 2010s. 3 minute pop hits with a BPM that would get any club-goer to smash the tiles to pieces. Hedonistic choruses that bring to mind comedian John Mulaney’s take about how “every new song is about how tonight is the night. And how we only have tonight.” Indeed, when you’ve lost your house and your salary, the only thing you may really have is tonight. Recession Pop songs are meant to be optimistic party anthems to serve as an escape from somber reality. Artists like Katy Perry, Kesha, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj are often brought up in conversations about Recession Pop, with songs like “Teenage Dream”, “We R Who We R”, “Don’t Stop The Music”, and “Starships” respectively dominating the charts during the late 2000s and early 2010s. These songs were about embracing fun and revelling through the night despite there not being much to revel about in reality. There are tons of songs and artists that have defined Recession Pop, but Pitbull and Ne-Yo summate the concept pretty well in “Time of Our Lives”:

“This the last twenty dollars I got

But I’ma have a good time ballin’ tonight”

Katy Perry, Rihanna, Kesha and Nicki Minaj (2010)

Music has always reflected societal issues. In the 90s, grunge music had a DIY, low-production style that served as a response to the over-commercialised mainstream music scene of the 80s. The 70s saw punk as a rebellion against societal norms that the youth were growing increasingly fed up with. Earlier forms of Recession Pop can perhaps be seen in previous decades, where popular music responded to the economic contexts of the world at the time. Disco was birthed in the midst of a period of low economic growth, and much like the Recession Pop of the early 2000s to the late 2010s, it celebrated nightlife as a form of escapism. Besides songs about partying, disco music about money reflected the public’s desire for upward mobility contrasted with reality. ABBA’s “Money, Money, Money” was told from the perspective of a protagonist who dreams of living in luxury, but instead has to “work all night” and “work all day to pay the bills I have to pay”.

ABBA (1979)

The film “Saturday Night Fever”, often credited with helping to popularise disco music and culture, explores this relationship between the economic state of the 70s and disco, all while featuring John Travolta in platform boots dancing like his life depends on it. The film was inspired by a New York magazine article that focused on the lives of working class men who spent their nights partying at the discotheque as a form of stress relief from having to work at gruelling, minimum wage jobs. The film reflects this by contrasting the fun of nightlife and disco music with the grittier realities of living in a working-class ethnic neighbourhood.

Another parallel to the Recession Pop of the early 2000s to 2010s is the music that rose to popularity during The Great Depression. The Great Recession is often looked at as the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, and the Great Depression was, if it wasn’t obvious, very depressing. During a period of severe economic downturn from 1929 to 1939, businesses collapsed, unemployment rates rose, and stock prices plummeted. At the same time, happy songs were gaining popularity.

“Life is just a bowl of cherries

Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious

You work, you save, you worry so

But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go”

“Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries” was released in the midst of The Great Depression, a song about how life was wonderful, like a bowl of cherries, when it was really more like a crock of turds. “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re In The Money)” is another song that highlights the jaunty optimism that was popular in music at the time. Performed in the film “Gold Diggers of 1933”, the song is sung along with “The Dance of The Dollars”, which included a line of beautiful women dancing in costumes made of giant coins - achingly subtle.

“We're in the money!

The skies are sunny!

Ol' Man Depression, you are through, you done us wrong!”

Still from Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re In The Money) from Gold Diggers of 1933

The song described a fantastical celebration of the end of the Great Depression, something that would not happen for another 6 years.

The Dare, Charli XCX & Billie Eillish at Charli XCX’s 32nd birthday party (2024)

Today, Charli XCX’s Brat has been dominating the charts. Recession Pop staples from the late 2000s to early 2010s like Katy Perry and Kesha have made comebacks. New popstars like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan have seen surges in popularity, and Tate McRae’s baby voice continues to drive me to the brink of insanity. Some say the rise of these pop artists and their songs that are characterised by their upbeat and danceable nature could result in a Recession Pop revival, which in turn could indicate another economic downturn. Reports from Forbes and U.S. Bank say that a 2024 recession is unlikely, but there’s no real way to know whether Brat Summer is going to be followed by a Winter of Discontent.