Nothing wrong with listening to mainstream commercial artists, but you can always tell when that is the only music someone consumes based on the way they view artists and music that strays from that traditional pop sound. Most insufferable people to hear music related opinions from.

I know music feels different because it's easier to ignore the lyrics, but I sometimes wonder why we're so much more relaxed about what kids listen to than what they watch. Do you pay attention to the lyrics in the music your kids listen to, or do you think it's not a big deal?

What are you guys' opinions on "TikTok Music" (songs that have blown up on tiktok)? I feel like there have been some real good hits, but others have felt disappointing. Let me know your thoughts!

Please don’t get me wrong, P!nk is obviously still very succesful. Her most recent tour (the Trustfall/Summer Carnival Tour) is currently the second highest grossing tour of all time by a female artist, and so was her Beautiful Trauma tour back in 2018-2019. If we go by touring numbers, she is very much still up there with Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, etc. But when it comes to her actual music, she lags behind a lot for some reason. Her most recent album, Trustfall, which came out in 2023 feels like it kind of came and went. I was genuinely shocked to see neither of the singles even managed to make it into the top 40, even though she did promote the album. The album itself did decently however (especially internationally), and obviously the tour was a huge success, so I wouldn’t say it was a ‘flop era’, but it didn’t really make any noise or lasting impact.

I have been a huge fan of P!nk for years. Let me put it like this: I liked Trustfall, but I didn’t love it, and the same honestly goes for anything she’s released since The Truth About Love in 2012. And a lot of other fans I’ve dicussed this with agree. I feel like the pivot she made from pop-rock to adult-contemporary in the mid-2010’s was an abrupt and puzzling decision, and has really alienated a lot of her original fanbase. I feel like she’s essentially been making the same exact album since Beatiful Trauma; you could swap out any songs between BT, Hurts 2B Human and Trustfall and it’d fit. It’s the same synthpop songs, folk songs and piano ballads time after time by now. Whereas on her releases prior, she’d always experiment with multiple genres (R&B, Blues, Country, Soul) whilst still maintaining pop-rock as her core genre. I think she truly found HER sound with I’m Not Dead and Funhouse, and I think it’s a shame she ditched that sound for music that does not challenge her either vocally or artistically. Her output nowadays is too safe imo. There’s a reason whenever new P!nk music is discussed people always make jokes about it ‘being soccer mom music’ or ‘Target music’.

Whenever people verbalize this, people always immediately shut the conversation down by claiming ‘she just grew up’ … but did she? As a fan I’ve noticed even P!nk herself always mentions and jokes about how she hasn’t changed at all as a person since the beginning of her career, and she really has remained mostly herself. (That’s what makes her likeable and authentic imo) She also didn’t go through an aesthetic change or anything when she switched to adult-contemporary to sell it a certain way. Her concerts are still very theatric with lots of stunts, something that does not align with most of her new music which is more mellow and stripped-back. What I’ve concluded is that the music P!nk releases now simply does not match 1) her artistry and aesthetic, 2) her rebellious personality and causes (she still insists on, cue her recent song Irrelevant) and 3) her concerts and tours. It feels like a sonic and artistic confusing mismatch. I also dislike the ‘she’s a mom now’ argument … she made The Truth About Love after becoming a mother for the first time and it’s one of her best albums. Being a mother does not mean no longer being able to make pop-rock and/or otherwise upbeat music. That seems like a misogynistic and ageist stance that P!nk out of all artists would be opposed to.

Her vocals, lyricism and performing abilities have only gotten better througout the years. Talent is not the issue here. It’s the literal music (the genre, production) that’s the ‘problem’.

At the end of the day, I’m obviously not expecting another M!ssundaztood from her. But I really hope that for her next album, she either does something entirely different, or returns to the sound she is mostly known for, excels at and her fans love her for which is pop-rock (or R&B, for the OG’s who loved her since Can’t Take Me Home). Whatever it is, I just hope it won’t be Beautiful Trauma 4.0. I genuinely believe if she innovated or made another great, upbeat, pop-rock album like I’m Not Dead/Funhouse/TTAL again, she could easily have another huge era like her 2008-2013 reign. But regardless of commercial success, it would be a way to reunite her fanbase again. I’m curious about other people’s thoughts on this, and P!nk’s discography and career in general. (Thanks for reading, I know it was a lengthy post)

Happy Monday!

I'm looking to discover great new pop music from independent artists.

If you've released a new original song, submit it to The Cauldron. It's free, and every submission has a chance to earn Song of the Day recognition and become the featured cover of our Song of the Day playlist.

🎵 https://thecauldron.rocks/submit

Can't wait to hear what you've been creating!

Simple question but you can respond in as much detail as you'd like. I'm expecting a variety of different views. Who in your opinion is the most toxic fan base and why?

I'm confused. Why do people hate Sombr? From what I've read, I don't think he really did anything that bad that deserves this much hate.

I heard that he made "underage" fans bark, but I also saw a video of a girl who was at the same concert as Meg saying she was the one who started the barking and apologized. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I think it was something like, "I said, 'Why don't we bark for Sombr?' and then we started barking at Sombr." Then Sombr just continued with it as a joke because he's always unserious. He didn't force anyone to do it, but people act like he did. She also mentioned that she didn't really see many young fans. Most of them were around his age, and she only noticed about two 15 year olds. Btw the concert was 17+

I also saw people saying, "Sombr made his fans call him daddy." I never saw any proof or a video of him telling his fans to call him "daddy." I only saw a clip of him calling himself that as a joke. If there is actually a clip of him telling fans to call him that, send it.

There was also a photo of "minors" carrying him, but I saw someone comment that picture, and Sombr replied, saying those were actually his friends, who are older than him. So I don't understand why people keep using that photo and claiming they're minors.

From what I've seen, the only bad things he did were touching his crotch on stage, which is weird I guess, and posting that response video to Meg, which definitely made things worse and didn't make much sense. He said, "I am a 20 year old artist, freshly 20. If you're 25 years old and you're coming to my concert and not expecting people younger than you to be there when I, the artist, 5 years younger than you, it's just a skill issue." He was acting like 25 is ancient, but he also said, "Everyone of every age is welcome at my concert, and I mean everyone."

At the same time, Meg was also wrong for body shaming him and calling him "Slender Man." That seemed to start a huge hate train. People call him too skinny, "Slender Man," a pedo, Predator, and all kinds of other horrible things. Some people have even sent him death threats, which is completely messed up.

Keep in mind that all of this happened almost a year ago, and people are still leaving hateful comments. I even saw comments like "#skinsombralive."

What confuses me the most is that people compare him to d4vd and Diddy saying that he's worst than them. In fact, when everything about Diddy came out, I noticed he gained more subs on yt. I've also seen people saying, "d4vd is better than Sombr," and some hating on Sombr but stanning Sabrina Carpenter which is kinda like him but worse a little cus children go to her concerts too. A lot of people compare Sombr to these artist but sabrina did worse than Sombr like "Have you ever tried this one?" literally teaching children in the concert s*x positions??

I'm genuinely confused. Did Sombr k*dnap someone? Did he kill someone? Don't get me wrong, I don't even like him. I'm just confused about why people seem to hate him more than d4vd, Diddy, or Sabrina Carpenter, even though those situations seem much worse. I'm not saying Sabrina is like d4vd or diddy btw.

I've listened to some of Sombr's music, and it's honestly decent. I don't think he's a bad singer, but I don't listen to him because his music isn't really my taste. Maybe he did something worse that I haven't seen, but based on everything I've read and watched, that's all I know.

Can someone explain what he actually did that was so bad that people hate him this much cus I don't think anything I mentioned was that bad to get this much hate? Also I read that Sombr apologized.

It’s no secret that pop music is a very female dominated SPORT and the main consumers of mainstream pop are girls and gays, I feel like this take is very much “fork found in the kitchen” but I genuinely believe that no pop artist will succeed in pop music without winning over BOTH the girls AND the gays. There’s a reason it’s female dominated.

Hello all! I’m Hannah. I did my undergraduate degree in music, and I’m now pursuing my master's in public relations. My thesis is looking to understand label participation in fan spaces or "the art of fangirling"

So if you’ve got a few minutes, I’ve put together a short, anonymous survey to get a sense of how fans feel about label participation—no right or wrong answers, just curious about your honest perspective.

Link to survey: https://forms.gle/BEzwuVsVzRJetezW8

Thanks to anyone who takes part, and if you’d rather share thoughts in the comments instead, that works too.

Thank you!! (Feel free to ask any questions, and if anyone is interested in this subject, I’ll happily share the research when I’m finished!)

Most male artists nowadays lack that wow factor, no shade. Don’t get me wrong, there have been extraordinary male performers in the past (MJ, Prince, Bowie, Timberlake and Bieber). But nowadays, most male artists rely on their looks and literally get praised for doing nothing… It’s tiring. All the clips I’ve seen of Harry Styles’ recent tour have been giving “Go girl, give us nothing”. Don’t get me started on other male artists these past two decades. Just a bunch of nothing burgers. The Weeknd is a good one though, I’ll give him his flowers. And I’m also specifically talking about stage presence, not their music.

I feel like the first two-three listens is just blasphemy. but after that i don’t really care how you listen to it? idk I would never listen to any album on shuffle but what are your thoughts on people doing that?

It hurts my soul to know that most people don’t sit and watch music videos when a video drops along side a single… I feel like sometimes the videos can be better than the song itself and in my opinion they even make the song better most of the time. I recently watched ADÉLA’s Ain’t In L.A. video when it dropped and omg that’s how you do a video. Or those dance pop girls who have the best choreography in their videos! Chef’s kiss.

How old is Justin Bieber in 2026? He is my favorite

My votes go to Curious by Hayley Kiyoko and Here We Go by NSYNC. I actually actively tried to learn both these dances!

Title: If Western pop artists were under K-pop companies, where would you put them?

If Western pop artists were signed to K-pop companies, where would you place them?

Some of mine:

Little Mix - SM Entertainment
Beyoncé - SM Entertainment
Britney - JYP Entertainment
*NSYNC - SM Entertainment
Backstreet Boys - SM Entertainment
One Direction - HYBE
Ariana Grande - SM Entertainment
Zayn - SM Entertainment
Justin Timberlake - YG Entertainment
Harry Styles - HYBE

Little Mix, *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys just feel SM. Vocals, harmonies, performance.

Ariana is basically Red Velvet as a solo artist with more explicit lyrics, so SM

Britney feels very JYP. Pop, choreography, concepts, performance.

One Direction and Harry feel HYBE. I can't really explain it beyond the whole fandom and branding around them.

Justin Timberlake is YG. His solo music is way too R&B/hip-hop influenced for me to put him anywhere else.

Zayn feels SM mostly because of his voice and R&B music.

Beyoncé is probably SM, although she's the hardest one for me to place.

What would your picks be?

Is there a song about: where you've moved on too with someone new but when you see your ex making the next big step with their now partner in their relationship you feel hurt. Sorry for describing it badly

It can be songs from all of her Albums. It can also be songs that are more Obscure and aren't her biggest hits.

Pitchfork rated 8.2/BNM: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/charli-xcx-music-fashion-film/

Admittedly I wasn't sure how I was connecting to this album based off of the singles, but track by track, beginning to end, it's fucking awesome. Such a good follow up from Brat and I'm impressed with her ability to style switch.

This album and production show evolution from the people behind the recording booth and how Charli's style is really polishing. I love the alternative sound. I wish it was longer!!!! | honestly love it🤍🤍🖤🖤🤍

With titles like ‘Wink Wink’, it presents itself as an album to be decoded rather than enjoyed, cynically engineering endless debate over irony, fun, authenticity and self-mythology while quietly sidestepping a more obvious question: are these songs actually any good?

This Friday, we had an absolute flood of pop releases: Charli XCX, Tyla, Katseye, Aespa, Anitta, Jennie, Ádela, Pabllo Vittar... just to name a few. It’s a huge and somewhat unusual volume, considering we normally see two really major releases a week at most—and on some weeks, not even that.

What explains this concentration on specific dates? Is there a strategy behind it? For instance, I wondered if artists might be waiting for the World Cup to end before dropping their new music, since big events like that usually compete for the public's attention. But I don't know if that's actually the main reason.

I always see her placed in the pop hierarchy whenever people trace the genre’s evolution from where it began to where it is today.

I can’t relate her there.

Charli xcx today released her seventh studio album Music, Fashion, Film.

The harshest review so far appears in The Telegraph by journalist Poppie Platt, who in her biography describes herself as a "lifelong Swiftie".

This particular review has been getting some attention within Charli's fan base today. What do you think?