Pop culture is offically dead

Video killed the radio star. And the internet killed the pop star. And streaming killed the movie star. And now all the stars are dead 😊

I don’t mean to be so melancholic.

But in the age of digital and social media, it seems we’re witnessing the decline of mass media and monoculture.

Does that mean we lose the powerful pop star phenomenon with it? Do we have the maddening unpredictability of TikTok to blame? Or is it the streaming services that have fragmented audiences?

And what will sweep in to take the pop stars' place, if anything?

I grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s.

My earliest memories of pop stars were Britney, Xtina, and Pink. As I grew into my tweens, I had Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga—all true icons.

These stars had the power to stop the world in its tracks whenever they did anything, from going to the beach to attacking the paparazzi with an umbrella.

Take, for example, Beyoncé’s surprise release of her self-titled visual album in 2013, which cut through the media noise. Today, attempting a 'media ambush' tactic like this could be rendered useless and potentially promotional suicide.

Besides Taylor Swift (obviously) and a few breakthrough artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Ice Spice, the bright, dazzling phenomenon of the pop star seems to be fading out.

And it’s not limited to music. This spans all cultural industries.

We once sat and ate dinner together, albeit at different tables in different homes. But most of us were watching Friends, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, or The Tonight Show.

Even in recent years, the huge popularity and sense of universality achieved by The Avengers and Game of Thrones seems to be dwindling. Vulture eulogised Game of Thrones as 'the last show we watch together' while The Ringer called it 'the very last piece of monoculture.'

Popular culture, as we know it, is dead. And, honestly, it’s been in decline for a long time. Just look at the fact that, besides the Super Bowls, the TV broadcasts with the highest simultaneous viewship were all in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s.

We now live in a time of cultural fragmentation.

In the digital streaming era, we’ve lost the ability to connect with one another over media as reference points that everyone knows.

The niches and subcultures enabled by streaming culture feel impenetrable. However, just because the linear, broadcast-era monoculture we know is gone doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for brands to create unified moments.

The kind of monoculture that thrived during the broadcast era can still exist within digital media. Now, it looks like recognisable reference points shared through social media.

Whether it’s Baby Yoda or Baby Shark, there’s no denying these cultural moments bring us together.

We still have monoculture in this sense.

However, each cultural landmark is swiftly replaced by the onrush of the next. And this makes it harder to cut through than it once was.

What does become mainstream appears completely manufactured for the digital platforms of the attention economy.

Fleeting, maddening moments of everybody echoing one another. Screaming the same Japanese lyrics from the latest Megan Thee Stallion song. Or singing about caffeinated beverages until the next viral sensation comes along.

None of it feels real, but manufactured instead. Culture is now Big Data.

Monoculture has become mono-monoculture.

Algorithmic sameness is turning digital platforms into what Vox calls the 'Lofi monocultural beats to exist to.' The publication describes this as, 'an infinite playlist of lofi hip-hop radio—beats to study/relax to, in all media, forever.' It all exists just to fill time without making any kind of lasting impression on anyone.

That’s the future of the culture we’re headed towards if we don’t break away from the structures that now govern our media consumption.

We, as marketers, need to ensure we leave room for media products and projects that aren’t memes. Things that aren’t pre-optimised for sharing or scaling.

This sounds counterintuitive. Because, in a world run by the attention economy, these are the things that get the eyeballs, make the noise, and bring in the dollars.

The danger is, as we grow more accustomed to making and consuming things in the algorithmic monoculture, we risk losing our understanding or taste for anything else.

Just some food for thought.

As someone who is a fan of the arts, and studied media culture my whole life, to watch it morph into this giant brain-rot, hive-mind monster is scary.

We as marketers have a responsibility to not fall into the pits of producing creative solely manufactured for virality.

Bill Bernbach (the godfather of advertising) once said, 'All of us who professionally use the media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalise it. Or we can help lift it into a higher level.'

Here are a few ways to do so:

Focus on authenticity, storytelling and genuine engagement. Invest in creative campaigns that resonate deeply with smaller, loyal audiences rather than chasing fleeting trends.

Find smaller communities. Collaborate with micro-influencers who belong to a strong dedicated following within specific subcultures. This is a great way to create targeted marketing efforts that generate higher engagement and build stronger brand loyalty.

-Sophie, Writer