By Victoria Castro
Everyone has listened to Brat. Charli XCX’s album looped in all devices since its release in June 2024. Whether through TikTok trends, in sold-out stadiums, or in private listening parties (even through presidential campaigns, with US Vice President Kamala Harris proudly adopting the Brat slogan during her 2024 campaign, the album took the world by a storm. It debuted at number 3 on both the US Billboard 200 and Spotify’s Global Album Chart, and topped the Dance/Electronic albums ranking. This translated into a second position on British charts, and top ten in twelve European countries. Altogether, it became the highest rated album of 2024 and the 15th of all time, heralding a volta in the music industry. Brat’s clubbing aesthetic, its hyperpop melodies, and its carpe diem mentality were not phenomena solely contained to Charli XCX’s rebrand: remixes and new editions saw musicians from all genres channeling their inner brat to sing about what they wanted to have for lunch or yelling into a mic.
Altogether, Brat is a key example of recession pop. This title broadly refers to up-tempo, catchy, repetitive songs with fast BPMs and high-energy production, combining EDM, synth-pop, electropop, and dance-pop. Lyrics embrace youthfulness, hedonism, and freedom, most popularly through partying and having fun (take Kesha’s 2010 hit ‘TiK ToK’ as an example). Alternatively, they address survival, frustration, sadness, and social consciousness, with a largely optimistic conclusion (like Lana Del Rey did in ‘Shades of Cool’). Altogether, it is a timely genre, greatly affected by the contemporary state of the economy.
So, the popularity of Brat’s feel-good lyrics is not unprecedented. The term ‘Recession Banger’ was first coined in 2022 to address Beyoncé’s Renaissance (2022) album, loosely pertaining to the genre characterised by an element of poptimism and impending economic doom that Brat belongs to. Similarly, Chappell Roan prophesied Charli XCX’s success with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023), placing the focus on queer identity, empowerment, economic hardship and freedom – the same topics that would be addressed in Brat. The ethos that marked Brat was not left behind in the summer of 2024 neither: the popularity of hyperpop melodies, largely hedonistic lyrics, and a certain element of financial resignation expanded across the global music panorama. From singles such as Kesha’s ‘Joyride’ (2024) to Lady Gaga’s ‘Abracadabra’ (2025), and from albums such as Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet (2024) to Bad Bunny’s DTmF (2025), the desire to listen to feel-good music permeated society and pushed albums straight to success; BOYNEXTDOOR’s ‘No Genre’ EP (2025) has gone as far as to include a song called ‘I Feel Good’.
During the same period, the global economy took a turn for the worse. GDP reports revealed a mixed economy, at odds with the steady improvement the world had been accustomed to. By the third quarter of 2024, it was official: China was facing an economic slowdown, growth was weak in Europe, the British economy was starting to stagnate, the Baltic states were suffering under wartime economy, India’s industrial production had fallen after almost two years of steady growth, and consumer confidence remained low in Brazil. While economic improvements are not to be ignored, challenges outweighed them. For instance, Spain outpaced predictions and the expansion of other neighbouring Eurozone countries, achieving a growth rate of 3.2%. Still, its growth did not aid in lowering Spain’s political uncertainties, high public deficit, and restrictive interest rates. Similarly, while the US economy achieved a steady 2.8% full-year growth rate, the general consumer consensus were dim personal finance expectations, all while the country entered a trade war spurred by political tension.
As of 2025, the situation was arguably not much brighter: the UK economy unexpectedly contracted in May while its inflation, predicted to remain more than 1% over its 2% target throughout 2025, settled at 3.6%. Simultaneously, the US economy shrunk more than predicted in the first quarter and Europe is experiencing a trade slowdown. Similarly, signs of financial stress have been picked up during the last few months: car repossessions have increased, and pay-later loans are more frequently being deferred. The similarities between recent economic downturns and the origins of the Great Recession are, unfortunately, many. While Brat’s popularity skyrocketed, 2024 in the US saw the Fed reverse its tightening monetary policy, unemployment rise, job growth slow, with industrial sectors falling into distress and credit card debt reaching record highs; in 2007, the same policy approach was adopted shortly before the crash, flagged by the same indicators troubling economists in recent economic downturns.
While the possibility of a full-fledged recession has not been ruled out but has not started yet either, consumers’ pains have intensified in the last months: higher prices are wearing down savings, reliance on credit cards and the ensuing debt is slowly growing amongst lower income households, and consumer sentiment remains low despite there being proof of economic improvement in comparison to 2025. Despite improvements, consumers are grappling with housing instability and financial insecurity, much like what happened during the 2008 recession, and the still prevalent consequences of the COVID pandemic, including geographic, intergenerational, and structural economic inequalities, and the expected economic cost caused by disrupted education. Altogether, the current socioeconomic climate is reminiscent of the late 2000s.
Another similarity the 2000s and the 2020s share is, surprisingly enough, the popularity of recession pop. In particular, US on-demand audio streams of this genre increased to 6.4% by mid-2025 alone, outpacing the industry’s growth. Characterised by upbeat music and nihilistic lyrics, consumers are finding consolation in the same genre that has historically grown popular during economic downturns. Lady Gaga’s The Fame (2008) and The Black Eyed Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’ (2009) are notable examples of the earliest recession pop hits; Brat is an example of one of its latest.
The rise of feel-good music following economic downturns is not a circumstance contained to this century. What is more, music critics argue that the expansion of this genre is reminiscent of the popularity of swing and big band music during the Great Depression, of the appearance of techno and house music during the period of high inflation and economic downturn of the 1980s, and of the songs achieving high rankings during the 2012 phenomenon. While the term ‘recession pop’ was originally a colloquialism meant to name the music popularised during the Great Recession (more particularly, it pertained to the zeitgeist of popular music during an economic downturn in Ireland), there can only be so many coincidences until music too becomes epiphenomena reminiscent of the lipstick index. There is a chance that this music genre reflects broader popular trends: in general, consumers appear to show a preference for happier songs and party anthems during periods of economic uncertainty, likely to palliate the emotional toll of personal finance.
Even at a broader level, the parallels are evident: much like Harris became a brat, Yeezy’s The Recession (2008) supported Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Moreover, this phenomenon is not restricted to economic downturns. Financial improvement was also accompanied with a shift in music, with artists such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Justin Bieber abandoning their lively brand for laid-back albums by the mid-2010s; hiphop, adopting lyrics unconcerned with clubbing and hope, and a different melodic brand, became the most popular genre in the US as topics related to financial optimism shifted off focus following economic growth.
Phenomena of this sort, in which consumer behaviour is linked to upcoming economic periods, are ample. The reading that music reflects the state of personal finances would be supported by other cultural incidents currently being viewed: Coachella 2025 attendees took to payment plans to avoid debts, the business-casual style is returning, and, following the hemline index, maxi skirts are slowly substituting miniskirts. Altogether, the development of Recession Pop is strikingly similar to that of other economic indicators. The lipstick index, for instance, suggests customers are less willing to buy expensive luxury goods during periods of economic downturn, and instead turn to lipsticks as a signal of their wealth. It was first suggested by Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estée Lauder, upon noticing lipstick sales had increased both following the Great Depression and the 2001 terrorist attack. Similarly, the hemline index (commonly attributed to George Taylor) proposes the use of skirt length as an indicator for stock price movements; the Big Mac and the nail art indexes follow the same arguments. Thus, the nihilism that recession pop indicates is reflected in other consumer behaviours as a preference for smaller shows of wealth; otherwise, as a tendency to reject wealth, much like this genre promotes. Parallels can even be drawn between Recession Pop and inverted bond yield curves; ultimately, both measure consumer sentiment (in very different consumption areas).
Alas, correlation does not imply causation. While consumers are searching for modes of escapism, a crisis is yet to arrive; the revival of recession pop is, thus, not as much an epiphenomena of a recession as it is a reflection of consumer confidence and general socioeconomic security. Similarly, it might just be nostalgia fueling recession pop streams. Recession pop might be an index – just not an appropriate measure of the likelihood of a recession.
Essentially, these indexes reflect a shared psychological state through the media being consumed. Altogether, this genre is proof that Charli XCX might be wrong to claim “the apple is rotten right to the core”.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own, and may not reflect the opinions of The St Andrews Economist.
Image Courtesy of M Chloe LB via Wikimedia