The music industry underwent some exciting changes in 2024. As the digital world rapidly advances, the relationship between technology and creativity is reaching new heights, changing the way we can create, experience and consume music. Welcome to the OCOCO Media Trend Round-Up: Music Edition, in which we’ll be sharing the digital trends that are set to rock the music industry in 2025…
IT'S TIME TO GET interactive
Before I share how this trend is set to be big this year, let me first tell you why.
Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2024 was brat, having been newly redefined and “characterised by a confident, independent and hedonistic attitude” (Collins). The word’s recent fame has singer-songwriter Charli XCX to thank, with the marketing campaign for her latest album Brat having a seismic impact on social media and instigating a cultural movement both on and offline.
In a nutshell, the campaign promoted what the album represented, rather than the songs themselves.
Rejecting the ‘clean-girl aesthetic’ that has been idealised on social media since 2021, Brat brazenly announced its arrival in the album cover’s signature lime-green, representing the bold attitudes of early 2000s party girls—a celebration of rebelliousness and self-indulgent chaos. It offered audiences a fun alternative to the perfectionism that is typically favoured online. With this ideology, ‘Brat Summer’ was born.
The success of Brat was driven by Charli XCX encouraging her fans to create user-generated content; she gave them interactive tools to share what brat means to them and, therefore, transformed those fans into active co-creators of the campaign, rather than conventional consumers.
For example, The Brat Wall was a game-changer. The evolving billboard in New York became a phenomenon on TikTok; not only did the musician perform in front of it, but she used it to communicate with her fans by providing updates, provocative statements and exclusive content.
TikTok, @xcx.archive
The pay-off was huge—fans took to social media to react to the billboard in real-time and become part of the ‘brat movement,’ sharing what the ideology personally meant to them. One of the most successful pieces of user-generated content was created by Kelley Heyer on TikTok, with her viral dance challenge to Charli XCX’s “Apple” amassing a staggering 3.2 million views and inspiring thousands of other users to mimic her dance. At the time, it would have been a great feat to open TikTok and not view at least one video related to Charli XCX!
However, the virality didn’t stop there—brands also started to jump on the Brat bandwagon. This is where it gets really interesting! From Hellmann's giving away club sandwiches during Charli’s UK tour—a quirky twist on her “Club Classics” song—to Kamala Harris painting her socials lime-green, the album transgressed the state of a musical product to become a cultural event that brands could tap into to achieve cross-generational appeal. Brat therefore not only pervaded the musical and digital spheres, but pop culture as a whole, writing itself into history and entering fields that few could have predicted.
We have already started to see similar strategies achieve monumental success. For example, Taylor Swift’s infamous Eras Tour prompted user-generated content with the “in my […] era” phrase. It has progressively worked its way from social media into Gen Z vernacular and, eventually, into marketing campaigns by brands targeting those audiences. Once again, this exemplifies how music, paired with the power of social media, has a new ability to write itself into the tapestry of pop culture.
Following the cultural wildfire created by these fan-driven digital strategies, we will continue to see artists prioritise interactive campaigns throughout 2025. Whilst it may seem presumptuous to forecast a trend primarily based on the success of one artist, Brat highlighted an intersectionality between music, fan engagement and culture on an unprecedented scale, rewriting the book (and Collins Dictionary) on how to connect with audiences, both on and offline. Interactivity is therefore set to be a vital trend for evoking fan engagement.
Music is in its AI era
It may seem like everywhere we turn, someone is talking about AI, and for good reason. AI has developed rapidly throughout 2024 and will continue to become more sophisticated in 2025. AI algorithms now have the capability to collect and analyse huge amounts of musical data to create new sounds. Gone are the days of tin-like robot voices! AI music can now be undetectable and uncannily human-sounding.
It has to be said that the use of AI in music is not a new concept. Spotify’s AI DJ has been changing the way users listen to music on the platform since 2023 by curating personalised playlists based on AI-generated recommendations.
Furthermore, in 2023, singer and producer Grimes created an open-source AI programme for cloning her voiceprint, enabling other artists to use her voice to collaborate on AI generated songs. Click here to learn more.
As future-forward as this concept is, it was met with criticism within the music industry, triggering debates over the role of AI in song creation, specifically with its legal and financial ramifications. It has since been a controversial topic.
However, in June 2024, Universal Music Group boldly announced a deal with AI startup SoundLabs, enabling artists to use its voice-model tech in the latter part of the year. SoundLabs’ MicDrop feature “allows the artists to make voice models of their own using data the artists provide” (Rolling Stone). To avoid unlawful use of the voice models, the artists themselves will be given control over the ownership of each voice clone, restricting accessibility to the general public.
MicDrop also has some cool features that includes language transposition, which enables musicians to reach new audiences and release music around the world in a range of languages. It also has a voice-to-instrument function that allows instruments to mimic each other. As Universal Music Group is the largest music company in the world, this collaboration is headline news in the industry, with these AI tools soon to be available to a huge catalogue of artists in 2025.
We’re excited to see how AI will influence music production, yet the importance for it to be correctly regulated is incredibly important. To learn more about Universal Music Group’s ethical stance on AI, explore The Principles for Music Creation with AI: https://aiformusic.info/
The Death and Glorious Rebirth of Genres
Get ready to say hello to pop-punk-country mashups! In 2025, we are set to see the emergence of new hybrid genres and unique soundscapes as musicians push the boundaries of their traditional genres.
Many artists began to experiment with blurring the lines between genres in 2024, creating groundbreaking musical pastiches that stormed the charts. For example, Post Malone released “I Had Some Help” in collaboration with Morgan Wallen—creating a fusion of pop, hip hop and country.
Beyoncé also entered the country music arena with her eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter. This established Beyonce as a genre-defying artist, winning ‘Top Female Country Artist’ in the Billboard Music Awards whilst simultaneously being named Billboard’s Pop Artist of the Last Decade.
This shift in musical expression has also permeated social media, with genre-hybridity thriving when it comes to original content creation on TikTok. If you head over to your ‘For You’ page, you’ll find a multitude of musical mashups, sped-up songs and DJ remixes on a range of videos. The platform’s short-form format is therefore the perfect place to experiment with blending musical genres, exemplifying how creators can put creative spins on existing tracks to appeal to new audiences.
Ultimately, with many pre-established artists already promoting this genre fluid approach and its popularity on social media, the lines between traditional music categories are set to erode and evolve throughout 2025. So, whether a jazz and r&b mashup or classical-punk collaboration is the next big hit, we’re ready for it!
Don’t forget to also check out our sport and automotive editions of the OCOCO Trend Round-Up 2025!
Want to ensure your digital strategy is pitch-perfect in 2025?
Whatever your business sector, OCOCO Media is here to help! Contact our expert team for a complimentary consultation to get started.
コメント