Here is one example of how pop might adapt to social distancing: with more participation, with more transparency, and with obsessive descriptions of monotony replacing obsessive descriptions of partying.
🎵 How I’m Feeling Now (Charli XCX)
To get away from all those people is both a blessing and a curse, especially when the reasons for that distance are so complicated. On How I’m Feeling Now, Charli learns what it feels like to be alone. A night out with your friends can still be mind-altering fun, but it doesn’t need to be the driving force of your life. There are bigger things out there, like love and believing in yourself and making some of the best damn music of your life, alone. For an album made in a month entirely in quarantine, that’s a remarkable achievement.
I think it is interesting to compare The Weeknd’s After Hours and Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia with Charli XCX’s latest album as a response to our current condition. Spencer Kornhaber sums this up best suggesting: