The Songs of a Downwardly Mobile Summer
The article explores the decline of 'recession pop' and the fragmentation of the music industry in the mid-2020s. It argues that streaming has replaced top-down distribution, making universally appealing pop music less common.
Why it matters
Understanding shifts in pop culture trends provides insight into how economic conditions and technology influence societal consumption habits.
The mainstream is disintegrating. What’s a frustrated pop star to do?
Illustration by Paul Spella / The Atlantic. Sources: Joshua Applegate / Getty; Maya Dehlin Spach / Getty; Siegfried Anthony / Billboard / Getty. August 25, 2026, 7 AM ET Share Save With every passing year, Miley Cyrus’s 2009 single “Party in the U.S.A.” comes to feel more like an artifact of an empire before its fall. When the Disney Channel star sang about hopping off the plane at LAX with a dream and a cardigan—on the way to turn her country-girl ambitions of fame into Hollywood reality—she projected an image of a nation that still believed in its own myths, trusted its power centers, and grooved together to the same songs. The guitars fizzed like a fresh can of Coke, and Cyrus advertised to the world’s strivers that making it in America is a breeze.
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