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This rings very true to me.
The phrase "I like everything but rap and country" had proliferated in the past 10 years, and I think now rap and country have snuck into respectability for the majority of people.
So the subcultures can survive, but maybe people prefer not to pigeonhole themselves by saying they only listen to certain genres because they damn well know they're missing out on great music elsewhere.
At the same time, I think the 'mystique' of the performers has been dissipated in the current era, and there's now a real layer of irony over 'antisocial' lyrics and 'edgy' genres because everyone knows that the vast majority of popular artists live cushy lives in gated communities and do normal people things with their families when not performing, so much like professional wrestling, we all agree to accept the kayfabe for purposes of enjoying the product. Although I'll say that Ronnie Radke might actually be living his music. Although irony of ironies his partner is a pro wrestler.
Being MEGA controversial, I don't see any of those aside from Phonk as a notable 'new' genres in that they aren't forging new paths, but following ones that are rather well-trodden already. If I wanted to piss a bunch of people off, I'd argue that drill rap is a regression to a less impressive and sophisticated form of music, but then maybe that's the point; a lot of modern hip-hop is arguably 'overproduced' now. I just wonder at the fact that Two 70 year old Englishmen are arguably the best Drill rappers operating right now. Helps that they're not in prison or dead, which seems the most likely end to a Drill artist's career.
Rap-Country (I love the term "Gangstagrass" myself but alas) is a great innovation but its still two very identifiable genres mashed together rather than its own 'thing.'
Like, is Nightcore really a genre that stands on its own when its just pitch/tempo-shifted version of existing songs?
On that note however, I think there's a LOT of room to experiment with covers of existing songs and mild remixes.
I keep a playlist of metal/hard rock covers of songs that I think are arguably superior to the originals. Its gotten larger as of lately, I think artists have noticed you can get attention for skilled but surprising new takes on popular songs
When you run out of novel material, why not try mashing up existing stuff to see what comes out.
Now with AI, this is easier than ever. I managed to get Suno to produce a Spanish hard rock/metal song that incorporated the Marimba, that's something I haven't heard before ever!
This all reminds me of a time when I was in a random liquor store and the clerk sold me on "the future of brewing": Two different beers that were brewed and packaged with the intention of being combined and drank together by the customer. And after trying and enjoying what he gave me, I never saw such a concept again. I suspect they realized they can just mix beers together themselves and sell it as its own beverage rather than going with the gimmick of the beers coming in separate cans.
Huh. I just realized this conversation could relate over the issue of everyone's beer preferences converging on IPAs,, letting the various other 'genres' of beer suffer for it.
Maybe we can also analogize in how Mixed Martial Arts is no longer about actual competition between different martial arts practitioners, but has now led all fighters to cross-train muay thai, jiu jitsu, and some form of wrestling (sambo, nowadays) since that's simply optimal, so while the original disciplines still exist, its the blended/homogenized version that gets the most attention.
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