Bubblegrunge

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About

Bubblegrunge is an obscure genre tag used primarily to describe indie rock bands that blend fuzzy, energetic instrumentation with sweet vocals and lyrics. The term is primarily known due to the annual year-end feature presented to Spotify users, Spotify Wrapped, which included the term in lists of many users' most-listened-to genres in early December 2021, much to their confusion.

History

On September 12th, 2013, Urban Dictionary user 51Westside submitted a definition for "Bubblegrunge,"^[1] writing it was, "A label rock critics used in the mid-90s to describe a genre of music which was a poppier (“bubblegum”) version of the harder sound of the alternative/grunge genre which had prevailed in the early 90s. Representative groups include Collective Soul, Bush, Third Eye Blind, and Matchbox Twenty."

Bubblegrunge A label rock critics used in the mid-90s to describe a genre of music which was a poppier (“bubblegum") version of the harder sound of the alternative/grunge genre which had prevailed in the early 90s. Representative groups include Collective Soul, Bush, Third Eye Blind, and Matchbox Twenty. "In college, I really liked Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, but later stuff like Everclear was just too bubblegrunge for me." by 51Westside September 12, 2013

That definition appears to have changed by streaming services over the following decade to cover indie rock bands that have energetic guitars and vocals and sweet lyrics and vocals. Spotify,^[2] Bandcamp^[3] and Hype Machine^[4] have dedicated "Bubble Grunge" tags, featuring indie rock artists such as Charly Bliss, Hop Along, Snail Mail, Camp Trash, etc. (example songs shown below). This suggests the genre has overlapped with the so-called "5th-wave Emo," a genre name determined by multiple up-and-coming indie rock bands.^[5] In December 2020, The Face^[6] dubbed indie rock singer Beabadoobee "The Bubblegrunge Internet Sensation."

Spotify Wrapped

Questions about Bubblegrunge arose following the inclusion of the genre in many Spotify users' 2021 "Spotify Wrapped" year-end recaps. Elite Daily^[7] ran a feature on Twitter users asking about "bubblegrunge" after the Wrapped feature came out on December 1st, 2021. Artists discovering they had been dubbed "Bubblegrunge," such as Kississippi^[8] and Mannequin Pussy,^[9] joked about the tag on Twitter, with the latter joking that the term meant "rock music with female vocals."