I remember a time when genres were sacred. You were a rock guy, a hip-hop head, a jazz purist, or a country die-hard. Walk into a record store (remember those?), and you knew exactly where to find what you were looking for. But now? Genres feel like those old maps people used before GPS—outdated, unreliable, and mostly ignored.
In today’s music world, defining a song by its genre is about as useful as trying to describe a meal by its color. The landscape has changed. Everything is blending. Sub-genres have splintered into micro-genres, which have further shattered into tiny, glittering fragments of niche sounds that only exist for about six months before mutating into something else.
And here’s the real kicker: Does anyone actually care about genres anymore? Or are we just chasing moods?
The Death of Genre (or at Least Its Retirement Party)
Let’s be honest—genres started losing their grip the moment streaming services took over. Before that, you had to commit. You bought an album. You invested in a sound. Now, with every song ever recorded available at the tap of a screen, listeners are curating playlists based on how they “feel”, not on what Billboard says.
Want proof? Look at the way people name their playlists. “Sad Boi Hours.” “Driving at Night.” “Feels Like a Main Character.” “I Just Got Dumped and I Want to Break Stuff.” Nobody’s out here making a playlist called “Alternative Rock from 2010-2015.” Because nobody cares about those boundaries anymore. It’s all about the “vibe”.
Every Song is Its Own Genre Now
Artists have figured this out. You’re not seeing bands and artists proudly waving genre flags like they used to. Instead, they’re borrowing from everything—hip-hop beats under country melodies, pop hooks in metal songs, classical strings in trap music. If it sounds good, it “is” good. Genre purists might call it chaos, but most of us call it evolution.
The reality is, defining a song by its genre feels almost restrictive at this point. Each track has its own unique fingerprint, its own blend of influences, its own mood. When you hear a song, you don’t think, “Ah yes, an excellent example of neo-psychedelic dream pop with vaporwave influences.” No, you think, “This song makes me feel like a villain in a Tarantino movie,” or “This track makes me want to call my ex (but I won’t).”
Our advisory board member Austin Burke is always saying, “Feelings and vibes are becoming the new genres” And honestly? He’s got a point.
So, What Happens Next?
If moods are becoming the new genres, what does that mean for musicians, engineers, and studio heads? It means adaptability is key. It means making music with emotion in mind rather than trying to fit it into a pre-labeled box. It means realizing that listeners aren’t choosing songs based on style—they’re choosing them based on how they feel in the moment.
For industry pros, it also means paying attention to context. If you’re mixing a track, maybe it’s not about making it fit a genre standard but about enhancing the feeling it evokes. If you’re producing, maybe you lean into those cross-genre elements that amplify the mood. If you’re an artist, maybe stop worrying about what category your music falls into and just make the song that needs to be made.
Because, at the end of the day, listeners aren’t asking, “What genre is this?” They’re asking, “What does this song make me feel?” And if you can answer that question, you’re already ahead of the game.
So, are genres dead? Maybe not dead, but they’re definitely hanging out in the back, nursing a drink, watching as moods take center stage.
