Back in 2016, I’m fairly certain I can say a lot of our music taste was defined by the radio. There was plenty of music that fit well into the Western Culture, and not a lot of diversity to go along with it. In recent years though, that seems to have changed a fair bit. Recently (as of when this article was written) Huntrix’s “Golden” is in the top 10. And the funniest part? Huntrix isn’t even a real group. It’s a name for a group of singers that came together to sing for a movie named K-Pop Demon Hunters, which I’m sure you’ve heard of. It got so popular to the point that it had to be played on the radio, which is usually unheard of for music that originates from media. It’s great that the radio now has more diversity than Drake and Justin Bieber. It feels like we’ve come miles from how our music taste was in 2016, and while I still find those songs catchy, I’ve personally managed to find more music through the rise of music that comes from the media. 

I should probably clarify the differences between media music and just music in general. There’s, for example, the BBC opening song that plays at the beginning of every single one of their news broadcasts. That is, technically, media music. But so is “Golden”, and for example “Murder On The Dancefloor” that is featured in Saltburn. While we know that “Murder On The Dancefloor” wasn’t made for Saltburn, it does owe its recent success to it in the same way that “Golden” owes it success to K-Pop Demon Hunters. So, I suppose this article isn’t necessarily just about the rise of media music, but also the success of music through using media.  

Media isn’t necessarily limited to movies, though. Like I said earlier, it could also be the BBC opening song, though I mostly meant that as a joke. Another example would be a YouTube video that uses music in order to set a certain tone, or a video that uses it as a part of an animation. That’s how I personally discovered Vocaloid, which is a Japanese Pop genre that’s popular within Western culture. Though this kind of music doesn’t rise to fame as much as movie soundtracks do, they definitely do gain some popularity, especially from trends on social media that include dances and animations. It’s important to remember that media comes in many different shapes and forms, not just videos, movies, but also games, TV shows, and more.  

The point is, I’m glad we can accept new forms of music partly thanks to the media for introducing us to it. A lot of us were familiar with K-Pop before K-Pop Demon Hunters released some of its songs, but now it’s risen into the mainstream. We’re also possibly familiar with it due to other hits such as Le Serrafim’s “Spaghetti” (though it isn’t media music). Over the years, I expect to see more and more media music rise to fame in the charts, and I hope to hear and learn about more genres of music through media.  

I’m happy the radio has started experimenting with the songs they play on the airwaves, whether they want to or not. It’s good to know that the public really does influence things and maybe, in the world that we have today, we really do have some influence on change in the world. 

Edited by Jemima Humphrey & subedited by Lydia Gallagher.