“Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter topped the charts this past June, with some even claiming it was the song of the summer. It took TikTok and Instagram by storm, filling up millions of feeds. “Espresso” is just one of many pop songs that oversaturate the media we consume every day. 

It’s an understatement to say the majority of teenagers today are glued to social media accounts. While obsessively scrolling through our feeds, it’s common to repeatedly encounter the current viral song that seems to make its way into every creator’s new content. Creators select a catchy excerpt from the song and use it countless numbers of times. Pretty soon, you’re in the middle of an exam, and all you can think about is “that’s that me, espresso.” 

The pop music genre as a whole is often under scrutiny for being overplayed, whether it be on the radio, on social media, in commercials or in movies. Its catchy melodies and memorable lyrics allow the genre to be so widespread and popular. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the songs that tend to go viral. If anything, pop music’s pervasiveness in the media we consume proves it’s a genre people like listening to and, dare I say, deserving of its popularity.

A viral pop song can sound great on its first couple of listens, but hearing it non-stop leads to annoyance from then on. The short lifespan of pop hits causes excessive listener fatigue and resentment toward the genre. Getting tired of a song because you hear it too often holds true for practically every other genre of music, but what sets pop music apart is its constant exposure to us in popular culture. 

Streaming algorithms on social media and the rotation of the same couple of hits on mainstream radio make it impossible to escape. You shouldn’t have too much of a good thing and the cycle of oversaturation that pop music follows makes it way too easy to hate good music. 

Instead, we should shine the spotlight on other genres that are equally as deserving of popularity. Songs that go viral on TikTok aren’t exclusive to pop; we’ve seen a multitude of different genres reach impressive heights. Hip-hop songs such as “Like That” by Future, Kendrick Lamar and Metro Boomin and “Mamushi” by Megan Thee Stallion blew up this summer. Even less popular genres like electronic and hyperpop have gained traction on Tiktok, as a number of songs by Odetari have gone viral. 

It may hold true that pop music carries the largest following and universal audience, but in order to combat how overplayed it is, us consumers need to make an effort to give other genres more space in popular culture.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Aida Karim at [email protected].