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TRLwas always a war.
Hip-hop heads and nu-metal outcasts rejected the neatness of the mass-marketed singers of the day.
Pop-punk kids were only there for good tunes and good humor.TRLwas a culture clash thats funny in retrospect.
The purity of genre was breaking.
Pop stars took beats from rap producers.
Rappers dabbled in rock as rock stars borrowed cues from hip-hop.
Metal bands featured turntablists.
Britney Spears made a song withthe Neptunes.
The Neptunes formed the rock project N.E.R.D.
and made a song with the guys from Good Charlotte.
What if pop, rap, punk, and nu metal were able to coexist from the beginning?
A handful of adventurous pop acts have been pondering the question.
The Japanese group Babymetal infuses extreme metal with elaborate choreography and energetic J-pop.
The result is delightfully jarring, like music you might hear at aDance Dance Revolutionmachine in hell.
Sawayamarefines a style the singer has been whittling down for years.
Together, Rina Sawayama and Clarence Clarity balance each other out.
the singer soars over nu-metal riffs.
Sawayamavisits moments throughout pop, rock, and metals past but rarely settles for simple pastiche.
The result is heartwarming cringe, if its possible for such a thing to exist.)
The ways old sounds clash and combine with modern ideas and production feel new.
Rinas perspective as a writer makesSawayamafeel modern.
Her songs offer tough-love pep talks and observations about the unfairness of the world as its currently structured.
They can also run deep and dark.
