2015-2025: the trap, the farewell of Bowie and the female Empowerment

One of the most important records of this decade was undoubtedly “Blackstar” (2016) by David Bowie, released before his death. An album that is above all a symbol, a visionary testament of one of the greatest artists in the history of music. A stroke of theater, a farewell, that of the man of the stars, who seems just a goodbye. A similar thing also happened with “You Want It Darker” (2016), Leonard Cohen’s latest album who greets everyone by talking about death, but also of earthly affairs. “Blackstar”, somehow, marks the end of an era: music becomes definitively liquid, the platforms are taking over, with Spotify who already has 75 million subscribers in 2015and the production of tracks develops more and more in the home, in “bedroom”, a change of pace that allows a new generation of artists to take huge market slices.

In Italy, for example, after the first high waves of India, 2016 is considered the year of trap: the first disc discsFera Ebbasta, Ghali, Tedua, Izi, Rkomi and others, taking advantage of social media, video and streaming platforms, begin to make the ladies and lords of pop tremble. “XDVR” (2015) and “Sfera Ebbasta” (2016) by Sfera and Charlie Charles are two symbolic projects of that precise moment. Italian indie also makes its “revolution”, starting from the bottom and by dynamics outside the market. It is the other great scene that reaches its consecration. “Mainstream” (2015) of Calcutta is a manifest disc of a strange movement, even difficult to frame, just think of champion as Motta, Levante and Dario Bruori ended up in the cauldron, in which Niccolò Contessa dogs They play a central role. And just when this scene explodes reaching the mainstream, the latter eclipse with “Aurora” (2016).

Italy also loses two masters: Pino Daniele (2015) and Franco Battiato (2021). 2015-2025, looking abroad, is also the decade of Kendrick Lamar, of the rap that returns to being of protest, the soundtrack of the Black Lives Matter events and capable of photographing the great landslides of the company: “TO PIMP A Butterfly” (2015) is considered one of the most important records in the history of the genre, the subsequent “Damn” (2017) allows the Compon rapper to enter the Olympus of music by winning the Pulitzer Prize. All this is accompanied by a wave of experimenters, in various genres, which mark the time: “Blonde” (2016) by Frank OceanFor its creative charge, it is considered one of the most relevant albums in the recent history of Black Music. Certainly not negligible the role of other free beats such as Tyler, The Creator that in “Cherry Bomb” (2015), “Flower Boy” (2017) and the “Igor” jewel (2019) Leave an imprint. The same, for the pop and rock world, impressed by “Currents” of Tame Impala (2015): Kevin Parker, from here on, will become a guru and a lighthouse for many artists. Another central album, rather than for the history of rock, for that of one of its greatest artists is “Skeleton Tree” (2016) by Nick Caveconsidered one of his career masterpieces, arrived in a second phase of youth.

The decade in question brings with it another creative avalanche: a ranks of artists imposes itself, bringing a wind of unpublished novelty. This is the decade of Billie Eilish (started from his bedroom) which begins with “When we all fall asleep, where do we go? (2019)but also of lionesses who give life to monumental albums like that of a betrayal, such as “Lemonade” by Beyoncé (2016). Beyoncé was monstrously popular when she decided to put the fictional chronicle of the marital crisis with Jay-Z in the same album and the ingogled claim of her black roots. “Anti” of Rihanna (2016), “El Mal Quarer” by Rosalía (2018), “Strange Mercy” by St. Vincent (2017), the homonymous “Dua Lipa” (2017), “Reputation” by Taylor Swift (2017), “SOS” by Sza (2022), “Alligator Bites Never Heal” of Doechii (2024) These are some of the best records these days. The women are the real protagonists and lights of the last decade.