There’s an emerging phrase in the modern music scene that appears deliberately insulting. “Indie Poo” is being used on social media, mainly TikTok, to describe a genre of indie music and ridicule a particular sound.

It’s not fair to name any acts here, but a checklist can be created from the music depicted. Vocal delivery seems to be the main point, focussing on the conversational, almost deliberately unpolished delivery.

Songwriting wise, we’re looking at simple chord progressions and memorable choruses with decent enough production to sound good on a phone speaker, whilst retaining the DIY/bedroom quality.

Even aesthetics like clothing, artwork and videos are being dragged into the conversation.

It’s important to highlight that none of these things are particularly new.

As a platform, TikTok music creators have really come together to discuss the topic and bash/dismiss bands with this label. To me, TikTok is the exact platform that this style of music thrives in. It rewards recognisable vocals, catchy chorus, personal/relatable sound, lyrics that work as captions and quick 30 second sounds.

However, in contradictory fashion, the exact things people are criticising in the “Indie Poo” posts are simplicity, repetition, conversation vocals and accessible lyrics. The exact sort of things that does well on the platform.

This has created a rift in the music fanbase on the app. Why are people so angry about it? the emerging theme is that the music is easy and simple, and could be written by anyone. There’s also a conversation that songs are being written for TikTok and constructed for use in clips.

When did simplicity become evidence of a lack of talent? There’s a long history of simple songs being the most effective. The Ramones didn’t write symphonies, and The Libertines didn’t conduct a 12-piece orchestra. Sometimes, you can portray a feeling in three chords that becomes buried in 20.

There is a legitimate argument to the predictability of the formula for writing some of these songs. In turn though, this would open a wider discussion into what makes a song difficult to write? Is it all down to unusual chord structures and technical musicianship, or can it be as simple as writing something that people remember?

Just because it’s easy to write, does that make it easy to like? Some artists spend months and months dismissing three-chord artists, to end up writing something that nobody remembers. With a shoe on the other foot, just because nobody remembers, does that make it a bad song?

There’s always been criticism of artists in the indie space. “It’s the same three chords”, “They all sound the same”, “It’s not proper music” or they’re only popular because NME say they’re good”. This younger generation is now having their own version of that conversation. Instead of it being ushered in venues and pubs across the nation, word can spread quicker than ever via social media.

When you boil it down, every generation believes their guitar music holds its own authenticity and the next generation has manufactured theirs. Maybe “indie poo” is the latest version of “it’s not proper music”.

This begs the question, why do we need to call it “indie Poo”? This isn’t a neutral description of the music being created by these young, upcoming artists. It’s deliberately dismissive and stating “I recognise this and I don’t want to be associated with it.”

Leading into a discussion about music fandom and identity. For many of us, music is no longer just for listening, it becomes our identity and who we are. When someone labels a song or artist as “|ndie Poo” we want to distance ourself and claim that’s “not my tribe”.

I suppose “Indie Poo” could be a thing of the past in 6 months time, and isn’t that the perfect metaphor for how this thing works and how the industry moves on. There’ll be something even more humiliating around the corner.

Often we’ll build a scene, decorate it with a label, decide we’re now embarrassed by that label and then spend the next decade arguing that bands in the decade before were better. Rinse and repeat.

The most indie thing about “Indie Poo” is that we’re already arguing about how indie it is.

Written by Brad Halcrow for The Songbird HQ