THIS IS POP
An investigative peek into the music industry, “This is Pop” is a Canadian eight-episode docuseries, each episode of which will delve deep into various different aspects of popular music from country to hip-hop, and will include interviews and snippets from some of the world’s biggest music artists, and aired on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, on Netflix.
Uncover the real stories behind your favorite pop songs as this docuseries charts the impact of the festival scene, Auto-Tune, boy bands, and more.
Ranging from the bubblegum pop of the ’60s to the British radio output of the mid-‘90s to the current and eternal existential debates about the nature of country music, “This Is Pop” keeps moving itself along.
It helps that the show doesn’t force its individual episodes to conform to a single style. Some fully embrace their artifice, as with the overview of Sweden’s decades-long run as pop hitmakers. That chapter has a three-walled bedroom set, a thematically appropriate set of songwriting instructions, and winking piano renditions of decade-conquering megahits. It’s a contrast to something like the show’s look at the career of Boyz II Men, which plays as more formally conventional, but no less informative.
“This Is Pop” doesn’t focus solely on the peaks and valleys in the careers of household names. In the case of this particular Philly group that’s been together their entire adult lives, it’s fascinating to get their insights from when their careers are solidly in between the two.
WHERE CAN I WATCH “THIS IS POP”?
Exclusively available for streaming on Netflix.