(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sat 17 January 2026 6:00, UK
It’s hard to pinpoint when exactly romanticism and expression became prevalent factors within music; however, some of the earliest instances are provided by classical composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach.
While music existed prior to people like Bach putting songs together, it was composers like him who really showed audiences that you could effectively convey different emotions within the music you make. Compositions didn’t just need to be about flexing artistic muscles, rather, they could make people feel something, both the person who wrote it and the person listening to it.
“A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved,” Bach wrote in his Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753, 1762). “In languishing, sad passages, the performer must languish and grow sad… Similarly, in lively, joyous passages, the executant must again put himself into the appropriate mood.”
The moment expressionism existed within music, it was only a matter of time before people used the art form to convey their opinions on politics and society as well. They could use lyrics to make their point; meanwhile, the music itself could be a backdrop for feelings of frustration that might accompany those lyrics.
There are plenty of genres we turn to when it comes to looking for politics, rage, and emotion in sound. These include the likes of rock, punk and rap music; however, for some reason, pop music rarely falls into that category.
Traditions occur when a sound is allowed to exist unaltered for an elongated period, and it seems that that’s what happened with pop music, because it was always seen as a genre that could make people sing and dance, with themes that don’t stray further from love and romance, and this could be a reason why Madonna’s album, American Life, wasn’t well-received by critics.
While Madonna is constantly celebrated as being one of the best pop stars on the planet, she has also never been happy merely staying within the world of pop. Sure, that may be a common theme throughout the way her music sounds, but when it comes to the way she looks, what she writes about, and her live performances, Madonna has never shied away from any kind of subject matter.
As such, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to people that she was willing to touch upon multiple societal issues on the album American Life, but it seemed to rub a few listeners the wrong way. They never saw pop music as a genre that was there for punk-like outbursts, and as such, Madonna’s offering was viewed as pretty controversial. When discussing why she felt her album wasn’t well received, Madonna commented, saying it’s “because I dealt with a lot of controversial issues in it”.
The pop icon continued, “I criticised American politics, the entertainment business in Hollywood […] I was in an angry mood when I was making it. Maybe that came across. But I was in an angry mood when I made my last album, too.” Angry pop music? Don’t knock it till you try it.
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