The 2010s: The Globalization Of Music

Our look back at the past decade in music continues as we examine the ways musical borders have fallen and why global sounds are more prevalent and popular than ever.

Over the past decade, the borders between different musical worlds have fallen. Producers, singers, songwriters and other artists from around the globe are collaborating in new ways, while genres have blended together so completely and seamlessly it's almost impossible to label a lot of popular music as any one thing. These cross-cultural, and cross-border alliances – along with streaming and social media – have also been a pipeline for delivering global artists to new audiences on a scale never seen before. Think of the juggernaut K-pop band BTS and how thoroughly the group has dominated pop charts, or the rise of Latinx artists like Bad Bunny and J Balvin or Spanish singer Rosalía.

On this episode of All Songs Considered, host Robin Hilton is joined by NPR Music's Anastasia Tsioulcas and Stephen Thompson, and Elise Hu, host of NPR's Future You and founding bureau chief for NPR's office in Seoul. They discuss the ways we're hearing globalization in music, why it's happening and some of the complications and questions around this evolution.