If you're a teen on Instagram, you probably have seen the Bill Clinton album challenge going around, where you choose your top four favorite albums and edit them onto a picture of Bill Clinton. It's weird, I know. But it's something everyone's doing. Today, your favorite nerd will be doing an analysis of the top artists, albums, and trends, analyzing over 500 Instagram stories. Take this as seriously as you want to!
First off, demographic. The demographic of people I follow is the average age of 16-17, with the range from 14-18. The geographic regions surveyed are mostly Washington state; some California and other smaller wild cards are thrown in. Geography will actually become important later on. For the purpose of maximizing data points, both stories created by people I follow and the stories they reposted from friends will be considered.
Let's start off with the album with the most nominations overall: Khalid's American Teen (2017).
Released in March 2017, the album was Khalid's debut LP and was a critically acclaimed hit. From Location to Young Dumb & Broke to Coaster, the album was a mix of pop and R&B, combining Khalid's unique voice with synth-style beats that captivated an audience of millions. Because of this album, he received three Grammy nominations: Best New Artist, Best R&B Song ("Location"), and Best Urban Contemporary Album (American Teen).
Aside from facts, why is this album so popular? It is very structurally consistent, something modern pop artists often fail to do. Every song has a different vibe and message, but all blend together into one cohesive experience that truly represents the American teen. Secondly, the album became popular during Summer 2017, which for many people, was the peak of their summers. Many of his songs are iconic in our memory as the soundtrack to Summer 2017. It's an album that is pop, without being over-the-top obnoxious and carries a layer of effortless California cool. It's easy to see why this album was the #1 nominee-it has mass appeal, nostalgia, and consistency. Khalid is truly an artist with almost universal appeal.
Up next is the runner-up for the most nominated album, Luv Is Rage 2 by Lil Uzi Vert.
Released on August 25th, 2017, this was Vert's debut studio album. It is important to note that although Vert had produced albums in the past, this was the first album produced while being signed to a label (Atlantic Records). Released with three singles-XO Tour Lif3, The Way Life Goes, and Sauce it Up, it came out of the gate strongly, and remains a staple in many teen's rap playlists, no matter how old it gets.
In my opinion, Rage 2 is ranked as highly as a rap album can get.
Next up is the recent smash hit, After Hours by The Weeknd.
Released on March 20th, 2020, it was one of the first albums released by a popular artist during the COVID-19 shutdown. Featuring the hit song Blinding Lights, the album was a favorite among many teens. Although The Weeknd is R&B, it was easy to notice that many people who put After Hours in their collage also included a multitude of rap albums. Although I believe that this album is solid, it is too early to fully accept it as critically successful, due to the lack of time needed to understand the long-run impact of the 14-track album. Therefore, it can be assumed that the album is up in Bill Clinton's display because of its recent success.
Not underplaying its success, but also not fully admitting to its success.
Here goes a geographic phenomenon, Lil Mosey's Northsbest.
ALTHOUGH the car has an Oregon license plate, if you're from the Seattle area, you love and appreciate Lil Mosey. If you party a lot, you probably know or know someone that knows Lil Mosey before he went viral on Soundcloud for his smash hit So Bad. So Bad was self-produced and quickly racked up over 50,000 streams on Soundcloud, with 2018 single Pull Up serving as his debut commercial production. At just 18 years old, Mosey has accomplished a great deal of success in just a few years.
Although Mosey's album was a commercial hit, it wasn't to the point where it should have been all over people's Instagram stories. So, why did it end up there?
Two words: Seattle. Pride. Mosey has never been shy talking about his roots, and the amount of love and credit he gives to the city that raised him just makes him that much better.
Walk into any Seattle-area party, and you can guarantee at least one Mosey song will be played throughout the night, if not more. Mosey is currently living in LA, living out his lavish dreams as a teen with money to blow.
But us Seattle kids know he'll always remember his roots. And that's what makes Northsbest so popular - how much credit it gives to our home. When listening to the album you can't help but feel inspired by the story of a kid just like the person reading this, becoming a success, and remember where he came from.
Truly, North's Best.
Next up, we have the artist with most album nominations that all racked up 30+ votes: Kanye West.
Out of all of Kanye's studio albums, the albums that received the most nominations (in no special order) are The Life of Pablo, 808s & Heartbreaks, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Why so much variety in nominations? Again, these are just my opinions, but I believe that Kanye's music transcends all genres. Each album gives off an entirely different vibe, but all mesh together to form your perception of Kanye. Kanye and his music have evolved so much since he burst onto the scene with The College Dropout in 2004, and he just keeps continuing to grow. Whether you like him or not, you can't underestimate the impact he's made on the music industry and even art as a whole.
Finally, we have the artist with the most nominations, and the most consistent number of nominations per album, making her the most consistent success among Generation Z.
Sorry, but Taylor Swift has something Kanye doesn't - universal appeal (to some extent). Growing up, Taylor's Love Story or You Belong With Me was always playing on the radio, sticking her in your head, even if you wanted to get her out. In elementary school, next came the era of RED and 1989, catchy pop songs that captured the bubblegum-pink essence of growing up. At your typical middle school dance, you'd catch the hints of Shake It Off, I Knew You Were Trouble and Blank Space.
Although they have had their share of hate and feuds, Taylor and Kanye have a lot more in common than you would think. Both have evolved over the past 10+ years, changing their style to reflect their personal journeys, and sometimes colliding with the trends of the music industry.
You might love them, or you might hate them. But no matter how much you try to get the haunting melody of Runaway out of your head, or try not to tap your foot to Shake It Off, both these artists are up here for a reason, and there is no doubt that no matter how weird the challenge may be, the Bill Clinton Swag challenge truly reflects the musical viewpoints of the average PNW teen.
I'm kinda really into music analysis, so my next piece may be on the musical theory behind Kanye's 2009 VMA's song, Runaway.
Stay Happy,
Eunseo <3
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