As many of us who grew up in the age of Napster and Limewire can attest, creating the perfect playlist is an art form, one that we should not hand over to the likes of streaming curators or even TikTok algorithms. Instead, curation is a ship that only tried and true music lovers should helm.
Witness this year’s Austin City Limits lineup, which has to be the result of someone who has listened to the radio for an hour with a cassette just to record one song and who interrupts conversations and even pulls out Shazam while sitting front row at the movies.
Sure, the lineup pays homage to the past with the indie post-punk heavyweights many of us grew up on, like The Killers and The Strokes. But whoever this lineup steward is also blended in the new class — making sure we didn’t miss out on the likes of pop behemoths like Sabrina Carpenter, alternative indie upstarts like MJ Linderman, and country-pop soothsayers like Maren Morris.
For two weekends in Texas, starting this Friday, Austin City Limits will be giving us a line-up that reflects the way we actually listen to music. A mix of Olivia Dean’s soulful love songs up against Wet Leg’s cheeky wordplay, Gigi Perez’s acute yearning up against the guitar thrashing of Mk.Gee, and John Summit’s EDM beats not too far from Luke Combs’ chart-topping Country.
It makes sense: a report released earlier this year from Ticketmaster boasted that fans want “hyper-personalized” festival experiences that match what they’re able to do when listening at home: picking from every genre, and creating a micro-line-up of their own. It’s also worth noting the prevalence of pop stars on today’s line-ups in comparison to the first US music festivals, which mostly catered to rock fans.
Likewise, it’s no surprise that the likes of Doechii, with her delectable mix of rap delivered over pop melodies, Marina’s glittery saccharine yet sad ditties, and Japanese Breakfast’s lucid symphonic sound have all made the cut this year (according to AP, women pop performers had the biggest streaming number’s last year).
But none of this would mean anything if millennial deity picking these acts hadn’t hidden some lesser known Easter eggs in the mix — reminding us that even the freshest and youngest emerging acts deserve to be discovered and placed against the bigger names: whether that’s flowerovlove, with her contagious love songs, the emo-folk moments brought by way of Hey, Nothing, or the poetic heartbreak ballads written by Jensen McRae.
So what does this line-up for the last of the official US festival season say about where the music industry is headed, and how we, music listeners, are consuming music now? For starters, despite the yearly worry that “[insert genre] is dead,” people seem to be embracing different sounds across the board.
It’s why country star Zach Bryan made history for putting on the largest ticketed event in US history earlier this month. It’s why Bad Bunny, our “King of Latin Trap,” will be playing the Super Bowl Halftime Show next year. It’s why — according to Music Business News — the industry has continued to see growth every year for the past 10 years. And, it’s also why early 2000s hits are making their way back to the top of the charts (ex: Rihanna’s “Breakin’ Dishes”), as Gen Z gives them a second life after discovering the decade old songs while scrolling.
As a festival, it turns out that ACL is giving music fans exactly what they want: everything.