Electropop 08

Electropop 08, also known as Recession Pop, is an aesthetic named after the late 2000s Electropop explosion that dominated the airwaves. Prevalent in the mainstream from roughly 2008 to 2013, it partially overlapped with the Frutiger Aero aesthetic. The term was coined by designer and celebutante Steves Peeps on the social networking website SpaceHey in 2021. Another term to describe this aesthetic is Avantropop, which was coined by Evan Collins on the website are.na in 2023.

History[]

Rising Popularity (2006-2008)[]

Following Timbaland's tremendous success in the 2K7 era (2006-2008) with Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds album, pop music and high fashion began to head in a more up-tempo direction.

Mainstream Success (2008-2013)[]

The origins of Electropop 08 are often traced back to Lady Gaga's The Fame album, which came out in 2008 and became a hit in 2009. This aesthetic prevailed in music videos as well as fashion, and often contained traces of Electroclash, Avant-garde and Indie Sleaze.

Decline (2013-present)[]

Electropop 08 started to decline in popularity in 2013-2014 with the rise of Electronic Dance Music (EDM), which would become ubiquitous during the mid-late-2010s. Fashion at this time had also begun to shift towards Minimalism and Hipsters.

Visuals[]

Popular visual cues of the era include:

Maison Margiela
L'incognito II sunglasses
Shutter-shades
Neons
Asymmetric shapes
Disco balls
Fluorescent color
Excessive glitter
"ITC Avant Garde Gothic" typeface
Websites like MySpace and Tumblr
Sci-fi looks
Lens flare

Avantropop[]

Avantropop refers to the visuals of Electropop 08 seen in other pieces of media during this time, for example, in the "Noods" (2008-2010) and "CHECK it" (2010-2016) eras of Cartoon Network. The style was named by Evan Collins after the "ITC Avant Garde Gothic" typeface commonly used during the Electropop era (although other typefaces, like display typefaces such as "Lot" and "Val" for example, were also commonly used at the time).

The visuals consist of asymmetrical geometric shapes, diagonal lines, CMYK color palettes, soft gradients, triangular or square patterns, and colorful polygonal designs. Avantropop also shares some visual elements and aspects with Frutiger Metro, Superflat Pop, and Vectorheart, like vibrant color, flat designs, geometric shapes and vector-based graphics.