Art pop is a movement within the broad framework of pop music, including non-musical fields such as pop art, cinema, avant-garde literature, fine arts, art school projects and fashion. Artists working in this style emphasize that the boundary between high and low culture disappears, and they achieve this process by going beyond the usual expectations of rock or traditional pop listeners.
Concepts such as mastery, style and irony are themes frequently emphasized by names identified with art pop.
Art pop highlights the transformation of signs into a means of personal expression. Unlike movements such as romantic music or autonomous art rock, it is nourished by the "disposable" aesthetics of everyday life. Sociomusicologist Simon Frith distinguishes this movement from rock and argues that art in pop music is more about style, gesture and the ironic use of historical periods.
In an effort to break down the high-low culture boundaries of postmodernism, art pop artists question the concept of mastery by blurring historical accuracy and sociological interpretations; It develops a new understanding of production through process, image, terminology and emotional inventions. Cultural theorist Mark Fisher states that art pop is shaped at the intersection of pop, art and fashion.
Critic Stephen Holden defines art pop as a pop style that deliberately adopts the formal values โโof classical music and poetry, but markets these values โโfor commercial purposes. The authors of The Independent and Financial Times also emphasize that art pop tries to maintain a certain distance between its listeners and the wider pop mass.
NickColeman from The Independent says, "Artโpop is partly a matter of style and stance, but essentially it is about art. In the context of pop, it is about making pure formalism socially acceptable." he says. In the late 1960s, as names such as JohnLennon, SydBarrett, PeteTownshend, BrianEno and BryanFerry began to reflect their art school experiences in their music, the border between art and pop became even more blurred.
