There seems to be a lot of fantasy in the world of pop music. Stars can be made overnight and can blow up for the smallest and most random things. When analyzing the careers of some of pop’s major stars, there are actually quite a few pop stars who have made careers out of long-term consistency rather than just popping up out of nowhere.
Instant success has been achieved by artists such as Olivia Rodrigo and Lady Gaga, who both debuted at the top of the charts. However, it’s very difficult to achieve this feat. Medium reports that less than 20% of musicians make a living from music, but only one in 10,000 independent musicians in the United Kingdom has a financially successful career.
A good recent example of this is Zara Larsson. The Swedish pop star’s resurgence began in full after “Symphony,” a song she featured on with Clean Bandit, went viral. Larsson leaned into the meme, not only with her own TikToks, but mirroring the trends’ combination of tropical aesthetics and vibrant colors for her 2025 album “Midnight Sun.” “Symphony,” however, is almost nine years old, from 2017. Since that time, Larsson has continued to release music, with three albums between 2017 and 2024.
Larsson had hits other than “Symphony,” but she had never blown up to the extent she is right now. On one hand, it can be argued that a random meme is what ignited this second act of Larsson’s career. However, this revival would’nt have lasted had she not been working tirelessly, without the fame, for years, honing her craft so that the quality of both her new record, “Midnight Sun” and her back catalogue would grip fans.
Another great example of this is Chappell Roan. The American pop star’s “overnight” explosion in 2024 was again brought on by years of hard work under the hood. Even though Roan’s debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” was released in 2023, songs that would be put on the record had been released since 2020. She landed her first record deal in 2015. Despite that early success, it took her time and work to find sound, but once it came, she never looked back.
“Good Hurt” is the only song from Roan’s EP era that has made a setlist in the last five years, according to Setlist.fm, and now, the nearly decade between her first record deal and her breakout all seem worth it, despite how thanklessly she had to work for a majority of her career.
Another star that exploded in 2024 did the same thing, pushing forward and not looking back. Sabrina Carpenter’s start as a Disney Channel actress earned her some fame, but her music career hadn’t caught fire. It took four albums and over five years before Carpenter started gaining a lot of momentum with her album, “Emails I Can’t Send.” The 2022 record has some solid songs, but it’s not oozing with the charisma the star would become known for. By opening Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” and a discovery of her over-the-top campy identity later, Carpenter releases “Espresso,” and the rest is history.
What all three of these women prove is that, despite appearances, pop success is not an overnight thing. People love to lob the term “industry plant” whenever a pop girl comes out of the woodwork and suddenly rules the airwaves. However, just because you weren’t paying attention doesn’t mean no one else was. For anyone who is either aspiring to become a pop star or has hopes for their favorite artist to hit it big, these examples show that there is always still time.
On the other hand, though, it’s extremely difficult financially to make a career in music, and with a lack of confidence in getting gigs, it may become more difficult for musicians to maintain a career as an aspiring pop star while finding other ways to put food on the table. For example, Roan was dropped by Atlantic Records in 2020. Afterwards, she worked at a donut shop in Los Angeles, where her friend, Rodrigo, would come to visit her.
Luckily, things worked out for Roan, and with the creation and distribution of music being easier than ever, getting material out there is easier than ever. Where privilege comes in is the ability to focus on making that music a success without worrying about anything else. It’s not fair by any means, and while this is just a microcosm of larger socio-economic issues, it’s still important to put their money where their mouth is to keep the careers of some of these lesser-known artists afloat.
For those of us with no aspirations to headline Coachella, it’s worth understanding the different shapes that musicians’ rises take, so that we can better keep our finger on the pulse and not throw around “industry plant” accusations every five minutes.
Nicholas is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Nicholas about his column? Email him at nk696121@ohio.edu.
