EMO vs MALL EMO vs SCENE vs SCENECORE

i see a lot of confusion and arguments around what is emo/scene or not so i wanted to make this blog as a fan of most of these genres to hopefully help clarify a little!

EMO

this genre is the ORIGINAL emo, although it sounds completely different from the emo music most people know today.

it originated in the DC hardcore scene in the mid-80s, spawning from post-hardcore and hardcore and gained more popularity in the 90s.

bands include: rites of spring, sunny day real estate, moss icon, cap'n jazz, the get up kids, 

if you want to listen to some emo music, here's a spotify playlist i recommend!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0dvRjfbPzlgnpBDao6JSW3?si=d00d81a3ee9c4525

MALL EMO

mall emo is what most people think of when they hear the word emo. i call it mall emo (not sure if others do or not but i think it's most fitting) because it's the bands whose merch you would find somewhere like hot topic or spencer's(not a dig at mall emo i love this genre so much). it's the music genre(s) associated with the emo style and gained a ton of popularity in the 2000s.

bands include my chemical romance, falling in reverse, all time low, panic! at the disco, fall out boy, paramore, pierce the veil, sleeping with sirens, evanescence, escape the fate, flyleaf, taking back sunday etc.

here's a playlist (i know it says actual emo music, i think they mean actual mall emo music as opposed to like yungblud + tx2 type shit)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33w11pSJ4NfKcXw7S2pdLY?si=df5d1fef7ec54c46

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: EMO AND MALL EMO ARE NOT THE SAME THING!!!!! however, getting mad at someone for thinking mall emo is real emo is kind of pointless. because of the popularity of the emo style, the word has evolved to more assosciated with mall emo in pop culture than real emo. most people don't know the difference and that's not like a personal failing on their part that you need to be rude about! if/when you explain it to someone, be respectful! i'm looking at you, garrett!

SCENE

scene is a subculture within emo, with its own more colorful version of the same fashion elements, that gained popularity in the late 2000s/early 2010s. there are a lot of different music genres within the scene subculture but the ones people most think of is crunkcore, which is a mix between electronic, hiphop, rap, and metal.

bands include: dot dot curve, ismfof, attack attack!, millionaires, brokencyde, metro station, the medic droid, kill paradise, chunk! no captain chunk!, jj demon, breathe carolina, 3OH!3 etc

playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0sRc07S7Z5A03mMRYuWpT4?si=893d24bc8ef042f7 

SCENECORE

scenecore is a subgenre of hyperpop that originated on tiktok. it uses the aesthetic of the scene subculture a lot, and scene related things are often mentioned in the songs. however, the difference between scene lyrics and scenecore lyrics is that while scene music mostly has lyrics about sex, drugs, love, partying, clubbing etc scenecore lyrics are oftentimes about self harm or other harmful behavior or weirdly fetishize scene people. this is a problem because it's essentially just harmful stereotypes about scene trying to perpetuate itself as actual scene music. 

bands include: 6arelyhuman, kets4eki, odetari, rebzyyx, d3r, asteria, luvwillow, etc.

playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5f210MhFkVmAMPONtLZH9W?si=3df8225829c040df

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: SCENECORE IS NOT IN ANY WAY SCENE. scenecore isn't even related to the scene style like mall emo is, it's just hyperpop! if you want to get into scene, do your research!! listen to recommendations from actual scene kids!! 6arelyhuman is not scene!!!!!