Virgin Music Group

Alternative country (often shortened to alt-country) is a roots-oriented offshoot of country that blends the storytelling, twang, and acoustic instrumentation of classic country with the attitude, DIY ethos, and sonic grit of indie rock and punk. It arose as a reaction to the glossy production and commercial polish of mainstream Nashville in the late 1980s and 1990s. Hallmarks include weathered vocals, prominent acoustic and electric guitars (often with pedal steel), unfussy rhythm sections, and lyrics that foreground realism, heartbreak, working-class lives, and wandering souls. Production tends to be raw and unvarnished, favoring live-in-the-room feel over studio sheen. The result is music that sits comfortably between country, folk, and rock while retaining the emotional directness of traditional country.

Amapiano is a South African house offshoot defined by deep, airy pads, jazzy chord voicings, and the signature "log drum" bass that carves syncopated, percussive patterns through the low end. Emerging from Gauteng townships, it favors mid-tempo grooves (typically 108–114 BPM), minimal four-on-the-floor kicks, and richly layered percussion—shakers, congas, rimshots—leaving generous space for melodic piano riffs and soulful vocals. The overall mood is warm, hypnotic, and communal, designed as much for social spaces and dance circles as for late-night listening. Amapiano marries the street-level grit and swing of kwaito and Pretoria’s bacardi house with the smoothness of deep house and the harmonic language of jazz, resulting in a style that is both understated and irresistibly danceable.

Art rock is a branch of rock music that treats the studio and the album as spaces for artistic experimentation, emphasizing conceptual ideas, ambitious arrangements, and cross-pollination with modernist and avant-garde traditions. It typically favors extended song forms, thematic or conceptual unity, and non-standard instrumentation (strings, woodwinds, synthesizers) alongside rock’s core band setup. Lyrically, it leans toward literary, surreal, or philosophical subjects and often adopts theatrical presentation. Where mainstream rock centers on immediacy and hooks, art rock embraces risk: unusual time signatures, timbral exploration, complex harmony, tape and electronic manipulation, and interludes that draw from classical, jazz, minimalism, and experimental music.

Latin pop is mainstream pop music performed primarily in Spanish (and sometimes Portuguese) that blends contemporary pop songwriting with Latin American and Iberian rhythms, harmonies, and vocal stylings. It typically features verse–pre-chorus–chorus forms, catchy hooks, polished production, and a balance between rhythmic drive and romantic lyric themes. Classic Latin pop often leans on bolero- and ballad-informed melodies and soft-rock textures, while modern Latin pop readily incorporates dance-pop, electronic, and urbano elements (such as reggaeton-influenced grooves) without losing its sing-along pop core.

Breakbeat is an electronic dance music style built around syncopated, sampled drum "breaks" rather than a straight four-on-the-floor kick. Producers chop, loop, and rearrange classic drum breaks (such as the Amen, Apache, and Think breaks) to create swung, shuffling rhythms with strong backbeat accents. Emerging from the UK rave continuum, breakbeat draws heavily on hip hop’s sampling culture and electro’s machine-funk, while adopting house/acid-house sound design and club-focused arrangements. Tempos most commonly sit between 125–140 BPM (though broader ranges occur), featuring heavy sub-bass, crunchy snares, and edits/fills that propel dancefloors without relying on a 4/4 kick. As a scene, "breaks" spans everything from big-room, party-leaning grooves to techy, nu skool textures and regional variants like Florida breaks. It also functions as a foundational rhythmic vocabulary that informed jungle and drum and bass, and it underpins much of modern bass music.

Contemporary folk is a modern evolution of traditional folk aesthetics centered on intimate storytelling, clear melodies, and largely acoustic instrumentation. It favors voice-forward production, fingerpicked or gently strummed guitars, and arrangements that leave space for lyrics to resonate. While rooted in older folk ballad traditions, contemporary folk embraces current themes, production values, and song forms. Artists often blend guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright or electric bass, light percussion, and close vocal harmonies, creating a warm, organic sound. The genre frequently addresses personal reflection, social issues, place, memory, and identity, balancing timeless simplicity with contemporary sensibilities.

Country soul is a hybrid style that blends the instrumentation, storytelling, and harmonies of country music with the groove, vocal delivery, and production aesthetics of soul and rhythm & blues. It typically features country staples like acoustic and electric guitars, pedal steel, and fiddle alongside a soul rhythm section of drums, bass, Hammond organ, piano, and often a punchy horn section and gospel-style backing vocals. The sound emerged most prominently in the American South, where studios in Nashville, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals cultivated a warm, earthy, and emotive approach. Songs often revolve around heartbreak, perseverance, and everyday life, delivered with both country plainspokenness and soul fervor. Production tends toward intimate, analog warmth, dry drums, and unvarnished performances that foreground the singer and song.

Drum and bass (DnB) is a fast, rhythmically intricate form of electronic dance music centered on breakbeats at roughly 160–180 BPM and powerful, sub‑heavy basslines. It grew out of the UK’s early ’90s rave and jungle scenes, combining chopped funk breaks (most famously the Amen break), dub and reggae sound‑system aesthetics, hip‑hop sampling, and techno’s futurist sound design. Across its many substyles—liquid funk’s soulful harmonies, techstep and neurofunk’s cold, machine‑like bass engineering, jump‑up’s hooky bass riffs, atmospheric DnB’s pads and space—drum and bass remains a DJ‑oriented, dancefloor‑driven genre that prizes tight drum programming, deep low end, and precise arrangement for mixing.

Dubstep is a bass‑centric electronic dance music genre that emerged in South London in the early 2000s. It is typically around 140 BPM and is defined by a half‑time rhythmic feel, sub‑heavy basslines, sparse yet impactful drums, and a strong emphasis on space, tension, and sound system weight. Hallmark traits include syncopated kick patterns, snares on the third beat of the bar, swung/shuffly hi‑hats inherited from UK garage, and modulated low‑frequency bass (“wobbles”) shaped with LFOs, filters, and distortion. Influences from dub reggae (echo, delay, and minimalism), jungle/drum & bass (bass science and sound system culture), and 2‑step garage (rhythmic swing and shuffles) are central. The style ranges from deep, meditative “dub” aesthetics (often called deep dubstep) to more aggressive, midrange‑driven variants that later informed brostep and festival bass. Atmosphere, negative space, and subwoofer translation are as important as melody or harmony.

Electronic is a broad umbrella genre defined by the primary use of electronically generated or electronically processed sound. It encompasses music made with synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, computers, and studio/tape techniques, as well as electroacoustic manipulation of recorded or synthetic sources. The genre ranges from academic and experimental traditions to popular and dance-oriented forms. While its sonic palette is rooted in electricity and circuitry, its aesthetics span minimal and textural explorations, structured song forms, and beat-driven club permutations. Electronic emphasizes sound design, timbre, and studio-as-instrument practices as much as melody and harmony.

Fandango is a lively Iberian song-and-dance form in fast triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, hand claps (palmas), and castanets. It features a characteristic hemiola (the alternation or superposition of 3/4 and 6/8 feels), call-and-response between voice and accompaniment, and strophic verses (coplas) suited to improvised dance. Originating in Spain in the 18th century, the fandango quickly became a pan-Iberian craze and entered art music through Baroque and early Classical composers. In Andalusia it crystallized into several regional types (e.g., fandangos de Huelva, malagueñas), many of which later became core palos of flamenco. The word “fandango” also traveled across the Atlantic; in Mexico and Brazil it names community dance gatherings linked to related repertories, even when the music itself diverges from the Spanish model.

Folk rock is a fusion genre that blends the narrative lyricism, modal melodies, and acoustic timbres of traditional folk with the backbeat, amplification, and song structures of rock. It typically pairs acoustic or traditional instruments (acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle) with a rock rhythm section (electric guitar, bass, drums), often featuring chiming 12‑string guitar textures, close vocal harmonies, and socially conscious or storytelling lyrics. The result ranges from intimate, reflective ballads with a steady backbeat to more anthemic, roots‑driven rock. Emerging in the mid‑1960s through artists such as Bob Dylan and The Byrds, folk rock became a gateway for traditional and roots materials to enter mainstream popular music, and it seeded later movements from country rock and Americana to jangle pop and modern indie folk.

Gospel is a family of Christian sacred music that emerged from African‑American church traditions in the United States. It centers the voice, communal participation, and a message of faith, hope, and testimony. Musically, gospel is characterized by call‑and‑response, powerful lead vocals answered by choirs, rich harmonies, handclaps, and a propulsive backbeat or 12/8 shuffle. Typical ensembles include voice, piano or Hammond organ, drums, bass, and guitar, with occasional horns. Harmonically it blends simple I–IV–V frameworks with blues inflections and sophisticated chord extensions, turnarounds, and modulations that heighten emotional intensity. The genre encompasses several streams, notably traditional Black gospel, Southern (white) gospel rooted in shape‑note singing, and contemporary/urban gospel that integrates R&B, soul, and hip‑hop. Its sound and spirit have profoundly influenced American popular music—from soul and R&B to rock and roll.

Gospel reggae is a Christian expression of reggae and dancehall in which the rhythmic foundations of Jamaican music carry overtly biblical, evangelistic, and worship-centered lyrics. It retains reggae’s hallmark features—one‑drop and steppers drum patterns, deep syncopated basslines, off‑beat guitar skank, bubbling organ, and occasional horn lines—while drawing on gospel’s choral harmonies, testimonial themes, and congregational call‑and‑response. Artists may sing, DJ (toast), or blend sing‑jay delivery, often weaving scripture quotations and personal conversion narratives into the songs. While rooted in Jamaica, gospel reggae has spread widely across the Caribbean, North America, Africa, and the Pacific through church networks, festivals, and diaspora communities. The result is a style that is both dance‑friendly and worship‑minded, fusing reggae’s social consciousness with explicitly Christian devotion.

Hip hop is a cultural and musical movement that emerged from Black, Latino, and Caribbean communities, centering around rapping (MCing), DJing/turntablism, sampling-based production, and rhythmic speech over beats. It prioritizes groove, wordplay, and storytelling, often reflecting the social realities of urban life. Musically, hip hop is built on drum-centric rhythms (from breakbeats to 808 patterns), looped samples, and bass-forward mixes. Lyrically, it ranges from party anthems and braggadocio to political commentary and intricate poetic forms, with flow, cadence, and rhyme density as core expressive tools. Beyond music, hip hop encompasses a broader culture, historically intertwined with graffiti, b-boying/b-girling (breakdance), fashion, and street entrepreneurship, making it both an art form and a global social language.

Industrial is an experimental electronic music tradition that uses abrasive timbres, mechanical rhythms, and transgressive aesthetics. Its sound palette often includes distorted drum machines, tape loops, metallic percussion, feedback, and found-object recordings alongside synthesizers and samplers. Emerging from late-1970s UK underground art and performance scenes, industrial foregrounds themes of dehumanization, technology, surveillance, and power. Releases frequently embrace anti-commercial presentation, stark graphic design, and confrontational performance art, treating the studio as a laboratory for sonic manipulation rather than a vehicle for conventional songcraft. While early industrial emphasized noise, tape processing, and avant-garde collage, later waves fused the style with dancefloor precision (EBM), rock and metal heft, and club-oriented production, giving rise to a broad post-industrial family that remains influential in experimental, electronic, and popular music.

Neo soul is a contemporary evolution of soul that blends the warmth and musicianship of 1960s–70s soul with hip hop’s rhythmic sensibility and jazz harmony. It typically features live-band instrumentation (Rhodes/Wurlitzer keys, electric bass, pocket drums, guitar), lush extended chords, and expressive, gospel-informed vocals. Grooves are often unquantized or deliberately "behind the beat," evoking the laid-back feel popularized by producers like J Dilla. Lyrics tend toward introspection, romance, identity, and social consciousness, prioritizing album craft and analog textures over radio-driven formulas. The sound is intimate yet sophisticated: think smoky harmonies, subtly syncopated basslines, and drum pockets that feel both head-nodding and deeply human.

Pop is a broad, hook-driven style of popular music designed for wide appeal. It emphasizes memorable melodies, concise song structures, polished vocals, and production intended for radio, charts, and mass media. While pop continually absorbs elements from other styles, its core remains singable choruses, accessible harmonies, and rhythmic clarity. Typical forms include verse–pre-chorus–chorus, frequent use of bridges and middle-eights, and ear-catching intros and outros. Pop is not defined by a single instrumentation. It flexibly incorporates acoustic and electric instruments, drum machines, synthesizers, and increasingly digital production techniques, always in service of the song and the hook.

Pop rock blends the hook-focused immediacy of pop with the instrumentation and drive of rock. It prioritizes catchy melodies, concise song structures, and polished production while retaining guitars, bass, and drums as core elements. Typical pop rock tracks use verse–pre-chorus–chorus forms, strong vocal harmonies, and memorable riffs. The sound ranges from jangly and bright to mildly overdriven and arena-ready, aiming for radio-friendly appeal without abandoning rock’s rhythmic punch.

Progressive rock is a rock subgenre that expands the genre’s formal, harmonic, and conceptual boundaries. It favors long-form compositions, intricate arrangements, and virtuosic musicianship, often drawing on Western classical, jazz, folk, and psychedelic idioms. Typical hallmarks include multi-part suites, shifting time signatures, extended instrumental passages, recurring motifs, and concept albums that present unified themes or narratives. The sound palette commonly features electric guitar, bass, and drums alongside an array of keyboards (Hammond organ, Mellotron, Moog/ARP synthesizers, piano), woodwinds or brass, and occasional orchestral additions. Lyrics often explore science fiction, mythology, philosophy, social commentary, and introspective themes.

R&B (Rhythm and Blues) is a vocal- and groove-centered popular music tradition that blends blues tonality, jazz harmony, and gospel-inflected singing with a steady backbeat. It emphasizes expressive lead vocals, call-and-response, lush harmonies, and danceable rhythms. From its 1940s roots in African American communities to its later evolutions, R&B has continually absorbed and reshaped surrounding sounds—from jump blues and swing in the early days to soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic production in the contemporary era. Today, R&B ranges from intimate, slow-burning ballads to club-ready tracks, all tied together by a focus on feel, melody, and vocal performance.

Reggae is a popular music genre from Jamaica characterized by a laid-back, syncopated groove, prominent bass lines, and steady offbeat “skank” guitar or keyboard chords. The rhythmic core often emphasizes the third beat in a bar (the “one drop”), creating a spacious, rolling feel that foregrounds bass and drums. Typical instrumentation includes drum kit, electric bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards/organ (notably the Hammond and the percussive "bubble"), and often horn sections. Tempos generally sit around 70–80 BPM (or 140–160 BPM felt in half-time), allowing vocals to breathe and messages to be clearly delivered. Lyrically, reggae ranges from love songs and everyday storytelling to incisive social commentary, resistance, and spirituality, with Rastafarian culture and language (e.g., “I and I”) playing a central role in many classic recordings. Studio production techniques—spring reverbs, tape delays, and creative mixing—became signature elements, especially through dub versions that strip down and reimagine tracks.

Reggae rock is a hybrid style that blends the off‑beat groove, deep bass, and laid‑back pulse of reggae with the drive, hooks, and guitar-forward energy of rock. The result keeps reggae’s skanking guitar upstrokes, syncopated bass lines, and occasional one‑drop feel, but frames them with rock song structures, choruses, and a more aggressive backbeat. Early British punk and new wave bands absorbed Jamaican rhythms, while later American groups added surf, hip‑hop, and pop accents, creating a beach-ready, festival-friendly sound.

Regional mexicano is an umbrella term for traditional and popular Mexican roots styles—such as ranchera, corrido, norteño, banda, mariachi, and newer offshoots—that share storytelling lyrics, dance-friendly rhythms, and distinctive acoustic ensembles. While the industry label coalesced later, its musical DNA goes back to the Mexican Revolution era, when corridos and rancheras crystallized as powerful vehicles for narrative and sentiment. Typical textures range from brass-heavy banda and trumpet–violin mariachi to accordion-led norteño and guitar-forward sierreño, with characteristic rhythms drawn from polka (2/4), waltz (3/4), and huapango. Songs often address love and heartbreak, regional pride, migration, everyday struggles, and, in some cases, outlaw themes (narco-corridos). Harmonies are functional (I–IV–V with secondary dominants and relative minor turns), vocals are expressive with belting and gritos, and arrangements foreground strong melodic hooks supported by tuba, guitarrón, tololoche, or bass-driven grooves.

Rock is a broad family of popular music centered on amplified instruments, a strong backbeat, and song forms that foreground riffs, choruses, and anthemic hooks. Emerging from mid‑20th‑century American styles like rhythm & blues, country, and gospel-inflected rock and roll, rock quickly expanded in scope—absorbing folk, blues, and psychedelic ideas—while shaping global youth culture. Core sonic markers include electric guitar (often overdriven), electric bass, drum kit emphasizing beats 2 and 4, and emotive lead vocals. Rock songs commonly use verse–chorus structures, blues-derived harmony, and memorable melodic motifs, ranging from intimate ballads to high‑energy, stadium‑sized performances.

Soul is a genre of popular music that blends the spiritual fervor and vocal techniques of African‑American gospel with the grooves and song forms of rhythm & blues and the harmonic palette of jazz and blues. It is defined by impassioned, melismatic lead vocals; call‑and‑response with backing singers; handclaps and a strong backbeat; syncopated bass lines; and memorable horn or string riffs. Typical instrumentation includes drum kit, electric bass, electric guitar, piano or Hammond organ, horns (trumpet, saxophone, trombone), and sometimes orchestral strings. Lyrically, soul ranges from love and heartbreak to pride, social commentary, and spiritual yearning. Regionally distinct scenes—such as Detroit’s Motown, Memphis/Stax, Muscle Shoals, Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia—shaped different flavors of soul, while the style’s emotional directness and rhythmic drive made it a cornerstone of later funk, disco, contemporary R&B, and hip hop.

Space rock is a psychedelic branch of rock characterized by long-form, hypnotic grooves, swirling guitars awash in delay and reverb, and prominent analog synthesizers that evoke cosmic or interstellar imagery. The music often emphasizes texture and atmosphere over conventional song structures, creating expansive soundscapes that feel weightless and otherworldly. Emerging in late-1960s Britain from the overlap of psychedelic rock, early progressive rock, and experimental electronics, space rock frequently employs motorik-leaning rhythms, modal or drone-based harmony, and science-fiction themes. Extended improvisations, phased and fuzz-drenched timbres, and tape or echo effects are common, encouraging a sense of forward drift and cosmic exploration.

Trap is a subgenre of hip hop that emerged from the Southern United States, defined by half-time grooves, ominous minor-key melodies, and the heavy use of 808 sub-bass. The style is characterized by rapid, syncopated hi-hat rolls, crisp rimshot/clap on the backbeat, and cinematic textures that convey tension and grit. Lyrically, it centers on street economies, survival, ambition, and introspection, with ad-libs used as percussive punctuation. Production is typically minimal but hard-hitting: layered 808s, sparse piano or bell motifs, dark pads, and occasional orchestral or choir samples. Vocals range from gravelly, staccato deliveries to melodic, Auto-Tuned flows, often using triplet cadences.

Hardcore (often called hardcore techno in its early form) is a fast, aggressive branch of electronic dance music characterized by heavily distorted, punchy 4/4 kick drums, tempos ranging from roughly 160 to well over 200 BPM, and a dark, high‑energy aesthetic. It emphasizes percussive drive over complex harmony, using clipped and saturated kick-bass sound design, sharp hi-hats, claps on the backbeat, and harsh synth stabs or screeches. Vocals, when present, are typically shouted hooks, sampled movie lines, or crowd chants processed with distortion and effects. Originating in the Netherlands in the early 1990s, the style quickly splintered into related scenes and subgenres such as gabber, happy hardcore, Frenchcore, terrorcore, speedcore, and later hardstyle. Its culture is closely associated with large-scale raves, specialized labels, and distinctive visual branding.

Afrobeats (plural) is a contemporary West African pop umbrella that blends indigenous Nigerian and Ghanaian rhythms with global Black music—especially dancehall, hip hop, R&B, and highlife. Typical tracks sit in the mid‑tempo 95–115 BPM range and feature syncopated, polyrhythmic drum programming (shakers, rimshots, congas, talking drum), rubbery sub‑bass lines, bright synths, and guitar licks that recall highlife. Vocals are melodic and hook‑driven, often delivered in a fluid mix of English, Nigerian Pidgin, Yoruba, Twi, or other local languages, with call‑and‑response refrains tailored for dance floors. Distinct from Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat (singular), Afrobeats prioritizes songcraft, club‑ready grooves, and pop structures. It travels easily across diasporas, seamlessly absorbing UK club influences and Caribbean cadence while maintaining unmistakably West African rhythmic DNA.