How Gen Z singers made 2023 the year of confessional pop

When Lauren Spencer Smith's song "Fingers Crossed" went viral in 2022, her life changed virtually overnight: record labels scrambled to sign her, and she quickly gained millions of followers on TikTok. Over a soaring melody, the track spotlighted the 20-year-old Vancouver Islander's powerful voice. But it was the endearingly personal lyrics about heartbreak that resonated with listeners:

Now I remember when you'd call me late at night,
I gave you my hours and advice just tryna fix you,
And all your daddy issues,
But now I don't even miss you anymore.

"I feel this on another level," wrote a fan in the comments of a TikTok teaser for the song. "Not this song being the reason I could finally get over my ex," wrote another.

The track was played more than 388 million times on Spotify, and was included on her debut album, Mirror, released in July 2023. The record unveiled a sharp collection of diaristic songs exploring themes of love, friendship and more, and successfully tapped into the zeitgeist of confessional pop music. The vulnerable style of songwriting about one's innermost feelings flourished in 2023, through the success of Spencer Smith and her Gen Z pop music peers including Katherine Li and Jade LeMac, both 19 years old. All three singers released music that racked up millions of streams, demonstrating their aptitude for writing intimately about growing up and first loves.

Singers of all genders have performed confessional music for decades. In his book Rock Star: The Making of Musical Icons from Elvis to Springsteen, David R. Shumway lists Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Laura Nyro and Randy Newman as some of the stars first associated with this songwriting style. He writes that the true emergence of the confessional mode was marked by James Taylor's 1970 release, Sweet Baby James, the first album to "make confessional songwriting a popular success."

However, the confessional pop sphere is where young women have specifically thrived: it's home to albums such as Avril Lavigne's multi-platinum records Let Go and Under My Skin — released when she was 17 and 19, respectively — and Alessia Cara's Juno-winning Know-it-All, released when she was 19. And of course, there's Taylor Swift, who dropped her debut album when she was 16, kicking off a discography of intricately detailed personal albums that continue to click with fans attending her record-breaking Eras tour.

Vancouver singer Jade LeMac says Gen Z singers such as Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams (both nominated for 2024 Grammys) are currently at the forefront of the genre: "It's inspiring to see all these other [artists] be able to be vulnerable and relate to one another, for sure." 

"If I've learned one thing from releasing music and releasing songs, it's that so many people are living the same life," says Katherine Li, explaining the reactions to her autobiographical tracks. The Oakville, Ont., star's music regularly explodes on TikTok —  a Nov. 7 video teasing her single "Isn't it Obvious" has racked up over a million views. The song is a frank firsthand account of a heart-racing crush, and it connected with listeners who are also navigating the sticky ups and downs of romance.

"When I release a song, I always get messages saying, 'Katherine, this isn't funny anymore, why are you reading my diary?'" she says.

For LeMac, writing songs in a confessional style comes so naturally that she titled her recent EP Confessions. "[Through] the process of creating these songs, I'm definitely getting things off my shoulders and I'm feeling relief at just being able to express myself in ways that I normally couldn't without writing music," she says.

LeMac's fans — over a million on TikTok — are vocal about loving her revealing lyricism. "The relatability with these songs [is] crazy because a lot of songs are different, but a lot of people seem to resonate with each type of song," she says. "I have some really sad and vulnerable ones and they're like, 'I get it,' you know? And then [they] listen to a really cute love one and they'll be like, 'Oh, my God, I get it. I have a crush or something.'"

The pop projects the three singer-songwriters released in 2023 couldn't be more different: LeMac's songs rumble with an enigmatic melodic edge, Li's ooze delicateness and Spencer Smith's contain traces of soul. Yet, they all display lyrical honesty.

Take Li's "If I Weren't Me": "Do I come off too strong and mess it up? Do I laugh too hard or not enough?" she sings, trying to discern if a crush has feelings for her. Through one simple verse, her private point of insecurity becomes something for others to identify with.

"It's definitely something that I struggled with a little bit at the beginning," she explains of disclosing personal experiences in songs. "But now I definitely feel more comfortable just writing down words, because if I say [them] then that might help someone else."

"[It's] an amazing feeling, being able to try and write what's going on in my head down on paper and sing it," says LeMac, adding that although it can be "a little scary" to release such vulnerable songs, she hopes others relate.

Spencer Smith, LeMac and Li also record many of their TikToks for songs inside their homes. This adds another layer of intimacy that helps to brand them as confidantes who articulate listeners' relatable romantic woes. 

"I write all my songs in my room, that's always where it starts," Li says. She explains that making the videos in that same place creates a "full-circle moment" for a song. 

"This is where it started, and this is also where I'm going to show it to [listeners], which just feels very real because lots of crying [over crushes] happened in that room."

I think people can tell just through me being authentic, that it really is about my life and these things I'm living.- Lauren Spencer Smith

Because Spencer Smith, Li and LeMac all write their own music, their candidness about friendship fallouts, unrequited love and breakups paints them as being genuine in the eyes of fans: "I think people can kind of resonate with that and see that through the song, because I feel like it's very obvious when a singer is singing a song that they didn't write," Spencer Smith says.

"I feel like it kind of goes back to being vulnerable, and people love when it's real," Spencer Smith says. "And I think people can tell just through me being authentic, that it really is about my life and these things I'm living."

"[A song's] concept has to come from somewhere, right? So it's just always coming from my life, whether it's intentional or not," Li says with a laugh. "And by the time I finish writing [a] song, I'm reading the lyrics through and I'm thinking to myself, 'Hey, this is a little too real right now.'"