This Is Pop (2021– ) User Reviews

It starts off as a 10 and quickly goes down in quality after episode 4-5

[Kethina · 7/10 · 22 June 2021]

Right off the gate this documentary series starts off well by describing the rise and fall of Boyz II Men. They explain in great detail how they came up, how the highs came about and what caused the fall of their dominance. They do the same thing with episode 2 with T-Pains career and the auto tune phenomenon. I think for someone who doesn't know every single story behind Boyz 2 Men, T-Pain and the backlash against auto tune and then the big Swedish pop phenomenon, I think those first 3 episodes are amazing.

I can also say that as a swede, I appreciate when our impact in the pop music industry is rightly acknowledged. I have to say however that it would have been even better if they acknowledged the artist Robyn's impact when it comes to early Swedish pop export.

All in all the second half of this show was a bit anti-climactic at times and had a lot of moments where bits and parts of stories were brought up without deep diving into them. I wish they would have picked a handful of stories and really go into detail with them (for example in the Festivals episode). However, this is just me picking this documentary apart, I really do think that they did a great job showcasing aspects of music history that we seldom hear about. Therefore it gets a 7/10 and was really worth the watch.

Meta Reviewers for a fine series

[j-23563-44020 · 8/10 · 3 July 2021]

It's a bit ironic that Pop Music has always been plagued by new sounds causing backlash and prevailing despite those who say it doesn't fit their definition as "pop."

It seems only fitting that the reviews here also highlight this. Many of the low star reviews essentially say "this is bad because it didn't feature what I think is pop." I mean seriously, in an 8 episode mini series why would anyone want to waste an episode on Michael Jackson? Famous? Yes. King of Pop? Yes. Written endlessly about already? Yes. Hour long documentaries about his life and legacy already? Yes. If you want Michael's history, it's easy to find.

Now, to review that the documentary series DID showcase. What's on display is really good. Each episode takes a single topic and tells the history. Be it protest music, the Sweedish influence, Britpop, or Pop Country the show focuses on the conflict described above (artists being told they aren't "pop"). Starting with the origins of the artists involved, their struggles to navigate the industry, and their prevailing despite it due to some industry outliers putting faith in them and the fans approval (which ultimately defines what pop music is).

Overall, if you enjoy music history the series was really wonderful. The creators brought in a nice selection of guests for interviews, including primary sources. They covered topics that are less well known (aka, Michael Jackson doesn't get an episode).

The the format really worked well, except the narrative segments that tied parts of episodes together was a bit amateur. It's hardly noticeable, as it's only a few minutes of each episode but I often found them to be a bit mocking. Docked 2 stars from the review for it.

In total, I hope the show gets another chance for a season 2. Tons of really great things in Pop Music that couldn't get covered in 8 episodes. And who knows maybe some day they'd find the time to create a King of Pop episode.

Where's the King of Pop?!?

[ludaovic · 6/10 · 2 July 2021]

For a documentary that's all about Pop, not having any mention of the King of Pop is a disappointing omission.

The documentary started with such promise and had a interesting way of navigating the history of pop. However as the series went on, the subject matter became less interesting, dull and repetitive.

With a constant retelling of what's constitutes pop and what doesn't.

It just loss momentum, the first three eps was certainly the highlight of the documentary series.

But not mentioning anything about MJ, is a glaring omission, he's contribution to pop can't be overlooked.

Good but could have been better. Some episodes better than others.

[hilfy · 6/10 · 12 July 2021]

I found it interesting in the final episode that is all about the songwriting that came out of the golden era of the Brill building in NYC - that all the songwriters were Jewish but there's no mention of that, whatsoever. Neil Sedaka, Carol King, Jerry Goffin, Jeff Barry, Any Kim, the list go on and on. All Jews! Not to mention every member of The Shangri-Las ALL Jewish girls from Queens.

Obviously we know that at that time in the 50s and 60s Jews were changing their names to assimilate and not stick out as much, especially in entertainment, because of anti Semitism and wanting to reach a wider audience. Even the first ever female record company owner Florence Greenberg, was of course Jewish- as well as almost every producer in that building. I mean, it just would been nice for the filmmakers to talk about the connection of all these extremely talented Jewish people who came from immigrant families from Europe and Sephardic countries. To make the connection of us being a soul people and a nation of survival that lead to actualIzation of all different types of intelligence and talent that these people mastered- it matters.

These were some of the most talented songwriters and musicians of that era in NYC and they just all happened to be Jewish, that's not a coincidence.

Neil Sedaka went to Julliard and was a musical prodigy, Carol (Klein) King was one of the best pop songwriters of all time. I feel the filmmakers should have gone a little deeper and highlighted that all these hit songs were being written by Jews!

Liked much. Entertaining

[bazookamouth-221-898097 · 6/10 · 5 January 2022]

I liked all the episodes except for the 7th episode "What a song can do? The protest episode. It just was boring with a lot of nobodies jabbering on about nothing interesting. Best episode was the Hail Britpop. Also devoting a whole episode to Boys II Men was questionable. All in all most of it was watchabke.

Makes you realise real music is no more

[frosty-44431 · 6/10 · 27 June 2021]

It was great to see talented singers and Band's like Boys II Men, Oasis and the pop years to name few.

It also makes you realise the untalented artists we have of today, the mumble rappers, the overuse of auto-tune and how songs no longer have a meaning like they used too. And what's sad is the new generation think current music is actual music.

Enough Jackson or Madonna comments

[erhanipekciler · 8/10 · 30 July 2021]

I watched till brit pop and till now it is really nice documentary, it is an alternative really. I watched many documentaries about Michael Jackson or Madonna or other legends, they are truly legends guys, please over it. They don't need it to tell their names in everywhere. This documentary tries to tell something different, I had really no idea about country music or brit pop or auto tune.. Different angle of music industry. I love till 4th episode really. Last two was not for me really.

First 3 episodes, then trash

[www-imdb-com-19 · 6/10 · 23 August 2021]

First 3 episodes are great, Stockholm Syndrome is the best. Then the rest is trash music and trash episodes.

Really good at pop music

[patrick-c-a-walker · 10/10 · 1 July 2021]

I'm amazed by the reviews here saying that the show becomes increasingly irrelevant to pop as it goes on. The first few episodes are predominantly recent subjects, but pop predates the nineties. Pop, for all its popularity, is an underexplored subject of musicological nerd-dom. This show covers the rise of the boy band, autotune and the question of when technology becomes a crutch, why the swedish are so good at writing hits, country pop crossovers and where the line is between a niche genre and the mainstream, music festivals, pop as a vehicle for protest/social change, and the original production line model of hit songwriting (brill building) that paved the way to the modern pop collaboration style. How this isn't pop I don't know - maybe most of pop's audience today thinks it's a new genre that exists in a vacuum separate from the rest of 20th century music history - hence the need for a documentary like this. Ultimately if a music documentary has Sam Dunn's name on it then you know it'll do justice (see also metal headbangers journey; hip hop evolution and more).

Thank you B2M and Sweden...

[cdoggy99 · 7/10 · 27 June 2021]

Glad to see a doc give Boys 2 Men the credit they deserve for having such an influence on pop music. Unfortunately their mainstream popularity proved to be a blessing in disguise as it marked another wave of the "boy band" formula (Previously started by New Edition). Surprised to learn of the influence Sweden had on American pop music producing for acts such as Nsync, Brittany Spears and Backstreet Boys. Also, enjoyed watching the material about the beginnings of Ace of Base. Episodes 1-4 were very informative. Episodes 5-8 did not really hold my interest. But I do suggest u give "This is Pop" a look.

Stop your wining

[smnanthxf · 10/10 · 22 July 2021]

It's a great series spanning over several arenas concerning the series title. It's about pop music, and it captures more angles towards that subject that I know existed. At the same time I somehow recognize them all and get sentimental by the vast number of nostalgic songs and moments it presents. In addition it also introduces gaps my, apparently, lack in knowledge about popular music lacked. Fun to watch and in many ways educating.

Fantastic!

[mikeiskorn · 7/10 · 12 July 2021]

This was a great series of music documentaries. Even with regards to music I don' really listen to. I hope the go on to make a second series.

Even first 4 is fine...watchable

[jelenaChe · 5/10 · 23 June 2021]

But rest of the season doesn't have so much connection with pop music genre. Britpop episode is only about oasis & blur, what about real britain pop music like girl bands like spice girls we can still feel their impact on the pop scene and on mass production of girl bands... Than episode about music festivals i haven't heard a word about pop music and that's like in the rest of the season, no word about pop music.

Good but not grate

[endryju · 6/10 · 13 July 2021]

Quite good documentary, until you get to the biggest festivals. Really? Mentioning 200-300k festivals and not a word about polish Przystanek Woodstock now known as POL'n'ROCK 2 years ago hitting 650k at just main stage on one performance. Disappointing.

Inside Music

[mycannonball · 7/10 · 25 November 2021]

Well produced and interesting series about the music industry and different famous bands/musicians. I cherry-picked the episodes that were of most interest to me, as they stand alone, but all of the ones that I watched varied from pretty good to great.

Its such a great documentary series

[trinityber · 10/10 · 22 June 2021]

I learned about ep3 about sweden and successful about it especially im a fan of ABBA & Roxette, its marvelous story and the swedish belief that dont say to others your achivements, show them.

Fantastic! I hope more episodes are coming

[pandabear395 · 10/10 · 25 June 2021]

Nostalgic, informative, and fun!!! I'm so sick of bad music documentaries, this is refreshing. I would love episodes on Latin music (Selena!) and Amy Winehouse's influence on pop!

Jante Law is Danish!

[djkrisandersen · 10/10 · 27 June 2021]

A really informative series. I do think the producers of the episode in Sweden need to get their facts straight. The Jante Law is a Danish thing (named after a Danish town) and Ace of Base was released and promoted by a Danish record company named Mega Records. Not to take away any credit of the amazing Swedish producers. But facts are facts ;)

I was looking for the King of Pop

[sajaan · 5/10 · 1 July 2021]

A very good nostalgic trip down memory lane . Music we collected and played over and over again. Those were the days . Iam still on the 4 th episode , but don't see any mention of the "King of Pop - Michael Jackson" . How does a show about Pop not have an episode on the King of pop 🤔 Overall , a good watch and we need more such shows on OTT .

Great start =)

[saso-559-499415 · 9/10 · 23 June 2021]

As others before me, the 3 first episodes were great. I agree i stort sett with all that Kethina wrote.

I would´ve wanted that they had brought up Avicii and Swedish House Mafia in the Stockholm Syndrome episode, otherwise it was a really good episode about Swedens huge impact in the music industry.

I rate this 9/10 but that is just for the first 3 episodes.

Fantastic history so far but hopefully there are still more to come?

[jelena-bezzina · 8/10 · 25 July 2021]

I would just like to add that unless there is an episode each covering Madonna and Michael Jackson each at their own merit, and also on Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Prince and a number of other girl-bands especially from UK/Sweden that have had empowering women's rights messages and influences, these series would be very much incomplete and biased. Or else they simply erased all those who did not pay to be featured... Which makes this some kind of sponsored feature rather than history of pop..

I am looking forward to those episodes added to the rest. :)

Surprisingly good. Even without few big names.

[winicjusz · 8/10 · 3 October 2021]

Terrible moaning about lack of few big names in reviews. Yeah, we heard you. It's a bit different approach, but still entertaining and informative.

Where is Michael Jackson?The KING OF POP

[sauciucanamariadd · 1/10 · 7 July 2021]

A pop documentary without Michael Jackson? Really? Then don't call it "This is pop ". Disappointing.

This is NOT Pop

[StrayFeral · 2/10 · 30 November 2022]

They started with a nice idea. But unlike the previous docuseries of this company "Heavy Metal Evolution" and "Hip Hop Evolution", these series ("This is Pop") totally lack research.

The series focus only on the North American pop music and the only time they showed Sweden as example of European pop music origin, was because of the connection to Brittney Spears, Backstreet Boys and so on.

What they show about the North American pop music is good, but even there they missed the major pop-stars - no Madonna, no Michael Jackson. How could this be?

These docuseries are a farce. USA is roughly 233 years old at present. While they have some pop music which originated there, there is a lot more going in Europe.

So what was missed - This is NOT POP because: no Madonna, no Michael Jackson, no European pop-music properly explained and more specifically:

No proper schlager explanation - dang you people - you did not found what Polka is ?? Yes, it started in Europe much before the Polka, but still. Then we go to Sweden about ABBA, but then we go to Italy (and partially Germany and France) about 80s disco called eurodisco, mostly known for the italodisco. Whoever did this movie is a total newbie. The italodisco was the major European pop music in the 80s. Madonna would have never been known in Europe if it wasn't for the Sandra to drop the pop-queen crown to become a mother. Then there is Sabrina and Samantha Fox. We have Mylene Farmer in France (and so much more). Did anyone mentioned the New Wave and the New Romantic? Okay I guess the New Romantic was a very short-lived thing.

Fast forward to the 90s where finally the eurodance came to the clubs and the swedish stars they mentioned became club legends.

But then anyone mentioned Belgium? No. They never heard of it. Late 90s was the hype of the electronic music. Dang they forgot Germany again? Berlin Techno anyone? Nope.

They talk of some festivals and they give example with some festivals and all of a sudden is like the famous Love Parade never existed ?! The biggest ever festival in the world is not mentioned at all.

Fast forward to the 2000s - the hype of the eurotrance (the vocal trance) and the power of Belgium (starting with Technotronic for example in the 90s) - Belgium is a mass producer of vocal trance - Milk Inc, Lasgo, Sylver.

So no - "This is Pop" is "This is NOT Pop". Too many major things missing. Forget these docuseries and go watch a proper pop-music documentary.

No new revelations whatsoever

[paul-allaer · 3/10 · 19 March 2023]

"This Is Pop" (2021 release; 8 episodes of 45 min. Each) aims to provide an overview of the state of pop music in the last 25 years or so. Episode 1 "The Boys II Men Effect" looks back at the rise of Boys II Men, from their humble beginnings to global stardom (at least for a while). Episode 2 examines the effects of Auto-tune. Episode 3 examines the outsized role of Sweden in the pop industry (ABBA, Ace of Base, Max Martin). And so forth...

Couple of comments: there is nothing "wrong" with this documentary mini-series as such, but neither is there anything memorable, let alone any new revelations of any kind. Everything is super predictable. For me the best episode was "Festival Rising", tracing the history of large music festivals in the US (from "Human Be-In" in January '67 to "Monterey" in June '67 to "Woodstock" in August '69 to "US" in May '83 to "Lollapalooza" in '91 to "Bonnaroo" in 2002), but inexplicably missing the critical role of "Coachella" (which started in 1999, 3 years before Bonnaroo). The "Hail Britpop" episode focuses predictably on the Oasis v. Blur rivalry, which was a true rivalry on home turf (the UK) and for a short while (mid-90s). With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, it never was a rivalry at all, but the episode never goes deeper into that point.

Bottom line: this mini-series is a pleasant intermediary as long as you don't poke too deep and don't ask any questions. It feels like "Pop 101" for the MTV generation. It eyes beautifully but offers little substance. Of course, don't take my word for it, so check this out (it's currently available on Netflix) and draw your own conclusion.