twee pop

This developed out of Indie pop in the UK in the 1980s and was regarded by those who gave it this name as being saccharine, affected and precious. It was charactised by simple melodies, sentimental lyrics often about love, and jangly guitars.

 There has been a revival of twee pop more recently. Its followers, now mostly in the U.S., are seemingly unaware of the derogatory overtones of twee in the 1980s, unaware that you always said it with a slight sneer.  They have shifted the meaning of twee from being ‘affected, precious, sentimental’, to being ‘deliberately innocent, childlike, and good’. It is another attempt to draw away from the evils that they see happening in the world today and to confront them with gentleness and a simple wholesomeness which they claim as strength, not as weakness. In this it is similar to hopepunk.  

 The melodies are still simple and straightforward and the guitars are still jangly. The aesthetic owes something to Walt Disney animation films for children.