Bedroom pop describes songs made by artists alone or with friends in their own rooms, using a laptop, a cheap keyboard and recording software instead of a professional studio. The results are often soft, intimate and slightly rough at the edges, with dreamy guitars, simple drum machines and close, quiet vocals.
Home recording has a long history, from R. Stevie Moore’s tapes of the late 1960s to the cassette four-track recorders available from 1979, but the term took off in the 2010s, when YouTube, streaming and a dedicated Spotify playlist turned home-made songs into global hits. A frequently cited example is Clairo’s Pretty Girl (2017), recorded in her bedroom with GarageBand and a small MIDI keyboard; artists such as Cuco and Boy Pablo were also given the label, though several have found it limiting. Bedroom pop and lo-fi share the same do-it-yourself tools and the same preference for warmth over polish.