Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop[1] that originates from the 1986 NME compilation C86.[2] Twee pop gets its name from the aesthetic of twee, which is known for its simplicity and childlike innocence.[3] Some of its defining features are boy-girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. For many years, prominent independent record labels associated with twee pop were Sarah Records (in the UK) and K Records (in the US).[2]
Twee pop gained popularity in the 1990s, and has seen a recent revival in the 2020s.[3]
The definition of twee is something "excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental," supposedly born from a childish mispronunciation of the word sweet.[4] With the twee movement's embrace of innocence and femininity, the genre has strong associations with feminism and queer activism.
Artists such as Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, and Marine Girls were primarily women who wrote about love, relationships, and personal empowerment. While the music sounded lighthearted and naive, the subject matter was often gritty and dark. Twee pop has been seen as a feminist response to tough, invulnerable, masculine punk and post-punk music scenes of the time.
Heavenly performing at Emerald Centre
Many twee artists, such as Blueboy, were openly queer.[5] In the 1990s, Indiepop and twee scenes rejected the sexist, homophobic, and racist attitudes of mainstream music.[6]
A retrospective fascination with the genre in the US saw Americans eagerly defining themselves as twee.[7] According to The A.V. Club's Paula Mejia:
The difference between "twee" and "indie pop" is slight but polarizing. Both styles of music transcended genre, became a tape-trading lifestyle, and have similar influences, drawing from the Ramones' minimalist three-chord structures as much as The Jesus And Mary Chain's salty pop harmonies. Everyone varies slightly on origins ... Twee itself began as a vast collection of sounds, gathering the threads where luminaries left off, and carving out divergent avenues in their wake.
AllMusic says that twee pop is "perhaps best likened to bubblegumindie rock—it's music with a spirit of D.I.Y. defiance in the grand tradition of punk, but with a simplicity and innocence not seen or heard since the earliest days of rock & roll".[2] The author Marc Spitz suggests that the roots of twee stem from post-war 1950s music.[8] While the culture categorized itself under the moniker of "indie" (short for independent), many major twee powerhouses gained mainstream critical acclaim for their contributions to the twee movement.[9]
