Chart pop occupies the experimental role that indie once held, inverting their positions

Evidence

There has been a kind of reversal, with new new pop occupying the old pre-indie independent position of the popular-experimental, and indie dominating the mainstream. (Hence I would argue that, contra Simon in the Frieze article, it is new new pop, not some putative, ghastly fusion “of grime and indie rock”, that is today’s closest equivalent to post-punk.) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1087

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Fisher’s broader thesis (later developed in Ghosts of My Life / k-punk corpus) that retro culture has replaced the future-oriented experimentalism of popular culture, with authenticity posing as the alternative.