Indie music has reached an all new level of frustrating as artists are making up their own subgenres in a strange and misguided attempt to be “original.”

Since the conception of indie, the genre has been a confusing and often times ill-defined sound. Basically, it’s a broad term to describe music that can arguably contain, and often does, most every type of noise.

The term “indie” used to mean bands that weren’t signed to a major record label, and thus “alternative” and underground. With the birth and death of “hipster,” indie music was not only popular, but could even have bands be signed by major record labels and still be considered part of the genre.

The more modern definition of indie is any type of music with some sort of electronic influence, like a beat maker. In a genre so broad, artists often attempt to align themselves with subgenres to get fans to show up. This is where it gets even more confusing and sometimes, extremely annoying.

Subgenres include indie rock, indie pop, indie alternative — the list goes on and on. Within those subgenres — get ready for your head to spin now — are even more subgenres. Think electro-pop and synth pop.

And now with this latest trend to make up a subgenre when a perfectly decent one already exists, the attempt to clearly define indie has only been made a bigger mess.

The first example that comes to mind is newly on the scene, HOLYCHILD, with their 2015 album “The Shape of Brat Pop to Come.” Their little indie subgenre, “brat pop,” sounds like a dirtier version of Passion Pit and is exactly the same as electro-pop.

Marina and the Diamonds is technically electro-pop, which sounds exactly like synth-pop except slightly whinier and more about boys and death and stuff. Melanie Martinez also loves to sing about death and stuff, and fits neatly into the electro-pop subgenre.

So, technically, brat pop doesn’t actually exist. It’s a made-up unicorn of a subgenre. Indie scene queens have already established a subgenre that HOLYCHILD fits neatly into. They’ve either refused to do their research, or just really want to be edgy.

Now don’t get me wrong, HOLYCHILD is not the only band giving into this incredibly obnoxious, totally “millennial” trend. Think vegan-pop. Think weird pop. Think cuddlecore. What used to be a way to clarify an extremely broad term for music has now become a ridiculous game in which musicians are mashing words together and making up a brand new subgenre. Yet another reason our generation is apparently ruining the world.

This is America, and these are hipsters. I, too, am guilty of being incredibly ridiculous — ask me about the time I spent a whole entire year saying “In America” after every one of my sentences because I thought I was being ironic. And the confusing subgenres are just a fun part of what makes me so passionate about Indie.

At some point though, it’s got to stop. Making up subgenres that already exist actually hurts artists more than it helps — if listeners don’t know the sound, they aren’t going to show up to the show.

But like my “In America” phase, every dumb hipster trend ends up dying down, which means even vegan-pop culture will eventually go away for good.

And I — like most confused Indie lovers — will throw a log on that particular fire and watch it as it burns.

Emera Riley is a sophomore magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at elril100@syr.edu or follow her on Twitter @emerariley.

Published on February 23, 2016 at 8:45 pm