AARP Hearing Center

Remember when Bob Seger, 80, sang that today’s music “ain’t got the same soul”? If that lyric resonates a little too strongly when you’re stuck flipping between ’80s playlists and The Very Best of Steely Dan, you’re not alone. Numerous studies have confirmed it: Our musical tastes lock in during adolescence, start to decline in our 20s and begin their long nap somewhere around age 33.
Those old favorites might be comforting, but they shouldn’t be our sole soundtracks. “Our brains and bodies thrive on new experiences,” says Julene K. Johnson, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. “Exposing ourselves to new music engages multiple brain networks that process sounds, emotions, motor functions and social connections.”
We asked a group of veteran music critics to recommend their favorite new millennial or Gen Z artists who not only hold up but also echo the spirit and sound of the music we grew up loving. (And check out our Spotify playlist, below!)
’80s jangly guitar rock
If you liked: R.E.M., The Smiths and The Replacements
Then check out: Real Estate, The Tubs, Chime School
If you still get goose bumps from a perfectly strummed Rickenbacker guitar, you’ll find plenty to love in the modern revivals. “Real Estate’s ‘Interior’ might’ve been my favorite song of last year,” says author and former MTV VJ Dave Holmes, 54. “The jangly guitar sound is what the doctor hears when the stethoscope is placed on my chest.” Holmes also loves Welsh indie rock band The Tubs, whose sound reminds him of Bob Mould (64) and The Feelies, and San Francisco’s Chime School, who channel the sparkle of vintage college radio.

R&B supergroups
If you liked: Earth, Wind & Fire, En Vogue and Destiny’s Child
Then check out: The Shindellas, The Amours, Muni Long
“I miss R&B groups,” says Edward Bowser, editor and founder of music website Soul In Stereo. “They used to be a cornerstone of the genre. Now they feel like trivia answers.” Enter The Shindellas, a powerhouse trio from Nashville produced by Chuck Harmony and Claude Kelly. With tight harmonies and old-school showmanship, they channel the spirit of En Vogue and Earth, Wind & Fire without feeling stuck in the past.
“The Shindellas’ hallmark is harmonies,” Bowser says. “They stack vocal arrangements with such might that three women showcase the power of a full choir. It’s a technique that dates way back to the glory days of The Marvelettes and was refined for a new generation by superior singers like Brownstone, whose range and power shook our speakers.”
Rising R&B duo The Amours — sisters Jakiya Ayanna and Shaina Aisha — have carved out their own lane with equal parts vulnerability and polish. Their single “Clarity” continues their knack for crafting breakup anthems that ache as much as they soar. And R&B singer-songwriter Muni Long’s “Made for Me” covers love and heartache with the same passion of a ’90s slow jam.

’90s alt-rock female singer-songwriters
If you liked: Liz Phair, 58, Courtney Love, 61, and Fiona Apple
Then check out: Blondshell, Wednesday, Soccer Mommy
How to Find New Music
These apps are like treasure maps for discovery
Discover new music
The app Shazam identifies songs and links to lyrics, videos and streaming services. SoundHound AI adds voice commands, lets you hum or sing for identification, and serves up trending charts, playlists and Spotify-linked recommendations. Android’s Beatfind works similarly.
Find similar artists
Type in any artist into Music-Map and get a swirling constellation of similar acts generated from listener data. The closer two names appear, the more likely fans of one dig the other.
Add a social element
Turn Spotify playlist-building into a social sport with Music League. Join or create themed leagues (“Songs With Key Changes,” “Music That Feels Like Summer”), submit your picks, then listen, rate and comment on other players’ choices.
Sabrina Teitelbaum, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter behind Blondshell, makes music that sounds like it was raised on a steady diet of Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This and Liz Phair’s 1993 album Exile in Guyville, but with a wry, emotionally self-aware edge fit for today.
“Blondshell really embodies for me much of what I loved of the work of my favorite ’90s artists,” says Yasi Salek, host of the music podcast Bandsplain. “She blends the sharp lyricism and surprisingly corrosive emotional expression of artists like Courtney Love and Fiona Apple, but pulls it off in a modern way.”
Also channeling that emotionally complex spirit is Wednesday, a North Carolina band that layers shoegaze distortion over Southern storytelling. “Wednesday is fabulous because they exist at the convergence of several lineages: alternative rock music, female anger and the indie-Americana-country music of the South,” Salek says.
And don’t sleep on Soccer Mommy, the project of Nashville-based Sophie Allison, who wraps devastating lyrics in deceptively sweet melodies. With a sound that feels reminiscent of Sheryl Crow, 63, she’s carved out a lane that feels equally at home in a dorm room or a dive bar.
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