Tween Pop
Children's Music and Public Culture
Contemporary students at University of Texas at Austin may recall the surge of tween pop music when High School Musical (2006) premiered on Disney Channel, but how did this market get started? In Tween Pop, Tyler Bickford traces the dramatic rise of the “tween” music industry, showing how childishness could be marketed for a child’s agency in the music market. In addition to Kidz Bop, High School Musical, and the Disney Channel's music programs, Bickford examines Taylor Swift in relation to girlhood and whiteness, Justin Bieber's childish immaturity, and Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana and postfeminist discourses of work-life balance. For scholars or fans, desiring to understand the core of identity politics in twenty-first century children’s music, it is a must read.