Pop Conference 2026: Mayhem!

** Please note that registration for the opening and closing keynotes will require separate registration. Program and ticketing information to be announced soon. **

Over two dynamic days of panels, roundtables, keynotes, and performances, the 24th annual Pop Conference returns as the world’s premier gathering for music writing and popular music studies and the longest-running conference devoted to scholarship and criticism in the field. This year’s program is chaired by acclaimed journalist, editor, and author Danyel Smith.

This year’s theme, “Mayhem: Pop Music and Writing in Perilous Times,” draws inspiration from the title of Lady Gaga’s recent album, while turning toward a larger cultural reckoning. Mayhem captures the turbulence that defines the present moment: technological upheaval, political volatility, media precarity, and seismic shifts in the making, ownership, and consumption of music. That turbulence hurtles us to the brink, a charged space of instability and uncertainty that gives rise to new forms and new possibilities. Pop music has always flourished at the brink. In periods of disruption and collapse, artists, writers, and critics alike have transformed crisis into sound, language, and community.

Held for the third consecutive year at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, this year’s Pop Conference convenes leading scholars, journalists, writers, and musicians to explore the work that pop music and music writing do when the stakes are high and the future feels unsettled. Topics range from Lil Wayne and Prince to Cowboy Carter and Brat culture; from copyright, pirate radio, and music stans to KPop Demon Hunters and new pop mythologies; from queer and trans erasures in pop and from platform fandoms; from Bad Bunny and the Sinners soundtrack to the blues in an age shaped by algorithms. At a time when so much feels fragile, the Pop Conference gathers us at the brink to listen, to argue, and to imagine what comes next.

Following the opening-night keynote on March 12, the conference continues on March 13 and 14 with two full days of programming (9:00 am–6:00 pm), including panels, roundtables, mentorship sessions, and performances. All sessions are open to the general public and free with advance registration.

Pop Conference is generously supported by Critical Minded, a granting and learning initiative cofounded by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and The Ford Foundation.

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PopCon | PopCon is the premier music writing and popular music studies conference, bringing together the world’s leading scholars, journalists, writers, and musicians for over two decades.

USC Thornton School of Music | The USC Thornton School of Music prepares students for successful careers in the 21st century, drawing upon an unparalleled history of artistry and scholarship established alongside the City of Angels. The Thornton School of Music mission is defined by the pursuit of musical excellence, collaboration, and support. Learn more at music.usc.edu.

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