By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 955 The Heat, Phoenix Radio

Social media and other online spaces have become a sea of aesthetics over the last several years. Visit any site where people can easily log in and communicate, and you will see users promoting curated sets of tastes, styles, and behaviors. “Clean girl aesthetic,” demands a sleek, minimalist wardrobe, simple beauty routines, and fresh, natural food and hygiene products. “Academia” aesthetics center around the worlds of prep school or college and university life, and involve dressing like a prep school student, college instructor or professor or librarian, and indulging in the expected foods and activities such as reading poetry and drinking coffee or tea. Some pages devoted to understanding modern aesthetics list more than fifty, while others offer thirteen pages of thirty-two each. While each aesthetic may include musical genres or bands that fit the clothing, décor, and lifestyle, this contemporary method of categorizing things has most directly impacted music through the increasing popularity of micro genres. Fans and musicians alike may find music increasingly categorized into micro genres, as more and more music is offered and accessed online. Narrowing things down into the smallest subcategory possible can make it more likely to draw the attention of the anticipated audience. 

Smaller than a sub-genre, a micro genre has its own distinct characteristics not found in the wider sub-genre or the larger genre. A micro genre also differs from a sub-genre and from fusion in that, like an aesthetic, a micro genre is designed to cater to specific themes or tastes. Just like their fashion, décor, and food and activity counterparts, music micro genres are numerous enough to devote entire websites to the topic, but three stand out as the most accessible, the most startling, and the most obscure music micro genres. 

Most Accessible: Christian Rap, Pop, or Country 

Contemporary Christian music is described by some as its own genre. Others argue that because it does not have a distinct sound all its own, it is a sub-genre of whatever style of music is being played. However, each specific type of modern Christian music is often considered a micro genre, because it is written, produced, and marketed to appeal to very specific themes and tastes in music. 

Christian Rap is created to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as is all Christian music. But it is also created for and by people who love Rap music. Someone who accepted Jesus and their Lord and Savior, but did not enjoy the sound of Rap music at all would not be a Christian Rapper or a fan of Christian Rap. The same holds true for Christian Pop and Christian Country. It is this focus on a narrow category of listeners that qualifies each form of modern Christian music as a sub-genre for many. 

Rap fans who never thought to listen to Christian Rap before might want to try Lecrae. His song “Graced up,” performed with Miles Minnick, was released in May 2025, and sends a message of the blessing of the grace of Jesus Christ on a person’s life. Christian Pop is perhaps best exemplified today by Brandon Lake, particularly “Hard fought hallelujah,” a catchy song about being willing to go through trials in life to glorify God. “Deeper still,” by Ben Fuller is likely to appeal to Christians who love country music, as it sounds like a more traditional-leaning modern country song, but the lyrics center around finding Jesus “at the end of myself,” and a desire to know Him and His love deeper. 

Christian micro genres are easy to find, with entire stations, numerous playlists on streaming services, and whole sections of music stores devoted to Christian music. While aimed at Christians who enjoy each type of music, those who are not Christian may still like some Christian music in their favorite genre, as it basically sounds the same as what they are already into. 



Most Startling: Horrorcore

“Horrorcore” might best be defined as “Hip hop music for people who love horror movies, paranormal or horror fiction, and/or true crime.” The genre is Hip-hop, and some people call “Horrorcore,” a sub genre rather than a micro genre, but it qualifies as a micro genre because the themes in Horrorcore music are especially dark, even when compared to some of the grittier themes and lyrics of mainstream Rap and Hip Hop music. 

The most well-known Horrorcore artists may be the Hip-Hop duo Insane Clown Posse. Some of their song titles themselves are explicit, but like much of Horrorcore, even the most mundane sounding titles or choruses are woven around graphic, scary stories. “Prom Queen,” with its chorus beginning “Won’t you be my prom queen?” sounds like a typical teen crush tune, but listen closely and it is clear that the song is actually about a young man who is planning to murder someone at his prom. Similarly, Razakel’s “Cherry Red,” blends Hip-Hop with pop and sounds like it should be a dance song, but the lyrics reveal it to be written from the perspective of a murderer threatening a potential victim. 

Although the lyrics of Horrorcore music can be disturbing, it is important to remember that the artists are doing the same thing with their music that Stephen King does with his fiction or Wes Craven with film, that is, telling a fictional story to an audience who wants to enjoy that type of story. 


Most Obscure: Zeuhl

Even if you do not listen to them yourself, there is a good chance you know somebody into Christian Rap, Christian Pop, or Christian Country music. You may even know someone who listens to Horrorcore. But you probably do not know anybody who listens to one of the most obscure music micro genres, Zeuhl. 

This micro genre was formed in 1969. It is often described as a blend of Jazz, Progressive Rock, Classical Music, and other styles. Free Jazz is noted as a particular influence. Musically, this makes Zeuhl an extreme form of fusion music, but it is the lyrics that push it into micro genre territory. 

Zeuhl was founded by the French band Magma, but rather than writing and singing their songs in French, Magma’s music is almost entirely in a language called Kobaian, a language that was invented by the band’s drummer, Christian Vander. It may not be possible to find a genre more “micro” than “type of music that was founded in a language invented by a single individual for that genre.” 

Magma is not the only Zeuhl band. In a 2020 bandcamp article titled, “There is no prog, only Zeuhl: A guide to one of Rock’s most imaginative subgenres,” writer Jim Allen lists twelve bands he defines as “Zeuhl,” while the wikipedia entry for “Zeuhl” lists twenty-four. 

The easiest way to hear what “Zeuhl” sounds like is to search YouTube for videos of Magma. 

For more information about micro genres, vist….the entire internet. Then come back a few months later and search all over again. Just as some lifestyle aesthetics seem to be here forever, while others are fads that fade in a season, some music micro genres have been around for more than fifty years, while others may have lasted only a few years and then faded away, with new ones forming and categories shifting over time. 

By Jess Santacroce
​Music Writer, 955 The Heat Phoenix Radio

​Making a living entirely from practicing your art is rare for most artists, including musicians. Firm statistics on the number of musicians with outside jobs are not available, as both the musicians themselves and the people performing the studies may have differing ideas on what constitutes a job “outside” of music. A musician who supports herself by doing work that has no direct connection to music would certainly say she had a “day job” or a “side job” or “side hustle.” Someone who regularly performs his own compositions for small fees for an audience, but pays his bills by teaching high school music would likely consider both of those jobs part of his music career, but he might not. That same person might classify his teaching work as a “day job,” because it does not involve performing his own compositions. However, informal surveys conducted by various websites and companies devoted to supporting musicians report anywhere from 70% to more than 75% of musicians needing some type of steady work outside of playing, singing, or writing music to survive. 

This makes the modern workplace trend of the infinite workday particularly problematic for musicians. Coined on June 17, 2025 in a study done by Microsoft, “infinite workday,” refers to the unwritten and unstated expectation that an employee continuously check in to their workplace and remain constantly available to do work tasks, regardless of what their official schedule or contract might say. Your work files are accessible on your personal laptop, so your boss sees no reason why he can’t call you and ask you for some information from them at 9 p.m. on Saturday. Your company has always had a policy of responding to customer messages in one day, and now that you have the company app installed on your phone, your department head interprets that as 24 hours from the time the customer messages, not one business day, forcing you to continuously check in and deal with customers, even on your hours and days off. 

While great for the company getting essentially free labor, and for the supervisor getting to chalk their behavior up as “leadership” or “team building,” this is disastrous for the finances, mental health, personal relationships, and often physical health of employees in any field. For musicians, there is the possibility of it completely ruining a musical career, as writing time, practice and rehearsal time, and even meetings to arrange management and gigs and the performances themselves can now be interrupted or even completely ruined by demands from a day job supervisor or client. 

Since this trend does not seem to be going away, prevention is the best way to protect yourself and your music career.

Avoid phone conversations with supervisors as much as possible

Supervisors who push for “talking things out” or “working out arrangements” over the phone are not trying to make a personal connection with you, and it is not easier to do things if they call you on your cell phone after hours instead of sending you an email or message over company channels. They’re trying to escape accountability by preventing you from having a record of what they said. A department head or manager who sends an email stating, “We strive for work-life balance and only expect you to answer customer messages during your scheduled hours” risks getting that sent right back to them when they later turn around and expect you to respond to work inquiries at all hours. If they call you on the phone and promise that you won’t have to log in on your time off, they can claim they never said that when they suddenly expect you to be available all day every day. Communicate through email, messenger apps, and video calls that can be recorded and saved if at all possible. If they demand your phone number, or have access to it through already existing records, place the phone in another room during rehearsals, recordings, and performances, and make sure your work does not have any unnecessary numbers, such as the number to a recording studio you regularly use or the phone numbers of anyone in your band as emergency contacts. 

Decline any work accessibility measures that are not requirements of your job under your contract

When offered a company app you can download on your phone, an email account you can open at work and at home, or any other “take the job with you” technology, immediately email your supervisor or department head and ask if this is required of your position. If it is not required, do not download or open it. These features are not designed to help you in case you can’t come in to the office one day or want to do some quick catch-up work on the train on the way to work. They’re designed to give the company the means to make you work for them all the time.  

One trick managers use to get around this is to state that the company app or program is not required to be installed on your personal device, but then later demand that you do something that can only be done by using that same software. Do not add the software or app to your personal device “just for this task.” Remind your supervisor that you have a written record of them saying the software is unnecessary, and inform them that your devices cannot accept it and you need to be able to do whatever it is they’re asking you to do through your computer or phone at work. If they claim this is impossible, then they must provide you with a device you can use to access their app or software. Of course, you will leave that phone or other device at work, or if you work remotely, someplace you only access during work hours. 

Set up a dedicated work place, not work space for remote jobs

Most “work from home” articles advise you to set up a dedicated work space as soon as you accept a remote job. This is fine advice if you have a spare bedroom or den in your home, or even a spare desk you can wedge into a corner of your kitchen or den. It keeps your work things out of the way, and more importantly, it helps you separate day job time from music (not to mention everything else in your life) time. When you’re in your home office, or at your home desk, you are “at work.” When you’re not, you are “home.” 

The problem with this is that not everyone who takes a remote job has a room they can set up as a home office, or the money to buy a desk for work. If you are one of these people, buy a cheap bag or a bin at Dollar Tree. Keep all of your work materials, including any devices you use strictly for that job, in the bag or bin. That bin or bag should be kept tucked away. When it is work time, bring it to the kitchen table, or to the desk you already have in your bedroom or den. When work time is over, pack it away. 

Remember that work culture is not the same as it was fifty, thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago

Your music is always your most important work, but you may be investing too much into your day job anyway due to outdated career advice. In the workplace of the past, dedication was rewarded. If you went above and beyond, came in early, stayed late, did work outside of your scheduled hours, you would be rewarded with promotions and bonuses, and treated with dignity and respect. 

Today, workplace culture is usually completely impersonal, and seems to be growing more and more so by the year. Over-dedication to a company only shows your supervisors that you are someone who goes overboard trying to please people, and are therefore someone who is easy to disrespect, manipulate, and push around. 

Do what you need to do to keep your day job for the sake of supporting your music career, but keep it in perspective. Your music will always be a part of you, and nobody can create or perform your music exactly like you. Your day job will replace you within weeks of your departure.