pop for

Although she targeted teen listeners with such songs as the spring break anthem “Where the Boys Are,” Francis ultimately gravitated toward the middle of the road, singing softly lit, tasteful pop for adult audiences.

But WelcomeFest was a slightly more public version of this: Maybe not for the everyman, exactly, but at just $20 a pop, for the politics-adjacent person who lives in D.C. and has the afternoon free to figure out how exactly to reach the everyman in the future, the type who is going to need to be brought back into the Democratic fold—and who moderates say they have the best chance of retrieving.

Jimmy Eat World has consistently put out impeccable power pop for 30-plus years, with “Clarity” and “Bleed American” among the best alt-rock records released in that time frame.

I once came to pick up my pop for lunch on the Ford car lot at which he worked.

Charli was born Emma Aitchison in Essex, UK, and has been chipping away at the coalface of pop for more than a decade.