Why Is Emo Popular Again? Billie Joe Armstrong Thinks He Knows

There's little doubt that the last couple of years have seen pop-punk and emo having a moment once again, and combined with nu metal, it seems that music from the early 2000s is coming back around. But what's behind it? Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has some thoughts.

The singer was speaking with The Guardian when he was asked about the When We Were Young Festival and the revival of both emo and pop-punk in popular culture. Armstrong admitted he feels as though, especially with emo, the revival came a little soon for him.

"Emo was dead – then just five years later we’re having emo club nights. Like, aren’t you supposed to wait another five years for this? My Chemical Romance just broke up," remarked the singer.

He then dove into why he thinks its come back so fast, noting, "I think streaming and the way things go viral now [is fueling it]. There’s this band the Walters that broke up four years ago and suddenly they have this song that’s everywhere. Same thing with Deftones – all of a sudden their music is showing up on all these TikTok videos. There’s this new algorithmic way of discovering new stuff. It’s really prevalent in rock music and it shows how people are paying less attention to the radio [and other traditional platforms]."

Green Day were the beneficiary of some of that emo and pop-punk love, having co-headlined the 2023 edition of When We Were Young with Blink-182. During their performance, Green Day debuted their new song "Look Ma, No Brains" and played "The American Dream Is Killing Me" off their forthcoming Saviors album, due Jan. 19.

The 2024 edition of When We Were Young has already been announced, returning to Las Vegas with My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy leading the way, as many of the acts will be revisiting full albums during the 2024 sets.