EXPLORING THE 21ST CENTURY NEW AGE MUSIC GENRE: COMPOSERS' IDEOLOGIES, CREATIVITY AND PROMOTION

Abstract

This paper aims to establish a better understanding of the New Age Music (NAM) genre in the 21^st century. The intent is to explore underlying ideologies and expressions held by its composers and obtain a multifaceted viewpoint towards the genre. Through content analysis conducted among secondary data including  19 archived interviews, an article, and 24 NAM albums, it was found that the ideologies and musical creativity held by the NAM artists leaned towards healing, expansion of the mind, and spirituality; the identity issue was observed amongst several artists who didn't regard themselves and outputs related to NAM; few 21^st century NAM albums displayed individualism by showing artists’ portrait although the commercialization of NAM inclined towards mental health and awareness instead of a form of entertainment.