A Knight’s Tale

This piece originally appeared on September 26, 2024 in Sound Signal, our biweekly newsletter that identifies emerging artists, scenes, and trending tracks, crafted by the world's best writers and curators. Sign up here to never miss our take on what's next in music.

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Last summer, comedian Brittany Broski launched Royal Court, a popular medieval-themed interview show. Guests, like Charli XCX and Orville Peck, dress the part to prove that they should have a spot in her… royal court. At this year’s VMAs, Chappell Roan wore a sword, cape, and giant cross on the red carpet and doubled down on the aesthetic when hitting the stage, performing in full armor. There are even soundboards dedicated to sounds from that time period, featuring instruments like a bowed harp, bagpipes, and sword sound effects for musicians who want to go the extra mile.

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In the mid-2010s Millennials flocked to “normcore,” an intentionally, almost ironically subdued, normative way of dressing. But, likely following the physical and emotional confines of the 2020 pandemic, sartorial and musical trends of the last few years have been comparatively extravagant and escapist. From the dreamy, salt of the earth ambitions of cottagecore to the bright pink, high-femme glossiness of Barbiecore to dark academia’s fixation on mystery and scholarliness, contemporary trends allow people to try on dramatic, specific personas that are very different from their daily lives.

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Medieval themes has seen many forms since emerging in 2020. As we started sewing and making our own sourdoughs during the pandemic the imagined craftsmanship of those times felt particularly resonant. A few years ago, as part of a trend called “bardcore” on TikTok, musicians reimagined popular songs as lute-based, olde-english ballads. (This version of “Pumped Up Kicks” has 10M views.) “Royalty-core” YouTube videos like this one collect regal-sounding music into a playlist with a central theme or narrative, in this case, the story of a royal heir asking you to dance at a ball.  

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But even today, a few years out from the most isolating moments of the pandemic, knightcore allows for meaningful escapism. For people like Broski, dressing up in outdated, exaggerated outfits creates a sense of playfulness that aligns with her work as a comedian. Alternatively, for a queer woman like Roan, donning chainmail and carrying a crossbow allows her to play with gender and heterosexual relationships roles, and claim a sense of valor archetypally reserved for straight men. It’s not a coincidence that she chose this ensemble to perform a song that condemns a former lover’s compulsory heterosexuality and celebrates her own ability to walk away and find value in herself.

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Whether it is used to cultivate a feeling of whimsy or to channel the imagined nobility of a larger-than-life image archetype, knightcore is bringing the fantastical to the mundane.