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Trent Reznor and his Nine Inch Nails bandmate Atticus Ross took home the Best Original Song Golden Globe award last week for "Compress / Repress" from the movie Challengers. On the red carpet, Los Angeles iHeartRadio station ALT 98.7 caught Rezner to ask what's his favorite song of 2024, and his response was pretty shocking.
"I'm going to have to go with 'Espresso,'" he responded, referring to pop star Sabrina Carpenter's hit.
"Wow, unexpected!" replied the reporter, and for good reason. The NIN frontman has been on the record saying he'll never let his kids listen to mainstream pop music “because I think it sucks, generally.”
That being said, his tune has changed in recent years. In 2023, Reznor told Rick Rubin that he "teared up" while listening to Dua Lipa's song "Levitating" while his 6-year-old was singing along to it. "it was just a really well-done piece of music," he admitted. "It was clever. It felt good. It’s difficult!"
Last year, Reznor lamented over the current state of music. “The culture of the music world sucks. That’s another conversation, but what technology has done to disrupt the music business in terms of not only how people listen to music but the value they place on it is defeating," he said. “I’m not saying that as an old man yelling at clouds, but as a music lover who grew up where music was the main thing. Music [now] feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background or while you’re doing something else. That’s a long, bitter story.”