"The Mainstream's '80s Moment Is Simply Belated Catching Up"

"The popness of the '80s, then, connotes its fancied innocence, provided you bypass all its real terrors and dysfunctions. This can imbue even what once seemed like the most cynical and calculated blockbuster pop with a poignant sentimentality. I think this is why Jepsen connects it to 'emotion': The music's very shallowness becomes a kind of helpless depth. Whether you were there or not, you seem to recall, don't you? I do. You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar."

Carl Wilson in Slate discusses 1980s influences in contemporary pop music.