How Lofi Beats Took Over the Internet

Chilled Cow cover art by artist JP Machado

The last time you scrolled through YouTube, Spotify, or SoundCloud searching for music, you probably noticed something peculiar.

Lofi Playlists are everywhere.

These collections of music include hundreds, sometimes thousands of songs composed of a minimalist ethos; between 90 and 115 BPM, sampling from a wide range of melodies and are held together by reverb and…