Cigarette Mom Rock Is The Newest Music Genre & We Are Here For All Interpretations

The older I get, the more I gravitate to the things I grew up listening to. Not just the music I loved in the ‘90s and ‘00s like *NSYNC or Spice Girls or Fall Out Boy, but also the things I heard in the living room on a Saturday morning as my mom cleaned the house, or the songs she played in her black Grand Am with all the windows down as she smoked a cigarette in between errands.

And apparently, all of us are looking for that vibe — because cigarette mom rock is officially a genre. A genre, it must be said, that’s open to interpretation.

The category’s been going around social media for a bit, but there’s even a domain exclusively for Cigarette Mom Rock. There, the meaning of the genre is described as a “feminine counterpart to ‘divorced dad rock,’” but is also meant to conjure up images of your own hard-working ‘90s mom, driving you to baseball practice with the windows down and a cigarette in one hand. What was she listening to? What lyrics did you already know at 10 years old? What was her song choice at karaoke?

For a lot of us, Cigarette Mom Rock includes a Lilith Fair-type genre. Lots of Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, and Tracy Chapman. For others, it feels a lot like Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, and Joan Jett. And for some, it’s the alt-rock icons of the ‘90s like Gwen Stefani, Garbage, and Hole.

Basically, it’s interpretive, and that’s kind of the fun of this genre. My own ‘90s cigarette-smoking mom loved everything from Bryan Adams and Fleetwood Mac to Mary Chapin Carpenter and Tricia Yearwood. The Cigarette Mom Rock genre is all about what feels right to you and what makes you feel like you’re riding alongside your mom, with nothing to think about except if she’s going to let you get french fries from the McDonald’s inside Walmart while you shop.

If you check out playlists on Pandora or Spotify, you can see that they run the gamut. Some user-generated playlists include Evanescence, Creed, and Alanis, while others include Sixpence None the Richer, Faith Hill, and The Chicks.

But I think Pandora might get it the most on-the-nose. While listening to the official Pandora Cigarette Mom Rock station, here’s what I heard:

• Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”
• The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”
• Anna Nalick’s “Breathe (2 AM)”
• Alanis Morrisette’s “Head Over Feet”
• Veruca Salt’s “Volcano Girls”
• Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy”
• Shawn Colvin’s “Sunny Came Home”

I basically felt like the main character in a ‘90s movie. Which feels extremely Cigarette Mom Rock-coded.

So I think it’s fair to put your own spin on this genre. If you don’t want to overthink it, hit Pandora’s official station and just clean your kitchen or go for a long car ride — windows down — with your kids. Just do something that makes you feel like it’s 1995 again — except now you’re the mom.

And maybe slip in a little Matchbox 20. The real cigarette moms would want it that way.