Pop as a formal category of recorded music exists as a flexible, wide-reaching framework that adapts to the creative priorities and cultural contexts of every region that claims it, evolving to carry the perspectives of the artists who work within its bounds while remaining recognizable as part of a global lineage of popular recorded sound. This inherent flexibility has allowed pop to take root in nearly every country in the world, with each regional iteration developing its own set of unspoken norms, cultural ties, and creative throughlines that distinguish it from pop produced in other parts of the globe, even as all iterations share core connections to the broader pop lineage that unites popular recorded music across borders.