Streams of chill, endless hip-hop beats set to visuals of animated characters have taken over YouTube, beloved by millions of users who listen to these videos while working or trying to fall asleep.

If you've ever listened to a YouTube video of "lo-fi beats to study or relax to," you might have interacted with Michael Turner's music. Turner, 26, is a full-time musician who makes pop music under ...

In the mid-2010s, when I was in high school, the genre known as lo-fi beats was like a brain cleanse for all my time spent mainlining Minecraft and YouTube. The music was tender, with drums sizzling ...