Lo-fi and the way it functions differently in different genres is something worth mapping.

Lo-fi in indie folk means something different from lo-fi in hip-hop, which means something different from lo-fi in bedroom pop. In indie folk, it typically means acoustic instruments recorded with minimal processing, often in a room rather than a studio — the lo-fi is about proximity and naturalness. In hip-hop, lo-fi is more about a specific palette of drum samples and filtered loops — it's an aesthetic choice made with digital tools. In bedroom pop, lo-fi is about the recording circumstance itself — a domestic space, limited equipment, the sounds of a specific environment bleeding in.

These are all different relationships between the artist and the acoustic environment, and they produce different emotional effects. The proximity feeling of folk lo-fi is different from the woozy warmth of lo-fi hip-hop, which is different from the intimate claustrophobia of bedroom pop lo-fi.

I think conflating them is one of the reasons lo-fi gets treated as a monolithic aesthetic when it's actually several distinct approaches.