Hyperpop

Liz is the missing link between 90s R&B-tinged teen pop of the Britney/Xtina variety, and the hyperpop of the PC Music stable.

SOPHIE, a hyperpop genre pioneer, is known for their signature use of an Elektron Monomachine, which they compared to bubbles popping and metal clanging during their 2014 interview with Billboard.

Back in July, Charli XCX tweeted the question: “what is hyperpop?” […] A few minutes after her glib inquiry about the burgeoning pop descriptor, she rejected the label entirely, tweeting: “I do not identify with music genres.” That brief exchange is as good a definition as any for the sound and ethos of hyperpop: a genre tag for distinctly genre-less music.

SOPHIE’s ascension beyond genre was incredibly impactful on hyperpop, and the musician’s impact on the expansion of music collectively is perpetuated through collaborations with a wide variety of modern musicians.

Freelance music writer Shaad D’Souza speaks to Laura Murphy-Oates about the rise of hyperpop and what it tells us about the influence of big corporations such as Spotify.

Glitches—sounds that intentionally evoke malfunctioning machines—are everywhere these days: in the chaotic loops of TikTok, in the choppy samples of Hot 100 rap, in the aggressive bustle of hyperpop.

Interspliced dialogue excerpts are added to the hyperpop anthem—Batman, Vicki Vale and the Joker all join Prince on what is sure to be a No. 1 hit.

Their sound is hard to miss: wedged between the most recent hyperpop offerings from Morning Musume Inc. and its subsidiaries and the prepubescent Arashi, it's not hard to pluck out Love Psychedelico's fuzzy guitar riffs and curdling organ passages out of the para-para fare that clogs the charts.