The Magic of Hyperpop
For the last two years now, a small subset of music has gradually been gaining more mainstream attention–hyperpop. Hyperpop is a genre that is commonly characterized by distorted bass and high pitched vocals, however, subsets within the genre take inspiration from other music as well. The bubblegum bass and EDM influence may be what hyperpop was originally known for, however, newer artists like Glaive, ericdoa, Aldn, and midwxst have been combining components from emotional trap and rock with their hyperpop roots (as seen through their use of bitcrushed guitars and trap percussion) to help separate their music from others–and it has worked. While hyperpop has stayed largely in its own territory since its beginning, Glaive and ericdoa have helped introduce hyperpop to mainstream attention–garnering a feature with pop-punk artist Machine Gun Kelly and a song on the Season 2 soundtrack of popular HBO show Euphoria, respectively.
What intrigues me the most about hyerpop is its evolution into a genre that hosts such a wide variety of music within it. Hyperpop’s origin is credited by many to the growth of Nightcore music in the early 2010s. “Nightcore” is a term that was used to refer to remixes on YouTube that would speed up and increase the pitch of already-existing songs. Nightcore music has its own distinct sound, and its influence is particularly obvious when listening to modern hyperpop artists like 100 gecs. The influence is particularly obvious when comparing nightcore music to ericdoa’s song “sad4what” from the Season 2 soundtrack of Euphoria. This influence is crucial to the original establishment of hyperpop, but not so much to the expansion of hyperpop into mainstream pop culture.
Glaive, a personal favorite artist of mine over the last two years, is one of the most popular rising hyperpop artists. Being only 17, it's impressive how Glaive has not only become a main face of a growing genre, but has also signed a record deal with Interscope Records, and attained collaborations with major artists like The Kid LAROI and Machine Gun Kelly. What I feel has contributed to Glaive’s appeal–besides simply being as talented as he is and strangely resembling Stranger Things actor Finn Wolfhard–is that he combines what makes emotional trap music successful with what makes hyperpop unique. Glaive often takes favorable subject matters of heartbreak and delivers them atop a distorted hyperpop instrumental with aggressive vocal delivery and almost edgy lyrics. One could argue Glaive’s synthesis with popular trap music makes hyperpop more digestible to a mainstream audience, helping it break into the pop industry more easily.
Hyperpop is such a fascinating genre to me because while it might seem slightly repulsive at first due to the ridiculous distortion, it has cleverly engrained itself into pop music as a whole. Glaive and ericdoa have done an incredible job combining what makes trap successful with what makes hyperpop unique, and I’m incredibly excited to listen to their new music as it releases.
