As influential as it is divisive, Hyperpop has been seemingly inescapable in recent years, but it’s classification is a little murky.
What is Hyperpop? Is it the same as Digicore? Is it even a genre at all? And most pertinently – are you 38? If you are, shouldn’t you be having an IPA-nap under curly-wired headphones playing Fleet Foxes rather than desperately straining to stay relevant? By examining five key tracks, we help you find out.
twst – Sugared Up
Sugared Up is a glittering delight. By taking the melody from Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and supercharging it, twst dares to ask the question “Why didn’t you put any OTT multiband compression on your ballet, you dead prick?” Yet twst disavows the term Hyperpop, so could this hard-as-nails bop be Digicore after all?
If you’re 38, this simply doesn’t matter. Just put Last Nite by The Strokes on and have a nice sit down. You like The Strokes, don’t you? Chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug-chug. Isn’t that better?
Look there’s nobody you need to impress anymore, just like what you like.
Holliday Howe – kicks
This glorious banger lures the unsuspecting 38 year-old in with the promise of lush, de-tuned synths, eliciting happy coos about “analog warmth”. But then the house-y chorus hits, with its pearlescent digital plucks and treated vocals, and the startled 38 year-old scurries away to the safety of a War on Drugs song.
quinn – coping mechanism
Remember when you went to a Bon Iver show and shouted “Judas!” when they played their weird auto-tune song? Well, this post-Hyperpop, post-Digicore gem may not be to your taste. The creative possibilities of auto-tune are fascinating, but if you’d rather listen to ‘Holocene’ ten times in a row under a blanket, then that’s absolutely valid too. You do you.
Namasenda – Donuts
It’s a shame your 38 year-old soul can’t feel pure, unfettered joy anymore, because this slice of bliss could’ve been a great fit. It’s just a bit……girly for you, isn’t it? Couldn’t she have made it in a snowy log cabin after chopping some wood or something? Would it have killed her to record a nice mopey song on a rudimentary guitar fashioned from a hollowed-out owl?
Charli XCX – Blame It On Your Love (feat. Lizzo) [Dylan Brady Remix]
Something of a victory lap for Hyperpop, this mashed-up-remix-of-a-reworking-of-a-reworking is steeped in scene history and scene royalty. But those synth sounds are so harsh! I bet they’re making your poor 38 year-old ears all hurty. How about we whizz up those nasty sharp synths in a blender, and pour you out a nice smooth Future Islands song – that’d slip down real nice.