Hyperpop is a style of pop music that grew up online. It pushes pop’s gloss to extremes with distorted vocals, abrupt changes and club textures. A Guardian profile of the musician Underscores shows how artists from this scene are now reaching arena stages.
A genre defined by excess
Hyperpop takes the familiar parts of mainstream pop, such as big hooks, bright production and processed vocals, and exaggerates them until they sound strange. Songs often jump between styles within a few bars. A sugary chorus might sit beside heavily distorted bass, sounds borrowed from emo or pop-punk guitar music, early internet nostalgia, or fast electronic dance beats. Vocals are frequently pitch-shifted or run through heavy correction software until they sound synthetic, and this is done on purpose.
The term is loose. Many artists filed under it reject the label or treat it as a convenient shorthand, not a strict description. Hyperpop is easier to understand as a set of attitudes than as one fixed sound: playful, maximalist, comfortable with artifice, and shaped by people who learned to make music on laptops and share it online.
The musician April Grey, who records as Underscores, is one current example. The Guardian describes her as a hyperpop artist and says she was born in San Francisco, is now based in Chicago, and has a sound influenced by that city’s tech boom.
Roots in online scenes and club music
Hyperpop did not begin with one record or one moment. It grew out of several overlapping currents. One was the London-based label and collective PC Music, whose releases treated commercial pop as material for art: glossy and knowingly artificial. Another was experimental club and electronic production, where producers took apart pop structures and rebuilt them with harsh, physical sound design. A third was the wider culture of bedroom production, in which young musicians recorded, released and promoted work entirely online. They usually did this outside traditional label systems, through streaming services, file-sharing platforms and social media.
Online communities did a great deal to turn these strands into something recognisable. Fans and artists swapped tracks, remixes and references, often across countries, and streaming playlists helped give the loose cluster a name. Queer and trans artists and listeners played a significant part in shaping the scene’s aesthetics and its sense of community. That is one reason the genre is often discussed in terms of identity and self-invention as well as sound.
Pop stars with established careers also helped bring the style closer to the mainstream. Charli xcx, who worked with many producers from these circles, is widely associated with the sound’s move into bigger venues.
From niche to the main stage
Today hyperpop sits in an unusual position. It is not quite underground and not fully mainstream. Its production techniques have spread widely, and touches that once sounded radical, such as extreme vocal processing or sudden genre switches, now appear in a great deal of chart-adjacent music. Meanwhile, many artists who started in the scene are moving towards conventional careers with larger tours, festival slots and more developed live shows.
The Guardian’s profile of Underscores illustrates that shift. According to the publication, she has a slot on Charli xcx’s tour and has performed one of her own songs alongside the headliner in an arena, with dancers performing her choreography. The Guardian frames this as an artist “entering the big leagues”. It also reports that she still has to deal with personal shyness and a stated wariness about writing love songs. That tension is common among musicians who built their following through online releases and then have to adapt to large live audiences.
The profile’s headline quotes her as saying she does not think Gen Z is a loveless generation. Generational identity is a recurring theme in coverage of the genre. Hyperpop is often presented as the sound of young people raised online, and critics regularly read its mix of irony and sincerity as a portrait of that experience.
Beyond the Guardian’s account, details such as Underscores’ future release plans, the full dates of the tour or her commercial figures are not known from the source material used here.
Common misconceptions
Hyperpop is just noise or a joke. The genre’s deliberate excess can sound chaotic at first. However, many of its leading producers are technically skilled and use distortion and abrupt changes with precision. Irony is often part of the style, but it usually sits next to sincere emotional content.
It is one fixed sound. The label covers a wide range of music, from glossy, near-mainstream pop to abrasive electronic tracks and guitar-led songs. Two artists both described as hyperpop can sound very different.
It came from nowhere. The style draws on decades of earlier music, including bubblegum pop, trance, emo, nightcore, chiptune and experimental club music. What felt new was the combination and the speed at which online communities spread it.
It is purely a streaming-playlist invention. Playlists and platform algorithms helped popularise the name, but the music and communities behind it existed before the label became widespread.
Its artists only exist online. As the Guardian’s reporting on arena performances suggests, several artists from the scene are now building conventional touring careers.
Further listening and reading
Readers who want to understand the genre should start with the music: label catalogues associated with the scene, artist discographies, and curated playlists on major streaming platforms that gather the style’s main strands. Long-form profiles and reviews in established music publications give context on individual artists and on how they talk about their work. The Guardian’s piece on Underscores is one such starting point. Academic and critical writing on internet culture, club music and queer music scenes can explain why the genre developed where and when it did. Watching recordings of live performances is also useful, because the move from laptop-made tracks to large stage productions is one of the most visible changes in the scene.
Frequently asked questions
What is hyperpop music?
Hyperpop is an internet-born form of pop that exaggerates the genre’s typical features. It combines catchy hooks with heavily processed vocals, distorted bass, abrupt changes of style and influences from electronic dance music, emo and other genres. The label is loose, and many artists placed under it do not fully accept it, but it broadly describes a playful, maximalist approach to making pop music.
Who is Underscores?
Underscores is the recording name of April Grey, a musician the Guardian describes as a hyperpop artist. According to the publication, she was born in San Francisco, is based in Chicago, and has a sound inspired by the San Francisco tech boom. The Guardian also reports that she has a slot on Charli xcx’s tour.
Where did hyperpop come from?
Hyperpop grew out of several overlapping influences. These included the London label and collective PC Music, experimental club production, and the culture of young musicians making and sharing music from home. Online communities and streaming playlists helped gather these strands under one name. Queer and trans artists and fans were central to shaping its sound and identity.
Is hyperpop mainstream now?
Hyperpop has moved closer to the mainstream without fully becoming part of it. Its production habits, such as extreme vocal effects and sudden genre switches, now appear widely in pop. Several artists from the scene are also reaching larger audiences. The Guardian reports, for example, that Underscores has performed in an arena setting as part of Charli xcx’s tour.
Why is hyperpop linked to Gen Z?
Hyperpop is often described as music by and for young people raised online, so commentators frequently link it to Gen Z. Its mix of irony, sincerity and rapid references matches how many people experience internet culture. In a Guardian profile, Underscores is quoted in the headline as saying she does not think Gen Z is a loveless generation.
Sources and further reading
- The Guardian, music section: profile of Underscores covering her background, sound and touring
- Established music publications: reviews and features on hyperpop and its leading artists
- Record label catalogues associated with the scene, including PC Music
- Major streaming platforms: editorial playlists that grouped and named the genre
Surfaced from the rss:guardian_music signal “hyperpop artist profile”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
