The Hyperpop Evolution: The origins of hyperpop, as is the case with every other genre, are tough to nail down. It’s generally accepted that it was born in the UK, sometime during the 2010s. But the precise moment that the perfect ingredients combined to form this subgenre that appears to be adored and maligned in equal measure is much harder to deduce.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Hyperpop is here now, and it’s getting bigger all the time. Defined by exaggerated pop characteristics and often autotuned, sped up vocals, hyperpop is often criticized by a perceived lack of authenticity. What the critics often miss, however, is the fact that there’s a genuine scene going on.

Hyperpop is queer-friendly. It attracts the shy and introverted, and offers them a healthy outlet. It lives largely online, but there’s a very visual aspect based on gaming and anime/manga.

“It’s a big gamer genre, and anime,” says artist Sophie Shredz. “Crazy visuals for sure. I feel like the branding is geared to gamers. It’s a very online genre.”

“I am very much into anime,” adds fellow hyperpop artist Sophie Powers. “I’m also a fashion designer and design all my own outfits. So that visual aspect is very important to me and my community. They’re wholesome. They’re sweet. It's not, it’s not a tough space. And yeah, the anime really does make me feel more comfortable.”



Shredz grew up playing guitar from the age of 7, playing in bands for most of her life.

“I moved to Nashville for college, and I was in a band throughout college,” she says. “Then during COVID, I dropped out and broke off, and did my own thing. That’s when I really started to get into hyperpop and production, and electronic music and stuff. Once I started to do that, I knew that this was going to be my thing.”

Meanwhile, Powers wrote her first song when she was 8 years old.

“I was a theater kid,” she says. “So I did that very intensively from age 8 until 15. And then

I actually started to pursue music full-time at the age of 15. I moved to L.A. at the age of 16, to continue music full time. So I’d say around that time, it was getting very serious.”

Both Sophies admit that hyperpop isn’t the easiest genre to define.

“I love this question,” Shredz says. “It’s crazy because I feel like when I tell people that my genre is hyperpop, they are like, ‘What does that mean?’ My initial question is always, ‘Do you know 100 gecs?’ Because that’s the main one that everybody knows. The way I describe it is, it’s just like really heavy bass and the vocals sound like you’re Alvin & the Chipmunks. They’re like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But the first band I always introduce to people is 100 gecs because they kind of like started a bigger movement of hyperpop, I feel. It’s weird, I always tell people it’s heavy bass with pitched vocals, and it’s just a more ADHD version of pop music.”

An “ADHD version of pop” is an interesting take. Powers believes that hyperpop is avant-garde.

“I grew up listening to Lady Gaga, and I was a teenager in the L.A. club scene, attending events like Subculture party,” she says. “It's just music that I can feel comfortable listening to in any setting like that L.A. party with a bunch of queers, or I can listen to it with my very straight normcore friends, and they might also be like, ‘Whoa, this is dope.’ You know, it's really for everyone. And that's why it's so special to me.”

Hyperpop evolved out of and into more sub genres and micro genres than we can list, but some of the main ones are glitchcore, digicore, hyperfunky and dariacore.

“Sometimes I feel like I can’t even describe it because there are so many different subgenres of the actual genre,” says Shredz. “But obviously, PC Music was the big starter of that. So it’s cool to see where the genre is going. I feel like it’s always evolving.”



The through-line that journeys between gaming and anime and general online culture is long but fuzzy. Hyperpop culture isn’t one thing, so it’s not easily definable. It’s not even entirely forward-thinking because there are nostalgic elements when it comes to pop culture and tech.

“It’s crazy because I’ve literally found some of the craziest hyperpop songs only on Soundcloud,” says Shredz. “I feel like it’s a super online genre. There are a lot of Discord chats and stuff where that’s where people are meeting their collaborators. I feel like it’s a lot of shy introverts. The way the music is does not always match up with the person behind it. The music is super out there and in your face, and then you meet the person behind the song and you’re like, ‘Wow, such a shy person.’”

Other artists that sit in or have sat in the hyperpop space include Slayyyter and Charli XCX. But jump on TikTok and YouTube, and the pool of talent is endless.

“Oh, there’s so many,” says Powers. “One of my good friends is Syko. I really admire him as a hyperpop artist. 100 gecs of course. I also really like Bladee and Drain Gang.”

Both Shredz and Powers have new music out. In the case of the former, the latest single is “Eyez On Me.”

“I wrote Eyez On Me with King John, who’s one of my main producers, and Amava, who’s also another amazing artist,” Shredz says. “We recorded it in Nashville. It was one of the first singles that I ever wrote. It was a time where I was going through this situation where I felt like I was getting a lot of negative attention and I wanted to reclaim that idea and turn it into a bad bitch anthem pop song. Going back to what I said before about people in this genre being super introverted and shy, I feel like this song for me was hope I wanted to react in the situation, and I didn’t want to hide behind – Sophie Shredz is my persona of what I wish I would say.”

Meanwhile, Powers released the “Better On Mute” single in November.

“‘Better On Mute’” was recorded in my producer’s place in L.A. in response to, I had a little bit of viral exposure from my song ‘Nosebleed’ and was overwhelmed with hate comments like I’d never seen before,” she says. “So it was my response. Like, those hate comments will never affect me as much as I can affect myself because at the end of the day, I'm an artist who’s going to be hardest on myself.”

Shredz has an album coming in 2024, and a tour. Powers will be releasing an EP next year. Neither artist is going anyway, and neither is hyperpop. It will continue to grow, and fragment into even more sub-sub-genres. Like a snowball, it will gather up more cultural and technological elements as it rolls.

Haters will only drive them on.

The Hyperpop Evolution: Sophie Shredz’s “Eyez On Me” and Sophie Powers’ “Better On Mute” are out now.


 


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