Hyperpop – a new term for a genre that is yet to be truly defined yet, is revolutionizing the sound coming out of the underground music community. Hyperpop is typically categorized by the infusion of electronic, trance, dance, pop, and hip hop elements into one, often associated with synth heavy instrumentals, and glitchy mixes. The term draws a similar response from the industry that emo rap did – as it does not truly encapsulate what the artists in the scene are doing, and comes off as a buzzword. Regardless, this new sound is impressive and here to stay. Before passing it off as a fad, get to know some of the key players.
100 Gecs
100 Gecs ia St. Louis based duo consisting of Dylan Brady and Laura Les. After meeting at a party in 2012, the two became key players in the St. Louis electronic music scene. Recently, the group has signed with Atlantic Records after the success of 1000 Gecs in 2019, which was followed up by 1000 Gecs and The Tree of Clues in 2020. The pair are known for their glitchy sound, often humorous lyrics, and complete innovation of the currently oversaturated music industry.
David Shawty
David Shawty has been recording hip hop, electronic, and pop inspired music for years now, first seeing success with his ELEVATOR debut, Honda. David Shawty’s sound evolved over time, from a more typical melodic hip hop style to adopting far more experimental tastes. Listening to songs such as Honda, Morphine, and Under Pressure all sound wildly different, but impressive nonetheless. After achieving significant notoriety after his collaborations Under Pressure and Kiss My Own Dick with fellow Seattle based artist Yungster Jack, David’s music began to rise out of the underground… graveyard.
Sebii
Sebii is an artist that will catch you off guard. Where the scene often is criticized for the amount of repitching done on the vocal mix, Sebii stands out, able to hit high notes time after time with his authentically cherubic voice. With singles like Butterfly Bankai and Play Poker (Remix) succeeding across Spotify and YouTube, the NY based artist has a huge platform for growth.
p4rkr a.k.a. osquinn
The first local artist breaking into this scene, p4rkr, now named osquinn, is a 15 year old female musician from Northern Virginia, hitting major numbers after dropping singles such as bad idea, mbn, serialkilled, and ok im cool. Osquinn’s music often discusses love, heartbreak, identity issues, and other similar themes. At such a young age, Osquinn has been able to break into the scene with her incredibly authentic and personal music.
Varsity
Varsity is collective currently consisting of Jackie Platinum, Kevinhilfiger, Popstarbills, Boof Bby, Shane Stokes, Shyburial, Guappuchino, deathnotes, Kasper Gem, Cartoon Ben, Luvox, d0llywood1, Lil Eli, and Snake. Releasing music exclusively on the collective’s SoundCloud page, the group has seen success with their at times comedic, cocky, and entirely unique sound. The artists seamlessly bounce off one another on each track, despite having wildly different styles of performance. The group’s most known single, u kno that, helped get the collective more known online, with the single hitting 10k streams so far. Take a listen to Varsity on their SoundCloud page.