Hyperpop offers an alternative to queer and trans artists who feel out of place in mainstream media
Anyone that has studied music history can tell you that within each period, whether it be baroque music of the seventeenth century or rock music of the eighties, there is bound to be a group of musicians that take style conventions to the extreme. These maximalists push the envelope of taste and style and, in the process, often end up creating unique sounds that both exemplify their period's conventions and critique them as well. This trend occurs in almost every musical period and its most recent variation stems from pop music.
Though originally referring to popular music , as opposed to classical or folk music, its modern name, "pop," encompasses a wide range of sounds that are unified by their catchy lyrics, repetitive and straightforward structure and their relatively simple melodies. It's music that is easy to listen to and easy to learn and sing along with. As such, pop music is easy to sell and market, which has led to its popularity and presence in the music industry today.
However, because it is so commercialized, pop music has felt increasingly disingenuous. Add to that the prevalence of music technology, such as autotune and electronic ways of making music, and you get music that to many no longer feels authentic. This dissatisfaction with pop and the music industry as a whole, coupled with the rise of the internet and easy access to new electronic music creates a new subgenre of maximalist pop: hyperpop.
Though I was exposed to hyperpop through TikTok in the last couple of weeks, the subgenre arose in the late 2010's with artists like 100 gecs, SOPHIE and Dorian Electra. However, this type of music did not gain the name hyperpop until Spotify curated a playlist with that name in August 2019 .
Some of the biggest hyperpop hits, in fact, came from teenagers creating music in their bedrooms. Artist osquinn , who has also recorded under the name P4rkr, released her hit song, "Bad Idea" when she was only fifteen. As of the date I'm writing this, osquinn's most popular song, "i dont want that many friends in the first place" has been played over ten million times. Young and new artists like her make up a large portion of the subgenre, with eighty percent of the songs on Spotify's "Hyperpop" playlist being independent releases .
Hyperpop also has become a niche for queer and trans artsits and listeners alike. A number of major artists who pioneered this subgenre, such as SOPHIE, Dorian Electra and Laura Les , are trans, or nonbinary, themselves, and trans-inclusivity has remained a major facet of hyperpop. Les, part of the duo that makes up 100 gecs, has said that the ability to pitch up her vocals, a popular effect in the subgenre, has helped her gender dysphoria surrounding her voice. In this way, hyperpop has created the perfect environment for trans artists to create music that they enjoy and that makes them comfortable.
Many of the lyrical themes of hyperpop also critique the heavily gendered and heteronormative music industry. It's no secret that mainstream pop music is mostly created by and for cisgender, heterosexual people, and that fact can be incredibly alienating for those who don't fit that mold. Yet, this is something that hyperpop comments on. In 100 gecs’ song, "Money Machine," for example, Les taunts the listener with emasculating comments that poke fun at their strength and toughness.
Hyperpop has emerged as a maximalist and satirical take of commercialized pop and was pioneered by queer and trans individuals; it runs in opposition to everything that the mainstream music industry stands for. It's a small niche for those looking for something different and for a group of artists and listeners who aren't afraid to stand apart from the crowd, while making fun of it, of course. Hyperpop has quickly gained acclaim, and it will be interesting to see where it goes next.
Alan Cross: Sorry Gen X, but the music of your youth is now the new classic rock - National |
Back when The Simpsons still offered biting social commentary, season seven saw Homer try to impress Bart and Lisa by scoring tickets to the Lollapalooza-like Hullabalooza, which featured Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and a very baked Cypress Hill.
Homer was crushed when he realized that his music, which he had always believed achieved perfection in 1974 , wasn’t cool anymore. He’d become just like this father.
If you’re a Boomer, you know exactly how Homer felt. The music you grew up with had grown old, morphing from vital, zeitgeist-capturing sounds into something the world was now calling classic or, heaven forbid, oldies. This also meant that you were now old.
Today, just like Homer, Gen X is enduring a painful truth. Their music is now old. And so are they. How could this have possibly happened?
In North America, commercial music-based radio stations present themselves by promising to provide a specific type of programming. If you want, say, the biggest pop hits of the day playing nonstop, you go to your town’s CHR station, (Contemporary Hit Radio, the modern name for Top 40). If country is your thing, there’s probably a station that plays nothing but that. Same thing for genres like hip-hop/R&B, classical, jazz, and AC (Adult Contemporary, which means old-skewing pop.)
This segmentation of the musical spectrum can be quite helpful to the listener because you know where to go to get exactly the music you want. The melding of music and a station’s brand promise goes back to at least the 1950s when outlets started specializing in providing this new thing called rock’n’roll 24/7 for this new social construct called “teenagers.” (Before the 1950s, no such group existed. You were a kid and then one day you were an adult. The concept of being a teenager began when marketers realized that the boom of new babies immediately following WWII had created a demographic with leisure time, disposable income, and a mind of their own.)
Those early Boomers loved their Elvis, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard. But by the time the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan in February 1964, that original rock’n’roll sound had started to sound not just dated but old-fashioned. The concept of rock’n’roll oldies soon took hold and over the next few years, radio stations emerged that played nothing but music from the pre-Beatles era.
Starting in about 1965, “rock’n’roll” had evolved from a form of pop music for kids into “rock,” a serious art form that was not only enjoyed by adults but was also worthy of critical study. And for the next 20 years, rock stations — mostly on FM — proliferated across the continent, with the majority playing a mix of everything from the early Beatles to whatever came out that particular week. The format became known as AOR: Album-Oriented Rock.
But then in about 1980, a shift began. Because the AOR format had been around for a couple of decades, programmers couldn’t help but notice that the music had separated into distinct eras, distinguished by musical style, new instrumentation, recording techniques, and changing social and political views in the lyrics. Realizing that their listening audience had grown older, stations in cities like Cleveland, Chicago, and Houston, started trimming away the amount of new music they played in favour of the biggest rock hits from the 1960s and ’70s. Thus was the term “classic rock” was born.
Insight: Amid the chaos of 2020, CHVRCHES helped me feel at ease - The State Press
'If there's one thing I know, it's that, pandemic or not, CHVRCHES has proven itself to be a talented and passionate group with a lot to say.'
We all have comfort bands — those musical groups that, even in the hardest of times, manage to bring us joy whenever we listen to one of their songs.
For many, in a year that has brought so much pain and trauma, the thought of lying back and escaping into the musical world of our favorite group is an appealing one.
Composed of Scottish musicians Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, this electronic trio first made a name for itself in 2012 with the release of its debut song " Lies ." With its hard-hitting synth instrumentation coupled with Mayberry's beautiful vocals, the song was an instant hit and within a year, the group not only released its first album, " The Bones of What You Believe ," to positive reception but also cemented itself as one of the fastest-growing new acts in the synth-pop genre.
Taking after artists like Depeche Mode and David Bowie, CHVRCHES has garnered a strong reputation for bright compositions that combine the sounds of '80s-era new wave music and modern EDM to create mind-blowing works that quickly work their way into your head.
Subsequent albums saw the group begin to collaborate with bigger artists such as American DJ Marshmello, as well as Paramore's own Hayley Williams.
This fame even led the trio to lend its talents to the world of video game soundtracks. It was here where I became obsessed with the group.
Prior to 2019, I had barely heard of CHVRCHES. My only exposure to the group was through its collaboration with Marshmello on " Here With Me ," a song that failed to leave much of an impact. For the most part, I wrote the trio off as a typical commercial pop band and didn't think anything of it.
When the song was finally released, I was surprised to find the exact opposite of what I expected from the group. The synth instrumentals were darker and more epic-sounding, and Mayberry's vocals were more emotional.
California pop boom of 1960s chronicled - Winnipeg Free Press
Twentieth-century California, and especially Los Angeles, takes part of its allure from its disregard of the ninth and tenth commandments: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor thy neighbour’s goods. L.A. is all about the pleasures of the flesh and rampant capitalism.
In the 1960s these temptations were introduced to the teenagers of the world by the fresh-faced songs of Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys: seemingly innocent pop songs about perpetual sunshine, white-sand beaches and surfing (not on the internet), bronzed blonds in bikinis ("two girls for every boy"), fast cars and fun, fun, fun.
What teenager wouldn’t covet that? The Mamas and the Papas song California Dreamin’ captured it perfectly.
Joel Selvin tells the story of the origins of this music-made L.A. myth in his new book Hollywood Eden . According to Selvin, it all goes back to the class of 1958 at University High School just north of famed Santa Monica Boulevard in L.A.
A music critic for 35 years with several other pop-music histories to his credit ( Here Comes the Night , Altamont ), Selvin tells this inside story as if he were right there. It’s brisk, it’s anecdotal, it’s gossipy.
Selvin begins his account in the Uni shower room, where an exuberant Jan Berry leads a bunch of naked football players in a rousing version of Get a Job .
Jan and his buddies soon form a band and have a minor local hit recorded in his garage. The band breaks up, Jan joins with another Uni grad, Dean Torrence, and the rest, as they say, is music history. Jan and Dean, hit-makers of The Little Old Lady from Pasadena , Dead Man’s Curve and many others are, almost overnight, a top-pop sensation.
The other central figures in this story are the Beach Boys. Led by troubled genius Brian Wilson, his brothers and friends, including another Uni grad, Bruce Johnston, the Beach Boys’ ascendancy is even more meteoric than Jan and Dean’s. Although none of them actually surfed, they established surfing as a metaphor and had a string of memorable hits, among them: Surfin’ USA , I Get Around , California Girls , Good Vibrations and Help Me, Rhonda .
BROCKHAMPTON Closes Chapter with Final Album - The Heights
What exactly makes a band a "boy band?" Perhaps it's uniform dancing, youthful harmonies, or a primarily teenage audience fawning over members in hysterical fashion. Maybe it's simply the presence of five or more "boys" in the group itself or the collective group emitting a certain pop-music sound. There doesn't seem to be a particular set of criteria that defines a band as a "boy band," but despite the commercial success that usually accompanies the moniker, the label has become one that is strenuously avoided by some bands that want to be considered "serious" musicians.
BROCKHAMPTON, however, is not one of those bands. Rather than steer clear of the label, the band leans fully into the boy band persona in an attempt to redefine its meaning. Founded in 2010 by singer Kevin Abstract, the 13-member collective is defined by its abundance of diversity. The current lineup consists of vocalists Abstract, Dom McLennon, Matt Champion, Russell "Joba" Boring, Ciarán "Bearface" McDonald, and Merlyn Wood; producers Romil Hemnani, Jabari Manwa, and Kiko Merley; designers Henock "HK" Sileshi and Robert "Roberto" Ontenient; photographer Ashlan Grey; and manager Jon Nunes.
BROCKHAMPTON is not your typical boy band for reasons that extend beyond its large size. The band is diverse in its members' array of different races, sexualities, musical stylings, and overall outlooks on their future in the music industry. The band's tenure comes to a close with its final and most recent album release ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE , which debuted on Friday.
It's nearly impossible to classify BROCKHAMPTON's music into one genre given the wide variety of styles showcased across its six previous albums, but hip-hop probably best represents the band's focus. Its music is characterized by aggressive rap and deeply introspective lyrics alongside poppy melodies and feelings of self-loathing. The band's music has swayed between darker and lighter tones as they mature together as a band and independently as artists. BROCKHAMPTON's 2018 album iridescence was energetic. Its 2019 album GINGER was filled with lyrical poignancy interwoven with smooth rap. ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE is an impeccable mix of the two previous albums' styles.
ROADRUNNER starts off rough with the opening track, "BUZZCUT" featuring rapper Danny Brown. Released as the first single off the album at the end of March, "BUZZCUT" is a distinctly angry track. Layered over scratchy-sounding backing tracks, the band speeds through rap lyrics that disclose struggles with identity, race in America, its place in the music industry, and even a mention of the pandemic as the band sings, "A platinum record not gon' keep my black ass out of jail" and "I love my mother, drove all the way to Cali' just to check up on me / Made her go home, felt the virus."
While this has worked in the past for BROCKHAMPTON—see "BERLIN" and "NEW ORLEANS" off of iridescence —listening to "BUZZCUT" is sort of like listening to nails on a chalkboard. That's not to say the lyrics aren't great—they are—but the song is lacking with its chaotic blend of beats on its backtrack. Thankfully, the album picks up immediately following the ending of "BUZZCUT."
"CHAIN ON," featuring rapper JPEGMAFIA, is a smooth-sounding track full of clever and powerful wordplay backed by a catchy electro riff and Abstract's gruff vocals channeled into the song's chorus. As McLennon raps, "Hangin’ from a chandelier in Babylon / We don’t believe in white gods, they gettin’ rattled on." McLennon's voice is saturated in austerity and pride while he sings on this track. "CHAIN ON" is a song that shows the band members contemplating the state of the world. It isn't just a song that should be listened to, but also one that requires contemplation over topics from the political and racial polarization in America to ideas about male friendship.
Tayla Parx on Silk Sonic's 'Leave the Door Open,' Retro Hits
Singer-songwriter Tayla Parx has written hits for the biggest acts in pop, from Ariana Grande ("thank u, next") to Panic! at the Disco ("High Hopes") to Khalid ("Love Lies"). The Dallas-born 27-year-old's prolific résumé also includes a collaboration with Anderson .Paak on his track " Tints ," featuring Kendrick Lamar, and two solo albums in the past two years. In demand thanks to her knack for crafting the perfect topline and her encyclopedic knowledge of music history, she has had her finger on the pulse of the industry for years. So much so that Switched on Pop co-host Charlie Harding was inclined to call Parx to get her expertise on a burning question: Why can't he (and everyone) get the retro sounds of " Leave the Door Open ," .Paak's new song with Bruno Mars ( their debut as the duo Silk Sonic ), out of his head?
In this week's episode of Switched on Pop, Harding and Nate Sloan break down the Philly soul and Quiet Storm references that undergird Silk Sonic's throwback hit. Parx drops by to school the guys on writing a retro-soul jam for the ages and why listeners may be ready for a blast from the past.
Charlie Harding : "Leave the Door Open" is just like 1970s Philadelphia soul. And it's a very winking song; it's taking itself extremely serious musically and it's very lighthearted, lyrically.
Having worked with him on his record Oxnard , I was wondering if you could walk me through his parts on this song. Is there anything you immediately identify that feels like what's happening now as opposed to what would have been happening in like the '70s?
Tayla Parx: It doesn't sound like people trying to do music back then. It sounds like his own interpretation, which he's very good for because he's a musician . And when you're a student of music, you can say, "What is it specifically that I liked about that, that I'm trying to capture now?" Because Bruno is also a musician, they're able to really play "shuffle."
I can't imagine how many changes the song probably went though, in drum patterns, or in melodic or rhythmic or cadences. What makes it feel so today is, lyrically, it's so conversational. And of course his personality is shining through. You can tell that this is just somebody who's a little bit silly.
There's this line in particular that, for me, was like a giveaway to the modernity. At the end of the first verse, Paak goes: "My house, cleaned / My pool, warm / Just shaved, smooth like a newborn / We should be dancing, romancin' / In the East Wing and the West Wing of this mansion, what's happening?"
That is very, very good. It has that thing where it's like, "Mmm!" You can hear [the early influences] in his voice, but those cadences are still very contemporary. [There's a similar sound on] the verse on "Dance Alone" [Parx's 2020 single], too.
But it's only when you get to the section where .Paak sings "kissing, cuddling" [in a more classic style] that it's like, "Oh, okay. I see what you're doing," Everything else is just new and very him, because he always had that way of genuinely saying, "I know you can hear those influences. Look how I made them my own."
DJ Drewski's debut album helped 50 Cent and Pop Smoke's collab happen - REVOLT
In this installment of "Studio Sessions," the DJ talks his debut album, Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow's recording process, and his connection with Rowdy Rebel. Read here!
For "Studios Sessions," we delve into the stories behind the long hours in the studio and all that goes into making an album by talking with artists, producers, engineers, photographers, and more who are intimately connected to the recording process with some of the biggest artists in the world. These are the stories that rarely leave the booth.
HOT 97 's own DJ Drewski is gearing up to drop his debut album, Seat At The Table. On top of that, he's been in the studio with Rowdy Rebel since the GS9 star's prison release late last year.
"He was like, 'Yo, Drewski. I'm putting a plan together. We're not even going to release music unless I have a plan.' So, I can see that he's focused. He's a little older now and more mature now, so he understands more the business," he told REVOLT .
In this installment of "Studio Sessions," the DJ explains how his debut album helped Pop Smoke and 50 Cent's "The Woo" happen, Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow's recording process, and his connection with GS9. Read below.
You put out "2020 Vision" with Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow. What's Sheff's creative process like in the studio?
I used to think, "Yo, they're young kids. They're from Brooklyn and they made jewel records. They're probably not very creative, right?" Sure enough, him and Sleepy sat there with the producer and built the beat from scratch the way they like it. From the guitar sounds to the drum patterns. I was like, "Oh, they're really in tune with their music and they know what they like, and what they sound good on."
Being big in the NYC music scene put you in sessions with the late Pop Smoke. How did you end up in the "Mood Swings" session?
Were there any other records that you had with him that you kept? Is he going to appear on the album?
Korean music labels file complaint over new military deferment law
The Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) has filed an official complaint to the Ministry Of National Defense over a revised military deferment law set to take effect from June 23, 2021.
The KMCA has allegedly filed the objection on behalf of 26 of its 27 member agencies, including South Korea’s "Big Three" agencies: SM, JYP, and YG entertainment, as reported by Korea JoongAng Daily . A number of other well-known agencies who are part of the association are also involved in the complaint.
The amendment, which passed last year, allows pop musicians who have received cultural merits from the Ministry Of Culture, Sports and Tourism to defer their enlistment until the age of 30. It had been put forward by Rep. Jeun Young-gi, who cited the global success of BTS.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to enlist by the age of 28. Currently, special exemptions are granted to athletes, actors, directors and classical musicians who have made a significant international impact.
Typically, only musicians who have been active for at least 15 years can be awarded cultural merits. Citing this in its complaint, the KMCA called the amendment "unrealistic and unfair", saying it is near-impossible for K-pop musicians to qualify before the age of 28.
“If a male musician would want to meet the criteria before he turns 28, he has to begin his K-pop career when he’s 13 years old at the latest,” said a KMCA official. “And that doesn’t even mean that they can defer their services. That’s only the requirement to apply for the merit. There’s a separate set of standards to see whether they actually get the chance to defer their services.”
Grammy-nominated group BTS were awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by President Moon Jae-In in 2018 as an exception for their extraordinary international success. At the time, the group were only five years into their career. BTS are the only K-pop act that have been awarded cultural merits at such a young age, making them the only act that qualifies for deferment.
The KMCA also claimed that the law discriminates against the pop music industry, as men who establish start-ups or pursue graduate and post-graduate studies abroad are eligible to defer. It called for more realistic standards, which would allow more pop acts to qualify for deferment.
“We are not blindly saying we want lower standards,” said the KMCA official. “All we ask is that the ministry come up with standards that can be met and fulfilled by musicians, not extraordinary measures that cannot be made.”
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