Akari Okubo Contributor

Hyperpop emerged in the early 2010s with A.G. Cook’s PC Music label. This label was associated with many of the genre’s key figures, such as SOPHIE, Hannah Diamond, Charli XCX, umru, and Caroline Polachek.

Often described as pop music taken to its logical extreme — or music that scares your father — the genre features pitched-up vocals, maximalist production, and ironic lyricism. The genre is also closely associated with the LGBTQ+ community, with many of its artists, such as SOPHIE, Underscores, and Laura Les of 100 Gecs being trans women.

Hyperpop has experienced many changes since the formation of PC Music in 2013, but its ethos has stayed the same. Many newer artists often experiment with other genres, mixing their sounds with rock, metal, trap, and hip-hop. Despite the sounds within the genre growing more disparate, Underscores, who is currently opening for Charli XCX’s ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ tour, says that “the mentality of trying to create something new that hasn’t been heard before has not died.”

With so much diversity in its sound, hyperpop has become a genre defined more by the scene and the communities surrounding it than the sound itself. Vice music journalist Eli Enis described hyperpop as not being about following any rules, but rather “a shared ethos of transcending genre altogether, while still operating within the context of pop.” It’s no surprise that this genre resonates so deeply with those whose identities transcend our society’s cisgender and heteronormative conventions.

And as for what hyperpop even is? In the words of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1964, “I know it when I see it.”

PC Music disbanded in 2023, but the hyperpop scene still looks to be as alive as ever with this year’s releases of Underscores’ album U (my top pick for Album of the Year), Slayyyter’s WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, Frost Children’s EP Tweaker Poem, and Tiffany Day’s Halo, along with Ninajirachi recently announcing additional tour dates, including one in Toronto in January.

Emerging Canadian hyperpop artists to look out for:

If you like: Brakence, Jane Remove

Try: Kmoe

I was lucky enough to see Kmoe open for Underscores at a club in his hometown, Vancouver. After the show, I remember queuing his music up on Spotify while waiting for the night bus to take me home. Kmoe blends shoegaze’s fuzzy guitars and distorted drums with hyperpop elements, creating a unique sound that I’m excited to hear more of.

If you like: Ethel Cain, Caroline Polachek

Try: 8485

From Toronto, 8485 have collaborated with artists such as Danny Brown and Underscores. They have wide range with their music spanning genres. From 100 Gecs-esque glitchiness of 1:15, to the quieter nostalgia of plague town— Their music has something for anyone who likes their songs a little experimental.