Hyperpop is a genre that has exploded over the last few years. Thanks to the PC Music wave we have seen a variety of young talent rise into the scene, from the likes of glaive, brakence, kurtains and more – many young artists have found themselves at home with the relatively young genre.
Image via Jatinder Dhillon (https://www.flickr.com/photos/whoisdhillon/)
Music in the UK has also been affected by this wave, with the current underground hip-hop sphere boasting a plethora of artists inspired by the glitchy production and melodic deliveries of the genre’s biggest acts. However, many artists throughout the North of England have gone relatively unnoticed in the scene. Artists across the country have adapted to the new demands from listeners and employed electronic elements in their work. With the rise of smash hit records like Charli XCX’s “BRAT” and underscores’ “U”, it’s no wonder why the sound has taken an uptick. Stemming from the 2021 wave of viral artists, modern interpretations of the sound have developed with far more dubstep and electronic leanings.
This sound has taken the UK underground by storm, leading to various acts, old and new, garnering major attention for their music. While most of the new wave of UK artists working in the hyperpop and electronic scene have come from the South, there is a plethora of artists steadily picking up the mantle of hyperpop in the North. One of these artists is y0use. The Manchester based hyperpop and electronic artist is a member of the growing underground scene, with leanings of UK hip-hop, electronic and hyperpop. “I’ve wanted to make music since I was like 12 years old. I’ve played instruments around the age of 14, and then I started properly producing around age 16. I’ve just not stopped since.” Learning to play the piano at a young age, y0use developed his ability and would soon find an interest in the electronic space – “I started off with DJing because I was super obsessed with Marshmello, the DJ. I was like, oh, he’s like the coolest guy ever, I just want to be him. I begged my dad for some like DJ decks and I got some small ones and I just had a bit of fun with that. Then I was like, oh, man, I need to produce my own music if I want to be on the stage like Marshmello.”
y0use via PossiblyLillian (https://www.instagram.com/possiblylilian/)
Being inspired by EDM DJs y0use would start to produce his own music with encouragement from his teacher. While his skills began to grow, he found a new wave of artists that he admired, the hyperpop community. “Some people call it indie sleaze. I was listening to Jane Remover before she made the album Revengeseekerz, 2hollis came around, Frost Children got really popular as well. So then everyone’s listening to EDM music so I just got into it and it’s just it’s naturally what I end up making. I don’t really sit down thinking, oh, I’m going to make EDM music, but every time I follow my taste, it always just turns out to be electronic of some sort.” After establishing his sound and building a discography, y0use was even able to throw an event with other local artists.
Thanks to his efforts in his local scene, y0use has become familiar with the relationship that these hyperpop artists in the North have – “you start to see the same people at concerts over and over. I threw an event earlier this year and I was seeing some of the faces that I saw at concerts come to my event and it was super cool and everyone seems to generally know each other. A surprising majority of people have been super supportive of my music. People seem to genuinely be looking to listen to something new.” Thanks to his roots in the North, y0use has established himself as an artist in his local Manchester scene and argues that the community in the North has even helped him improve his confidence.
Another member of the hyperpop community is aerial.aiff, originally from Todmorden, who has been making music from a young age. Initially finding their love of hip-hop through a schoolyard battle rap session, aerial.aiff – real name Jackson – has been honing his craft since: “So we’d write raps about each other and then from there, I guess I just kind of decided I had a knack for it and then that just grew into music in general.” Inspired by the initial wave of hyperpop artists that gained traction in the early 2020s, Jackson has developed his sound to a more unique degree by “taking all the new school stuff, mixing it with a Bob Dylan or any 80s pop stuff, like a Michael Jackson, a Prince. This classic music that’s obviously great, but not rehashing it and doing it in a new modernized way.”
aerial.aiff via Paris (https://www.instagram.com/citruslot105/) and Dat (https://www.instagram.com/_kwangdat_/)
As an artist from the North of England, Jackson is proud of their roots and embraces their identity with a sense of self assuredness. “You can go to London, and they have incredible music, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes you’re sitting in the rooms with them, and you’re like, have you ever worked a hard day’s graft in your life? Do you know what I mean? I guess it’s the fact of enjoying a similar kind of music, but I think Northerners especially, we’re all a bit more working class, and it’s taking this music that everyone likes, and, like, adhering a working class mindset to it. Not to say that there’s no London artists, but even the London working class is a bit different to, like, Northern working class culture.” Jackson understands what people from the North want – to feel seen – and with their music they make that a reality. The working class Northerner in them isn’t lost in the music and is rather embraced with open arms, after all it’s not something they can just get rid of overnight – rather it is a part of Jackson and sets their art apart from their peers.
“I think just taking Northern culture in general, it’s so vastly different from the South, and applying it to the music, I think that just makes the music different in ways. Especially when there’s not a lot of people making this style of music we end up kind of feeling a bit outcasted. Then when we meet each other, we’re like the Spiderman meme, like, look, look, it’s you! Then immediately we’re just like, well, we’ve got to be friends, because I’ve been looking for someone who likes this kind of stuff.” Much like y0use, aerial.aiff stresses the sense of community that can be found within these Northern scenes. While there may be more artists in the South, the ones in the North have fostered a welcoming and deeply interconnected community of like minded creatives that have helped to foster a brand new sound within hyperpop.
So many communities in the North of the UK may have been neglected for the most part when it comes to mainstream success; however the music tends to prevail. With a tight knit and often interconnected community, hyperpop artists in the North have managed to establish a community that helps to push the genre further and provide a creative outlet for those in the North.