Hyperpop Is Inherently Queer and Here’s Why

Hyperpop sounds like a video game having a breakdown at 3am, and that is a feature. The genre, if you can call it that, is maximalist and weird and deliberately excessive, and it has been home to some of the most interesting queer artists of the last decade. Here’s the context you need.

The SOPHIE Foundation

Before we talk about anything else, we have to talk about SOPHIE. The late Scottish producer and musician was one of the most visionary artists in electronic music. Her work, from early singles like “BIPP” to the album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, redefined what pop music could sound like. SOPHIE was a trans woman who used music to explore identity, the body, and transformation in ways that were decades ahead of mainstream conversation. She passed away in 2021. Her influence is everywhere in this list. Start with Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides and then sit quietly for a minute.

100 gecs: The Chaos Architects

Laura Les and Dylan Brady are 100 gecs, and their debut album 1000 gecs is one of the most disorienting and energizing listening experiences of the last decade. It takes pop, metal, reggaeton, country, and electronic music and runs them all through a blender at maximum speed. Laura Les is a trans woman and her voice, pitch-shifted and distorted, became an icon of a specific internet-raised queer aesthetic. 10000 gecs expanded their sound. Both are worth your time.

Charli XCX: The Bridge to the Mainstream

Charli XCX has been a fixture in experimental pop for years, collaborating with PC Music producers and pushing her sound into increasingly strange and interesting territory. BRAT became a cultural moment in 2024, but albums like Charli and how i’m feeling now are the records that built her queer fanbase. She is deeply embedded in queer communities and her music reflects that relationship. “I’m obsessed” is still an understatement from her fans.

A.G. Cook: The Architect

A.G. Cook founded PC Music, the label and collective that is essentially ground zero for the British hyperpop scene. His solo work, especially the double album 7G, is a sprawling exploration of what digital music can do. He is the producer behind much of Charli XCX’s experimental output and has worked with a huge portion of the queer artists in this space. Understanding PC Music helps you understand where this whole sound came from.

Dorian Electra and the Theatrical Wing

Dorian Electra makes hyperpop about gender performance, camp, and history, and their live shows are full theatrical productions. The song “Man to Man” rewrites the history of homosocial bonding as a love song. “Career Boy” is about late-stage capitalism as a seduction. They are doing something genuinely interesting with the genre and deserve more attention than they get.

Why It’s Always Been Queer

Hyperpop’s excesses, the pitch correction, the distortion, the refusal to sound natural, map directly onto queer experiences of identity. When your body or your voice feels wrong, you modify it. When the mainstream isn’t made for you, you build something weirder and better. The genre didn’t set out to be queer art. It just was, because the people who needed it most were queer.

Start with SOPHIE. Follow wherever it takes you. There’s a lot of good weird music waiting.