u/haileyrose1871

The discourse around what hyperpop is has defined the genre arguably as much as its production motifs. The way I see it, the bubblegum base of PC Music was the genesis. 100 gecs defined what I would call classic hyperpop with 1000 gecs and the Spotify genre was allegedly intended to curate similar sounds to that. But in that process, other artists who aren’t like 100 gecs got lumped in as hyperpop and I would argue this is when we started seeing a post-hyperpop scene really be defined.

The most prominent example of a post hyperpop genre is digicore. I call it post hyperpop because it was formed in response to hyperpop. Between about 2022 and 2024, many post hyperpop artists explored more rock sounds, and I would classify census designated, wallsocket, and 10000 gecs as post-hyperpop rock. They were all released in this era but it’s not one genre, so I tend to shy away from calling it all “hyperrock”. Zoomergaze is an example of one of these genres.

Then brat happened, introducing the mainstream to post-hyperpop club music. And now we have U which I would say is post-hyperpop pop. I think there are distinct genres of post hyperpop, including 2hollis’s post-digicore rage, frost children’s post-hyperpop punk, and Ninajirachi’s post-hyperpop EDM.

Sleazepop reminds me of scenecore, a label used for 6arelyhuman’s microgenre, because it mostly comes from aesthetics rather than musical lineage. 6arelyhuman makes krushclub, which is post digicore. But because they dress like a scene diva, people are calling it that. I think that’s exactly what is happening with sleazepop. It’s more about the aesthetics. But I think we should be calling this movement post hyperpop if anything, it feels most accurate to what’s actually happened within the scene.

Historically, I compare post hyperpop to post punk and post hardcore. It’s a movement, not a genre. In my eyes, there are three things that really confuse the discourse: the controversy surrounding the Spotify genre, mainstream labeling of post-hyperpop genres as “hyperpop” especially post Brat, and the lack of hindsight at this early date. I think it’s okay if the mainstream calls it hyperpop. Most people don’t have a nuanced understanding of genre like that. It’s similar to how people call MCR “emo”. Within the music community, we can be more specific, but the mainstream hears their commonalities and I accept that.

I’ve attached a diagram showing where I believe the lineage kind of flows. Not every album placement is probably exactly correct, and not every sub/microgenre is represented, but it illustrates my understanding of where the genre is headed.

TLDR; I believe what’s being referred to as sleazepop is not a musical genre. The indie sleaze revival aesthetic is where I think the term comes from, and post-hyperpop seems to be the more accurate term.

Agree? Disagree?

The discourse around what hyperpop is has defined the genre arguably as much as its production motifs. The way I see it, the bubblegum base of PC Music was the genesis. 100 gecs defined what I would call classic hyperpop with 1000 gecs and the Spotify playlist was allegedly intended to curate similar sounds to that. But in that process, other artists who aren’t like 100 gecs got lumped in as hyperpop and I would argue this is when we started seeing a post-hyperpop scene really be defined.

Sleazepop reminds me of scenecore, a label used for 6arelyhuman’s microgenre, because it mostly comes from aesthetics rather than musical lineage. I would say 6arelyhuman makes krushclub, which is post digicore. But because they dress like a scene diva, people are calling it that. I think that’s exactly what is happening with sleazepop. It’s more about the aesthetics. But I think we should be calling this movement post hyperpop if anything, it feels most accurate to what’s actually happened within the scene.

Historically, I compare post hyperpop to post punk and post hardcore. It’s a scene, not a genre. In my eyes, there are two things that really confuse the discourse: the controversy surrounding the hyperpop playlist itself, and mainstream labeling of post-hyperpop genres as “hyperpop”, especially post Brat. If we’re gonna give the scene a label, trying to fit everything into one genre will simply not work.

I think it’s okay if the mainstream calls it hyperpop. Most people don’t have a nuanced understanding of genre like that. It’s similar to how people call MCR “emo”. Within the music community, we can be more specific, but realize that the mainstream might be onto something in grouping these artists together.

I’ve included a chart in the comments that shows a general overview of what the scene looks like from my perspective. Not every album’s placement is going to be uncontroversial, but it paints a general picture.

TLDR; the hyperpop scene has evolved beyond the genre itself, and most of what is being called hyperpop or sleazepop is actually a post scene similar to post punk.

Thoughts on so-called “sleazepop” and labeling the post-hyperpop scene?

So-called “sleazepop” and labeling the post-hyperpop scene [visual in comments]