Crafting A Pop ‘U’niverse of Her Own

Graphic by Emma Novy

If there’s an album that I probably have a more complicated relationship with than most, it would be Charli XCX’s brat. Is it pretty good? Yes, it has great moments (“Von dutch,” “Talk talk,” “Sympathy is a knife,” the “Girl, so confusing” remix, especially the ballad “So I”), but it fails in comparison to her albums several years prior (I’m a Pop 2 truther), and with the bland hedonism and some weird moral hang-ups (making a track dedicated to goddamn Dasha), I’m not sold on it in the same way every insufferable queer man I know was in 2024.

That being said, what actually annoys me more than brat the album (or Charli’s newfound media overexposure and thin attempts to kickstart a Hollywood career) is how shamelessly the music industry has tried to stripmine brat’s success to uplift much less talented artists. You forgot Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO, and for good reason, but more of you defended ADDISON than you really should’ve. For a spicier take, while I also enjoy pieces of FKA Twigs’ EUSEXUA, it did really scream of a mainstream outsider getting forced to change direction through label mismanagement instead of letting the artist form her own path.  

Now, not all of hyperpop followed in brat’s footsteps (if that genre label even describes anything in 2026). For one such scene, you have the emo-tinged, glitch-pop, distinctly online/queer “Dariacore” subgenre, and if you want the best example of the sound done well, look no further than April Harper Grey, AKA: underscores. Getting her start in the crevices of SoundCloud’s electronic scene, her 2021 debut, Fishmonger, is probably the first real demonstration of Grey’s insane potential. The blend of emo, hyperpop, and breakbeat textures, alongside some genuinely sticky hooks made for some truly excellent cuts. That being said, the project might be a harsh listen, especially if you're not attuned to a distinctly Gen-Z brand of earnest immaturity and sometimes garish production choices (“spoiled little brat” still rips, though).

If fishmonger laid down the foundation with some mild missteps (even if I’d call it a great album on replay value alone), then underscores’ sophomore album was less of a step forward in quality, but instead a springboard into goddamn genre-blurring perfection. Wallsocket, released in 2023, saw Grey tackle a concept album centering on the tumultuous relationships between three teenage girls in a fictional Midwestern small town. With a distinctly wide-reaching, empathetic framing, a shocking amount of emotional and thematic complexity, and the note-perfect fusions of punk, EDM, glitchy noise, folktronica, and even horror elements, Wallsocket isn’t just one of the best albums of 2023, but a personal contender for one of the greatest projects this decade, bar none.