[Column] Glitchcore / Hyper-Glitch Pop continues to break down, the future of sound accelerates
Column en Glitchcore Hyper-Glitch![[Column] Glitchcore / Hyper-Glitch Pop continues to break down, the future of sound accelerates](/../assets/images/column-glitchcore-hyper-glitch.webp)
overview
Text: mmr｜Theme: Glitchcore/Hyper-Glitch’s formation process, acoustic techniques, cultural background, representative artists, development in the 2020s, and future prospects
Glitchcore and Hyper-Glitch are a trend in Internet-generated pop/electronic music that has been occurring since the late 2010s, with “corruption,” “fragmentation,” and “overload” at the center of its aesthetic. Clicks, noise, digital distortion, pitch shifts, Vocaloid-like processing, rapid song development, strange tempo fluctuations – the most distinctive feature of this album is that it attempts to express a ““balance between excess and decay’’ by fusing these elements in a highly pop context.
Acts such as SOPHIE, A. G. Cook, and 100 gecs took this “broken pop” to an international level, proving that many artists could “create a global musical language from their own rooms” through DAWs and sample packs.
1. Origin and background
1-1 Prehistory of musicalization of digital failure sounds
The idea of glitch itself goes back to the aesthetics presented by electronica in the late 1990s (Oval, Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, etc.). He treated CD reading errors and digital signal malfunctions as musical materials, and actively cited the ““aesthetics of failure.’’
Glitch music from this era was more experimental, with an emphasis on texture, space, and structure rather than rhythm. On the other hand, later Glitchcore differs decisively in that it is strongly connected to popular pop and Internet culture.
1-2 Internet ecosphere and aesthetics of overload
In the late 2010s, the interconnectedness of TikTok, SoundCloud, Discord, Bandcamp, and YouTube gave a strong boost to artists who create and distribute alone. As the culture of instant consumption and high-speed editing through smartphones has become widespread, listeners have become accustomed to “fragments,” “short lengths,” “excessiveness,” and “rapid change.”
This environment created a fertile ground for music to demand speed, destruction, and the proliferation of information, and it can be said that Glitchcore naturally arose as a result.
1-3 PC Music Innovation
PC Music (from London), to which SOPHIE, A. G. Cook, and GFOTY belonged, had been presenting “hyper pop” (later referred to as Hyperpop) since the early 2010s. Extreme pitch processing, artificial textures, and plastic, unrealistic sound design were direct influences on Glitchcore.
SOPHIE”s sharp sounds, the materiality of synths, the coexistence of destructive sounds and pop melodies became the basis of Glitchcore”s production method itself.
2. Features of Glitchcore / Hyper-Glitch
2-1 Fast tempo and fragmentation
Glitchcore’s BPM is not fixed and often fluctuates over a wide range of 100-180 BPM. Furthermore, the BPM changes suddenly in the middle of the song, and there are compositions that rapidly switch between multiple genres within a single song.
Characteristic elements:
- Extreme tempo changes
- Editing that suddenly transitions to another song in the middle of the song
- Short hooks and fragmented melodies *Focus on strong 15-30 second hooks for TikTok
2-2 Voice processing: pitch shift, formant manipulation, acceleration/double speed
Audio processing is at the core of Glitchcore, with ““digitally distorted voices” and ““unnaturally fast voices” predominating over human-like singing voices.
Typical processing:
- Extreme Auto-Tune
- Shake the pitch up and down at high speed
- Double speed processing (sped-up)
- Adding a sense of character through formant manipulation
- Mixed use of Vocaloid sound sources
The method of ““playing multiple layers of voices all at once’’ like 100 gecs is said to be a symbol of Hyper-Glitch.
2-3 Mix that assumes distortion, destruction, and clipping
Glitchcore actively uses clipping and crackling that can be avoided in normal music production. There are many scenes where the purpose is to provide an experience that feels like the screen is exploding, rather than music.
- Bit Crusher *Hard clip
- Digital distortion
- Stotter (chopping the sound at high speed)
- Glitch plugins (Glitch2, Fracture, etc.)
2-4 Reinterpretation of pop structure
Despite the disruptive acoustics, the melodies are often “very pop” and easy to remember. This is the essence of Glitchcore; it is not just noise music, but a genre that pours overloaded effects into a pop vessel.
3. Representative artists
3-1 SOPHIE
SOPHIE has a strong influence on Hyper-Glitch’s aesthetic formation. Its unique sound design, striking sounds, and futuristic textures were imitated and developed by subsequent Glitchcore artists.
Typical features:
- Hard texture like plastic
- Super high-frequency metallic sound
- Three-dimensional sound image
- The clarity of the melody and the coexistence of destructive sounds
3-2 100 gecs
100 gecs (Laura Les & Dylan Brady) is an icon of Glitchcore. They mixed emo, ska, metal, trap, and Bubblegum Pop into a frenzied state, turning ““genre collapse’’ into pop.
Features:
- Excessive Auto-Tune
- High speed editing
- Mix of lo-fi and hi-fi
- Coexistence of metal guitar distortion and pop melody
- Combining meme culture and music
3-3 Dylan Brady Solo Works
Dylan Brady”s solo work was even more trap-heavy, extending Hyper-Glitch”s more aggressive side by combining ultra-low bass and extreme clipping.
3-4 Laura Les (solo name)
Laura Les’ voice became the ““symbol of high-pitched voices’’ in Glitchcore, and also influenced sped-up music culture.
3-5 Other important artists
*osquinn/p4rkr *glaive *Ericdoa
- underscores *blackwinterwells
These quickly gained attention mainly on SoundCloud, proving the phenomenon of ““teenage music creators creating a global scene.’’
4. Production techniques
4-1 Cutting and rebuilding the material
Glitchcore’s production is centered around chopping up sounds in a DAW and reconnecting them while disrupting the time axis.
Example method:
- Divide samples in milliseconds
- Random placement of noise fragments
- Deliberately destroy transients
- Frequent use of reverse and time stretch
4-2 Aesthetics as “overloaded mix”
In Hyper-Glitch’s case, mixes are not about ““setting up,” but about ““building while destroying.”
point:
- Simultaneous firing of stems
- Superimposition of dense layers
- Excessive low range
- Extreme use of sound pressure limiters
4-3 Connection with visual culture
The sonic “overload” is also reflected visually. MV/artwork has the following characteristics.
- Cyber-like, fluorescent, saturated colors
- Noise texture *Character/avatar culture
- Fast editing of meme images
- Reusing low resolution graphics
5. Chronology (chronology)
6. Cultural background of Glitchcore
6-1 Generation Z”s sense of time and “high-speed society”
Internet natives consume content in seconds, juggling multiple screens, apps, and tabs at the same time. Glitchcore’s fragmented nature and sense of speed naturally match this sense of time.
6-2 “Destruction” as self-expression
Glitchcore’s destructive sounds, distortions, and confusion are often tied to emotional expression and personal identity. In the works of osquinn and glaive, delicacy and loneliness are presented as “broken sounds.”
6-3 Subculture, anime, internet memes
Another major feature is that anime-style expressions, Vocaloid culture, Internet memes, game sounds, etc. are actively cited.
7. Work analysis
7-1 100 gecs editing structure
- Genres switch at overwhelming speed
- The melody suddenly becomes cute at the chorus
- Push the mix to the limit to the point where you can”t tell if it”s a joke or something serious
- But it doesn’t lose its catchiness
7-2 SOPHIE texture research
- Hard, elastic sound image
- Fusion of metallic and electronic sounds
- Electronic sounds with “materiality”
- 3D effect that makes the sound feel physical
7-3 SoundCloud personality
osquinn and glaive brought emo chord progressions, guitar touches, and light vocals to Glitchcore. This represents a more introverted, melodic direction to the “edgy” nature of Hyperpop.
8. Regionality: America, UK, online community
What is very important about Glitchcore is that it was formed through ““online communities’’ such as Discord and SoundCloud, rather than national boundaries.
It can be said that it is a genre in which the concept of national borders has become diluted, with 100 gecs and glaive from America and PC Music from the UK mutually influencing each other.
9. Trends in the mid-2020s
9-1 Fusion with sped-up culture
The sped-up version of songs popularized on TikTok has a high affinity with Glitchcore, and both techniques naturally mixed together in the mid-2020s.
9-2 Approach between AI vocals and Glitchcore
Singing voice synthesis and character voice generation using AI are an extension of Glitchcore’s ““non-human voice.’’ The pitch fluctuation and unnaturalness of AI voices are aesthetically acceptable.
9-3 Role of visual platform
Short video editing apps are also influencing the structure of music itself.
- Need to make an instant impression
- Fast time axis editing
- Expression method of combining fragments
These are completely consistent with Glitchcore techniques.
10. Future prospects
10-1 Further accelerating fragmentation
As music becomes shorter and more likely to be distributed in fragments rather than albums, it is thought that Glitchcore ideas will become more widespread.
10-2 Will “broken pop” be standardized?
Destructive processing like Hyper-Glitch is already starting to find its way into mainstream pop. In the future, it is highly likely that “glitch as a production idea” will become a standard tool rather than boundaries as a genre.
10-3 Irreversible changes in the AI era
AI facilitates ““large amounts of fragments,” ““high-speed generation,” and ““outlier editing,” and will technologically further advance Glitchcore’s ideal of ““sound overload.”
11. Summary
Glitchcore/Hyper-Glitch is not just a noise genre, but an innovative music trend that ““contains pop within destruction.’’
- PC Music innovation
- Genre breakthrough with 100 gecs
- Accelerated culture originating from TikTok/SoundCloud
- sped-up, fusion with AI voice
These are linked together and characterize the music culture of the 2020s. It can be said that it is one of the genres that most directly embodies the speed, fragmentation, confusion, and overload of digital society.
