Glitch Pop

tagStarted 2016Peak 2019-2023Last big hit still active

Located in 3 routes

Pop scaffolded by deliberate digital error: stutters, bit-crushing, buffer-glitch chops, granular vocal shredding and CD-skip artifacts sequenced as rhythm and hook. Melodies stay sweet and catchy while the surface keeps shattering, the laptop's malfunction repurposed as expressive texture, glitch standing in for emotional fracture under bright topline writing.

History

Descended from 2000s IDM/glitch and PC Music's bubblegum-bass gloss (Hannah Diamond, A.G. Cook), the pop-leaning strain coalesced in the late 2010s as hyperpop producers foregrounded error as aesthetic. underscores, Food House and Jane Remover fused emo songwriting with violent digital edits, while brakence, a self-described "glitch pop perfectionist," pushed the sound mainstream on 2022's hypochondriac.

Defining artists

Essential listening

← Explore Pop

Sources

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypochondriac_(Brakence_album)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishmonger_(album)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frailty_(Jane_Remover_album)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Diamond