This year’s Doodle honors hyperpop, a genre/anti-genre that was created and made popular by LGBTQ+ performers, in honor of Pride Month. It is a hyper-online art form that celebrates individuality and daringly pushes musical boundaries; it is a subgenre that reflects the essence and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.
Exaggeration is common in hyperpop, which aims to create a pop surrealist, digitally maximalist sound using bright, glitchy synths, pitched and autotuned vocals, and a lot of distortion. Hyperpop has a lively visual style, with performers, sets, and music videos including bubbles, vivid colors, and aesthetic aspects from anime and early 2000s internet culture. The Doodle artwork features tools and imagery related to the microgenre, paying homage to the digital audio workstations of at-home music producers.
Small online communities gave birth to hyperpop, which began to become more popular in 2019. The genre’s digital foundation was laid by pioneers like Alice Gas, Ericdoa, and A.G. Cook and his PC Music label. Artists like SOPHIE, Charli XCX, and 100 gecs have since popularized it.
One way Google celebrates Pride Month, a global celebration of LGBTQ+ identity and cultural contributions, is with today’s Doodle for hyperpop.
