The Brash, Exuberant Sounds of Hyperpop

In 2014, music fans and critics began paying close attention to a mysterious group of artists who'd started releasing tracks online. They were part of PC Music, a loose electronic-music collective that functioned more like a conceptual-art project. Led by a young, inventive producer from London named A. G. Cook, PC Music, and its affiliates, rejected a dark, murky strain of underground electronic music that was beloved at the time. Instead, they latched onto the most exuberant and absurd elements of pop, making cutesy, theatrical songs that sounded a bit like children's music, but with an unsettling aftertaste. If mainstream pop is designed to make people feel as if they're on common ground with all of humanity, this music made listeners feel like they were in on a very specific joke.