Type of Work
Research Paper
Publication Date
Winter 2-21-2021
Description
In the past two years, the “microgenre” hyperpop has garnered a cult internet following as well as the attention of journalists and skeptics who seek to contextualize the genre in a variety of ways. Hyperpop is an offshoot of pop; it is best understood as an exaggeration of mainstream pop tropes. But, beyond just defining what hyperpop is through song analysis and genre theory, this paper seeks to center hyperpop in the study of how genre exists in contemporary culture. Specifically, I draw on recent research to argue that music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music are more than what they might appear, that is, expansive music databases. Instead, these streaming services wield a curatorial power which allows them to construct genre and create taste through somewhat nonapparent mechanisms (interfaces, algorithmic results, aesthetic authority, etc.). Wielding this curatorial power, streaming services codify and create genres like hyperpop. And subsequently, they become the arbiters of cultural taste through the manipulation of genres.
Hamilton Areas of Study
Music
Hamilton Sponsoring Organization
Levitt Public Affairs Center
Hamilton Scholarship Series
Levitt Winter Research Fellowship
Hamilton Faculty Advisor
Lydia Hammessley