I was talking to a producer friend recently about the future of hyperpop (something that happens a lot nowadays), and they made an interesting prediction: for a genre that’s essentially about throwing a bunch of noise at the wall and sculpting a catchy pop tune out of it, the logical next step would be to strip it down. This thought made sense to me; new sounds and genres almost always evolve out of a reaction to something that came before it. And for Rosesleeves, a UK-based singer-songwriter/prodcuer, this shift is already underway.

It would be fair to ask whether Rosesleeves even makes hyperpop. To be clear, he is firmly entrenched within the online scene; he founded the Sewerbratz collective, which contains the likes of pposture and Noahh; and he’s undoubtedly made and collaborated on songs that fit into that sonic realm. So yeah, he exists in the hyperpop space. But his newest album, 9920Deadline, basically falls into an entirely new lane. It’s kind of like post-hyperpop. The project contains characteristic hyperpop/digicore elements scattered across its tracklist, but they’re completely recontextualized and pushed into new auditory spheres. It’s a wondrous breath of fresh air.

9920Deadline resembles a hyperpop album as long as you’re paying close attention. You can hear the emo vocal inflections, the sudden bursts of breakcore instrumentation, some squeaky synth leads hidden in the mix, and the occasional vocal stutter. But focusing on what makes it similar to other music reduces the joys of what makes the album enchantingly different. For one, it’s a full-length album listening experience. Instead of getting straight to the point and thrashing your ears for a minute and change, Rosesleeves lets his songs breathe, build, and blend into one another. One can enjoy 9920Deadline on a track-to-track basis, and as a 30-minute soundscape that emphasizes dreamy textures over blasting, saturated 808s. It contains some of the most gorgeous, haunting music to come out of this scene, and at just 17-year-old, Rosesleeves shows he has remarkable control over tone and atmosphere.

The song “Left Hand” begins with a melancholic acoustic guitar and bedroom-pop beat before Rosesleeves comes in swinging for the heartstrings. “We were both trying our best, yeah/At some point it got way too much,” he sings with a refreshing melodic and rhythmic intuition, anticipating an indie-sensibility/hyperpop crossover that ultimately permeates the entire project. The following track, “Aches,” whirls along with soft guitar lines drenched in reverb, ethereal synth tones, and stunning vocal melodies. “My chest aches, everytime I see you smile/And I want you so bad, would you stay a while,” Rosesleeves sings with a subdued emotional impact that reveals an artist who’s influenced as much by Mitski as he is Osquinn.

Once again, Rosesleeves uses the album format to his advantage, sequencing tracks in such a way to provide the listener with satisfying payoff. After a few songs that show the artist mostly reigning himself in, in comes “Holding On,” where you can hear the artist straining and pushing his voice to evoke a clear interior struggle. “I can’t stay attached, I don’t think you love me back,” he wails. The rest of the tracklist keeps you on a similar emotional journey. The middle portion contains a blur of instrumentals with ambient atmospherics and airy vocals that flow like a ghostly river. And then comes yet another payoff moment: the penultimate song, “We Tried,” is probably the most conventional banger on the whole album, and it rewards the listener with its thumping, pitch-shifting 808s and pitched-up, autotuned vocals--familiar sonic elements that tie the project in with the greater EDM and hyperpop universe that it’s mostly evading up until that point.

9920Deadline is the kind of experimental pop music that hyperpop purports to represent. As the movement continues to single in on a particular sound, it’s relieving to hear artists like Rosesleeves who are unafraid to reveal new genres and ideas to the existing framework. In the face of a scene full of maximalist, chaotic bangers, Rosesleeves zags to a decidedly more interior experience. And in that way, the album’s artistic intent acutely reflects the message behind its title. “9920Deadline” is the date Rosesleeves gave himself to come out to his parents-- a brave action that mirrors a brave artist and musician ready to show himself to the world (and to his community) everything he can bring to it.

Written By Noah Simon

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