Los Angeles-based, New Jersey-born RYL0 is a disciple of the pop music scene. On her latest mixtape, Last Resort, she leans heavily into the sounds that shaped the pop scene, reaching back into the 1980s while maintaining a 2020s essence. Initially leaning closer to hyperpop, RYL0 has slid her way towards a more bubblegum style of pop—with a twist. She, like other listeners during the 2010s EDM era, aspired to be a DJ before shifting to wanting to be a “feature on a crazy dance pop track.” Now, RYL0 is ready to be a bonafide popstar on her own.

Discussing Last Resort, she cites references spanning across nearly half a century, including everyone from Whitney Houston to Slayyyter sprinkling a taste of their sound into the tape. Houston’s melodies heavily influenced Last Resort’s “Get It” and “People Who Don’t Love Me.”

“I wanted to make sure I was referencing more than what pop is now,” RYL0 said. Though the project is centered around RYL0’s move into more “traditional” bubble gum pop, she notes that she “couldn’t do that without acknowledging the truly classical references of pop.” But the past isn’t her only influence. If one musician has impacted RYL0, it’s Charli XCX.

“Charli XCX was my first reference point, as she typically is across all of my projects,” she said. It’s easy to hear XCX’s impact throughout RYL0’s discography. On Last Resort, it leaps out in a mesmerizing, glimmering fashion.

Online, RYL0 is a member of XCX’s fandom, collectively known as Charli’s Angels. XCX taught RYL0 more than just what makes a good pop song. The roll out for XCX’s How I’m Feeling Now brought RYL0 deeper into the fan community, inspiring her to connect with her own listeners online: “I’m actively, currently, a stan of Charli XCX ...being involved in the Angels community has definitely taught me a lot about standom.”

RYL0, like Last Resort, is an explosive force. She speaks with a fervor about her work, brightly expressing her love for collaboration and live performances. Collaboration characterizes the latter half of her discography, with some frequent guests including B4DFRi3ND and DJ Re:code.

Her career started as a heavily solo endeavor, but after a year of producing her own music, RYL0 hopped on someone else’s production. Following a “year in isolation,” she realized, “how empowering it was to be able to focus on writing” if her peers steered the production. Collaboration became a way to work not only faster, but also better.

It’s easy to get lost in the perfectly packaged Popstar RYL0 image. Last Resort’s campaign is rife with bright aesthetics, but hiding underneath this shiny exterior is an undeniable passion for pop music. Her’s comprehensive understanding of the genre is to thank for making Last Resort into such a cohesive era.

A cinema and media studies graduate of University of Southern California, RYL0 is also a student of the visual arts. Her time creating and analyzing films translates into her meticulously well-crafted image. The lush visuals of Last Resort, which feature RYL0 lounging next to a shiny blue pool, are a vibrant snapshot of the album’s sound.

“The visual inspiration for making Last Resort as cohesive as it has been was realizing the power of a c*nty image online,” she said.

She listed a range of 2000s and 2010s pop stars from Dua Lipa to Bebe Rexha to Tinashe before pointing to their similarities, noting that what “ties it all together is that they’re all giving you the pop perfection of a glossy image, the full world, and full packaging in a way that other genres don’t necessarily prioritize, or allow for, in the same way.”

She referenced the fan attachment to XCX World, an unreleased Charli XCX mixtape, and “Seeing how attached people are to the concept of XCX World, [of] which Charli has said: ‘This wasn’t a thing. This wasn’t the official artwork. This wasn’t what the name was gonna be,’ But still clinging onto this project, because of the world, because of the strength of a c*nty a*s image.”

Sonically, Last Resort touches on a range of sound and feeling while still maintaining an undoubtedly RYL0 essence. The tape opens with a shiny Daft Punk interpolation on “Everywhere I Go (Around the World),” where RYL0 sneaks in a clever lyric switch: “Around the world, a RYL0 world.” She boasts the confidence of an artist with millions of fans–to her benefit.

High production quality seeps through each song as RYL0 shifts gears throughout Last Resort. She gets raunchy on “Loud Sex,” distraught on “People Who Don’t Love Me,” and introspective on “Don’t Let Me Push You Away.” The tape’s closer, “Get It” is her favorite on the record–fans love it too.

“I thought it was going to be the sleeper hit…someone tweeted at me: ‘Get It' hive rise!’ There seems to be, like, a cult following for this song,” she said.

Last Resort is RYL0’s final mixtape: “This is my last chance to make that impression in the mixtape era, to get people in as early as possible before I commit to a much more time consuming and energy consuming project–which is an album.”

A month away from the release of Last Resort, the budding popstar has settled down into this elusive album mode, gearing up for her next release: an official debut. If her tapes are anything to show for it, RYL0 is ready to dive deeper into the pop scene in a mighty, gleaming burst.

You can keep up with RYL0 on Instagram and Twitter.