Hyperpop Has Finally Caught Up With Holliday Howe
Photo taken by Ebony Louise Barrett
It's time to put some respect on Holliday Howe's name. The Australian singer-songwriter/producer started making music in 2014, and has remained a member of the online music community ever since. And while her output of left-of-center pop music could be reasonably labeled "hyperpop" (a term she'll tell you she's been using to describe herself since 2015), she's been admirably zagging in the face of an ever-changing music scene.
Howe's newest single, "KICKS" (released today), is co-produced by herself and fellow hyperpop innovator Boy Sim. The song continues her evolution from the more explicitly PC Music-inspired dance material of her previous work (including that of her Bubbles alias) into the realm of love-torn, moody pop soundscapes. Most trendy hyperpop instrumentals rely on heavily auto-tuned vocals and distorted, blown-out trap instrumentals (a vibe in its own right!), but Howe sticks to her guns by sticking closer to the club aesthetics of her biggest influences (such as the late, great SOPHIE). "KICKS" begins with a synth chord-progression and kick-drum pattern that escalate slowly under Howe's soft vocals before dropping into the chorus's irresistible dance-beat and sticky central melodies. "Tell me what I'm supposed to do, now that I'm in love with you/My heart recapitulates, feelings I can't anticipate," Howe sings, a passage that will ingrain itself deep into your skull for days to come. But beyond the insanely catchy chorus are also a lot of small details in the production--a xylophone arpeggio in the back of the mix, a bubble pop before the start of the second chorus--that give the song a great deal of dynamism. It’s a fantastic hyperpop track.
Most people think “hyperpop” was a term invented by Spotify, but Howe was actually early to the label. In 2016, she released a song called "Strawberry Kisses" on SoundCloud and tagged it as "HyperPop." That track--a remix of the Nikki Webster bubblegum pop song of the same name--doesn’t resemble much of the material Howe releases today. But listen closely and you can hear those “hyperpop” elements (as she interprets it) which have remained in her work since. Take her recent song "Crushed,” for example, an impassioned club-pop banger with chopped up vocal samples (her own this time), plucked synth instrumentation, and a focus on emotionally powerful pop melodies and structures--elements that you can hear in her Bubbles material, and the kind of stuff she was calling hyperpop before it was cool, man.
For years, Howe has been taking familiar pop elements, twisting them, recontextualizing them, combining them with dance aesthetics and calling it hyperpop. I'm not saying she invented the term, as it's virtually impossible to know that (despite her being an early candidate). But we should recognize an artist who has belonged to this scene for a while, was a part of its formation, and who continues to stay true to herself despite the sound becoming dominated by trends. To me, that's what hyperpop is all about.
Also stream “KICKS”!
Written By Noah Simon
