Just like the prefix “hyper” suggests, hyperpop is an emergent genre of the 2010s, an exaggerated, extreme, hyper-distorted pastiche of electronic sounds that sound more like a do-it-yourself (DIY) experiment than a pop song. 100 gecs, an American duo consisting of Laura Les and Dylan Brady that creates experimental electronic pop music, was one of the members that contributed to this whirlwind of hyperpop in the pop music scene. In March 2023, 100 gecs released their second studio album 10,000 gecs, utilizing elements of hyperpop and infusing punk and heavy metal, flouting its boldly aggressive sounds that joyfully push the boundaries of pop and weaving together lyrics told by a narrator larger than life in the most ridiculous ways.

The Rise of Hyperpop and 100 gecs

Hyperpop is an interesting, relatively new genre of pop music characterized by extremely distorted assembled sounds using synths and autotunes, encompassing a variety of preexisting genres such as metal, punk, hip-hop, and more. It is a loose categorization that includes very diverse styles of music; there have thus been criticisms among artists that hyperpop has now become a nebulous catchall phrase for all kinds of extreme pop music, as various experimental artists create music that defies genre classification. The genre has also been linked to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (LGBTQ+) youth, with many prominent artists pioneering the genre being queer, such as trans women musicians like SOPHIE, Kim Petras, and even the 100 gecs member Laura Les. TikTok is known to have popularized this genre even more entering the 2020s, due to its heavy beats that facilitate quick transitions in short-form videos.

When it comes to the status and influence of 100 gecs in this landscape of hyperpop, Will Pritchard of The Independent put it best: 100 gecs took hyperpop “to its most extreme, and extremely catchy, conclusions: stadiumsized trap beats processed and distorted to near-destruction, overwrought emo vocals and cascades of ravey arpeggios.” To 100 gecs, music is just a playground that they can burn and vandalize and bomb. Through the 2019 release 1,000 gecs, 100 gecs created its own spin on the 2010s genre, and established their musical identity.

The Sophomore Album 10,000 gecs

10,000 gecs takes a step further from their previous album, 1,000 gecs (2019), with even more bombastic punk and metal influences especially prominent on tracks like “Hollywood Baby,” which begins with energetic punk electronic guitar, low-key vocals that turn into loud autotuned vocals, then blaring singing played under rhythmic heavy beats. Go pitch a fit, no one gives a shit / Better off if you just get over it,” they sing with an eye-roll. Most representative of their sonic identity might actually just be “One Million Dollars,” the song in which the lyrics are just “one million dollars” over and over again, which is not boring for even one second due to the interesting twists and turns of autotune and buzzing, crashing synths that destroy the soundscape, akin to a threedimensional (3D) slow-motion video of a soda can getting crushed and warped.

The running lyrical theme in this record is self-deprecating and unserious: “I’m so happy I could die / put emojis in my grave / I’m the dumbest girl alive,” “757, yeah, I’ll never go to heaven / I’ve been smokin’ since eleven / Told the devil he’s a lemon.” In “The Most Wanted Person in the United States,” the narrator is suddenly a sociopathic murderer who relishes in destructive behaviors: “I just killed Bobby, and then I ate his dinner / then took his car, and I crashed it in the river,” the tale being over-the-top ridiculous that it can easily make the listener laugh and vicariously experience such madness. After all, there is no need to take yourself too seriously.

10,000 gecs is, in all its distortions and ostentatious display of electronic music, an energetic and genuinely fun album recommended to those who wish to try something new or an upgrade of the 2000s punk rock genre that the record is imbued by.