Young Australians Mallrat, Ninajirachi, Daine and Donatachi look into the epicentre of the media term ‘hyperpop’. It’s bubble-gum sweet, with chaotic synth sounds mixed with pop and autotuned vocals, and the volume turned up to 11. Together, they discuss feeling old in the hyperpop genre (they’re all in their teens, or early 20s), not having any musical training, why face-to-face sessions are tough, how Daine’s autism feeds into her music, and how they feel when their music gets put in a playlist called Chill BBQ Music.
Ninajirachi is a songwriter, producer and DJ who’s been tagged as “one of Australia’s first notable hyperpop artists”. She got into music production after hearing the ‘hyperkinetic’ pop producer Sophie. Earlier this year, she released the True North EP with musical prodigy Kota Banks. Donatachi is a musician from Brisbane, described as one of “Australia’s best-known Hyperpop producers”. Their 2019 underground hit Crush on U, in collaboration with Slayyyter, is credited as being the song that set the hyperpop scene in motion. Daine is a Filipino-Australian producer from Melbourne, whose latest track, boy wanna txt, is produced by former Music Life guests 100 Gecs. And hosting the show is Mallrat, from Brisbane. She makes dreamy electronic pop and was recently named as one of the “100 Women Revolutionising Pop”. Mark Ronson is also a fan.