Pop 2: How Charli XCX Defined Hyperpop

The future of Pop music?

May 28, 2025

In the past decade, Charli XCX has become one of pop music's most influential artists. Through her own chart hits or her songwriting credits, Charli has maintained a massive name in the industry. But perhaps her biggest achievement is her role in shaping a whole new genre: Hyperpop. And at the heart of that is Pop 2, the mixtape which not only changed Charli's career, but also redefined the norms of pop music. Today, we take a closer look at how Charli XCX helped lay the groundwork for Hyperpop, and why Pop 2 is one of pop's most influential records of the past two decades.

What Even Is Hyperpop?

Hyperpop, like the name already tells, is a sub-genre of pop music. But even more, it’s a movement, a sound born from the internet to challenge the norms of mainstream pop. It characterizes by maximalistic production, pitched-up vocals, distorted synths, chaotic beat switches, and lyrics ranging from vulnerability to absurd sarcasm. In short, Hyperpop tries to do everything different from mainstream pop, pushing boundaries and completely throwing away the safety which most radio songs portray. In this attempt, it takes elements from pop music and mixes them with EDM, trap, emo, glitchcore, electronics, and even elements from J-pop and K-pop. And at the core is the reflection of the current state of the internet: chaotic, hyperreal, overstimulated, artificial, but at the same time also deeply emotional.

Throughout the last decade, artists like SOPHIE, A. G. Cook, 100 gecs, or Charli XCX have further pushed the borders of the genre and helped establish it within the general audience.

How Pop 2 put Hyperpop into the Spotlight

Hyperpop existed before Pop 2. Charli XCX did not invent the genre, but she turned it into what it is today. And what makes Pop 2 so significant is how it really is the perfect embodiment of Hyperpop. And it allowed Hyperpop to be exposed to a wider audience.

Pop 2 arguably was the first album in the mainstream to fully rely on core elements of Hyperpop. It heavily used auto-tuned and high-pitched vocals, featured glitchy and abrasive production which often turned into maximalistic and digital chaos. And that was no surprise, as it was produced by A. G. Cook and SOPHIE, two figures who actively built Hyperpop.

With their help, Charli fully embraced her vision. She still was the pop girl from her SUCKER era, but now she wasn’t afraid to drown her emotions into synth-heavy, bubblegum sounds. Charli not just took core elements of Hyperpop, but she expanded them, took them to the next level, or refined them. Samples of shattering glasses, video games, random beat changes, or simply taking things to absurd levels. Take as example the song “I Got It,” on which Charli repeats the phrase “I got it” a crazy 42 times in a row. On other songs like “Porsche” or “Unlock It,” she cuts vocals or builds up a moment of intensity just to cut it off within a second. Her vocals are drowned in auto-tune, but not because she can’t sing - no, on Pop 2, auto-tune suddenly becomes its own instrument. Manual instruments are almost non-existent, replaced by synths, electronic sounds, and sometimes even Charli’s own vocals.

And thanks to Charli being already a well-known artist within the pop scene, she gave legitimacy to the before largely mocked genre. Now it wasn’t just some unknown internet artists releasing weird-sounding music, now the genre had a household name. But Charli didn’t want to just put herself into the spotlight; instead, Pop 2 came with an impressive 13 features on just 10 songs. And all of those artists were either part of the Hyperpop genre or close to it. And maybe that was already the most important factor in Pop 2’s impact on Hyperpop. Charli XCX came as a well-known name into the genre and used her popularity to push the genre and its artists.

And all of that despite restrictions from her label, which wanted her to return to a more mainstream pop direction. Without knowing it, they just motivated Charli even more to do her own thing. And to be honest, that makes the impact of Pop 2 even bigger. Hyperpop is about pushing the limits and rebelling against the restrictions of mainstream pop music, and Charli releasing this mixtape despite her label refusing to support it was exactly that message.

Pop 2 pushed boundaries, turned the attention towards artists within the scene, and reframed the image of Hyperpop within the mainstream. Vocal manipulation like pitch-shifting and heavy auto-tune use is common nowadays in mainstream pop, with artists like Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, or Troye Sivan all using it. But Pop 2 also largely destroyed genre walls, mixing different inspirations and inspiring other artists to do the same. A producer who acknowledged that very recently is star-producer Benny Blanco, who talked about how Charli’s work allowed other artists to also become more experimental. Major critics like Pitchfork (8.4/10) and NME (8.0/10) praised the album for its unique and innovative sound. Artists like PinkPantheress, Glaive, and more also have since followed Pop 2’s internet aesthetic, turning memes and digital trends into music.

Further, the album impressively showed how even hyper-produced music still can be vulnerable. With the helping hand of SOPHIE, Charli was able to show Hyperpop in a new and more emotional light, helping more people to connect to it more easily.

And last but not least, Pop 2 is queer. Charli XCX always showed a lot of support and love for the queer community, and on Pop 2, this becomes evident. Filled with collaborations of queer artists, the album gave a significant push to previously sidelined voices. Ever since then, more and more queer artists could emerge, and while this is of course a result of modern times, Pop 2 helped shine light on many of those artists and gave them the possibility to showcase themselves as they are.

Charli XCX did not invent Hyperpop, but through Pop 2 and her later albums Charli and how i’m feeling now, she defined it. She made it popular and gave some of the genre’s biggest artists the spotlight to shine for themselves. And through that, Pop 2 did not just create the hype for Hyperpop, but also questioned borders in mainstream pop.

Pop 2, in my opinion, is one of the most influential pop albums of the modern decade, and I recommend everyone to listen to it. It might be a unconventional listening experience at first, but with time I’m sure many of you will like it as much as me.

Now, is there an album or mixtape I should talk about soon? If yes, let me know in the comments!

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