Hyperpop’s ‘Unholy’ Breakout

A genre described as “a largely underground scene that takes elements of pop music to extreme points, frequently mixing pop with harsh electronic sounds and avant-garde textures” is not your normal recipe for success. So how did Sam Smith’s and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” crack the Global Top 5?

by Payton Dunn. 

A version of this essay first appeared in Bill Werde’s free, weekly Full Rate No Cap email.

Sam Smith’s and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” [YouTube video below] is celebrating its third week on the Hot 100, sitting strong in the #2 spot after debuting at #3 on October 4. It has also topped the Global 200, marking the first time that a hyperpop song has hit either chart. This hit marks a breakthrough for a sound, of course, but it also marks a very nice, notable moment for queer and non-binary artists and their fans.

For those not up on their latest classifications, hyperpop is a largely underground scene that takes elements of pop music to extreme points, frequently mixing pop with harsh electronic sounds and avant-garde textures. This isn’t the first time that pop stars have dabbled with hyperpop. Charli XCX has collaborated with SOPHIE and PC Music founder A.G. Cook since her 2016 Vroom Vroom EP. And while these moves built her a devoted cult fanbase, it never translated to chart success, leaving hyperpop to bubble just under the Hot 100 for years.

“Unholy” took a different approach, eschewing collaboration with the hyperpop community. Smith didn’t bring in any of the figures that actually pioneered the song’s sound, choosing to instead collaborate with mainstream pop producers Blake Slatkin, Cirkut ILYA, Jimmy Napes, and Omer Fedi.

There’s obviously historical precedent for this. The innovators of musical form frequently fail to get their proper dues, from the Black musicians who created rock on through virtually every crossover, mainstream genre. It always seems to end up being the artists that dilute a sound to its most easily digestible parts that end up getting the accolades (looking at you, Green Day).

Despite that, it’s still massive that this moment is being led by a queer and non-binary artist in Smith and that the song features a trans woman in Petras, who’s collaborated with hyperpop artists in the past; at least one Billboard editor said that they “couldn’t think of another trans woman who has charted this high on the Hot 100 before.” For Smith, it marks their first major chart hit since 2019—the year they came out as queer and non-binary. The vast majority of hyperpop’s progenitors have been queer and trans, and many of its most common sonic features originally started as methods used by trans women to help alleviate their dysphoria.

Let’s just hope that history doesn’t repeat itself and that those actual pioneers themselves get their moments to shine too. To that end, enjoy this link to the 2022 album comfort noise by umru, the PC Music artist that originated many of the sound techniques showcased on “Unholy.”

A version of this essay first appeared in Bill Werde’s free, weekly Full Rate No Cap email.