Hyperpop as we know it seems to be quickly collapsing on itself. From Charli XCX's radio-friendly (but still delightful) "Good Ones" to a long-standing silence from genre pioneers 100 gecs, it seems like the scene has an opening for a new pack leader. Enter umru, a PC music favorite working in the more experimental realm of hyperpop with his new single, "check1," flanked by rappers Tommy Cash and 645AR.
The song, a stank face industrial rap track, floored me on first listen with umru's production evoking Warlord-era Yung Lean (a known inspiration of his) and adjacent artists Drain Gang. The synergy between umru and Cash doesn't let up even when it gets passed from Cash to 645AR, who comes in hot with his signature whisper-rat intonation. The type of song you play on speakers until they burst, "check1" pushes the needle forward for a genre that sometimes feels stuck in its own mythos.
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