From Underground SoundCloud Artist to Internet Sensation: underscores By Jasmine Chen

As April Harper Grey’s world continues to expand, her music becomes living proof that underground pop does not have to lose its authenticity, weirdness, and creativity to become popular. 

When does an artist leave the “underground” space? For underscores, that moment might just be now. From the moment that her Galleria tour was announced, demand soared so high that tickets were sold out almost immediately, forcing larger venues to accommodate all the fans waiting for her in New York City– now happening on June 13th at Terminal 5. But the difference between underscores and other artists is that even as the crowds get larger, her sound stays unique to her. 

April Grey Harper is a SanFran-born artist, songwriter, and producer with stage name underscores. At 12 years old, underscores began distributing her GarageBand tracks on SoundCloud, primarily consisting of electronic beats and dubstep. Now, she is commonly described as a genre-hopping pop auteur who references and pulls from the most unexpected of genres/styles– hyperpop, EDM, indie rock, internet culture, and unexpectedly K-pop. 

Everything about underscores is authentic to her roots– even her stage name. In an interview, she explained that it was a nickname she chose for her social media back in middle school in an effort to stand out from the ‘edgy’ nicknames trending at the time. 

“I came up with the name underscores when I was like 12. [...] Everyone’s names were really stupid– they had like X’s and Z’s in them, and mine was like really classy for the scene so I just kept it. And now here I am,” underscores said in an interview in Roll the Tape with Wonderland Magazine. 

What is underscores’ genre? 

Much of the internet has mistakenly labeled the majority of rising UG (underground) artists as ‘hyperpop.’ While it is not completely wrong, it is also nowhere near enough to describe underscores’ unique sound, as well as some of her other peers who have been in the scene– Ninajirachi, Jane Remover, and 100 Gecs, for example. With underscores, you’re getting a wide range of influences from Drake to Skrillex.

“I think hyper-pop is officially dead,” underscores said in an interview with NME. While the hyperpop movement has inspired many young artists, it gets harder to produce within the genre without it feeling rehashed. What’s truly unique about underscores and her albums is that she’s not interested in preserving a genre. She’s more interested in building new ones. Her music stretches pop until it becomes something personal to her, and continues to build entire worlds and ‘lore’ through her music. For underscores, music is her way of exploring vulnerability through storytelling. While most artists dull down as they gain popularity, underscores has seen the completely opposite, notably in her recent album U. 

In her interview with Anthony Fantano on Youtube, underscores stated, “I think the most important thing is like[...] if you want to do it yourself you should do it yourself even if it's at risk of making the record less appealing to certain people- it’s gonna make it more endearing for the listener.” 

U is a pop album in the most underscores way possible. It’s shorter. It’s more direct. It hits the listener with a wave of emotions ranging from hype and excitement to reminiscence and sadness. In comparison, Wallsocket focused on heavier worldbuilding, making this new album almost feel like a start of a new era. 

But no matter what she does, there’s one thing that stays constant. She still keeps her unique feel of chaos that fans loved in that previous album in everything that she touches. 

Released in 2026, U is her third studio album with only nine tracks, with her describing it as “music for malls, airports, hotels, supermarkets,” in a Pitchfork interview. 

And honestly, that’s probably the best way to put it. The album has been described by netizens as glossy, public, artificial, yearning, and lonely all at once. It makes you want to dance, laugh, smile, and cry. Every track in U holds deeper messages and were written with gut-wrenchingly beautiful lyrics. The songs are clean, catchy, and structured, yet somehow still explode into chaotic electronic breakdowns and intense vocal edits. 

Internet Tabs to Pop Star

What makes underscores even more exciting is none other than her vast collection of inspirations and ideas that she works off of. Underscores started making music young, predominantly in dubstep heavily influenced by artists like Skrillex and 100 gecs. They explain why her production feels so restless and explosive, but her chaos isn’t for shock value– they’re used like punctuation. 

U’s listening experience completely depends on each individual’s personal interpretation of the songs. There’s no one telling them what’s right or wrong, and underscores join in on the conversations by sharing her initial thoughts about going into the production of various tracks. In contrast, many modern EDM producers tend to write very direct lyrics that almost tell the listener exactly what and how to feel. Some love it, some hate it, but that’s definitely not underscores. 

In her interview with Fantamo, underscores also states, “I just wanted it to be as me as I could be [...] and it’s not gonna work for everybody but I really love dry music.” A segment during the interview discusses her interpretation of track Lovefield in U revealing a vulnerable side to her. During that segment, she explains that she didn’t write it with the intent of portraying romance, rather it was her opening up about her personal struggle with feeling it. 

Internet netizens have also noticed that her fanbase is friendlier and more respectful than most others within similar genres. While the few bad apples are inevitable, fans have overall loved her shows and would attend again. 

Now here comes the surprising aspect of her music: K-pop. The influence of K-pop gives her music a fresh feel that allows her to further stand out from the current pop scene. She’s not just “genre-blending;” she’s absorbing them, taking bits and pieces of each of her influences and collaging them together into her music. underscores takes on a Skrillex-like explosive approach combined with pop-punk release, mall-pop choruses, and K-pop song structures to create something that only she can. 

As Austin Kleon quoted in his New York Times Bestseller Steal Like an Artist, “The writer Wilson Mizner said if you copy from one author, it's plagiarism, but if you copy from many, it’s research.” He adds, “Don’t just steal the style, steal the thinking behind the style. You don’t want to look like your heroes, you want to see like your heroes.?” U is exactly that. 

The album is familiar, yet difficult to place. It’s everything without feeling overwhelming. It’s proof that exploring outside mainstream pop doesn’t mean rejecting the genre completely, but finding artists who understand it enough to break and rebuild it to feel new again. 

K-pop Influence

Let’s talk K-pop. It’s not just the music structure that underscores has taken inspiration from, but the culture itself. K-pop’s influence shows up in the way the whole U era is packaged, performed, and experienced by fans. The physical release of U includes a photocard, which is uncommon in Western music culture. Additionally, she has released the U-LIGHT for her ongoing Galleria tour, a light stick resembling her “OC” aka original character from when she was in her teens. She creates a ritual around her music– an entire ecosystem if you will. Fans have developed inside jokes, purchased collectibles, and even call her “natural aegyo refreshing.” Now be careful to not confuse this with stealing from K-pop culture. While it is very similar, underscores prices her merch very reasonably to ensure that they are affordable for fans– though this does mean that they sell out faster. It’s less corporate, and more of a hyper-online object, similar to light sticks seen in Vocaloid concerts, for example. 

On the topic of Vocaloid, underscores still goes by Milkfish as a side project for DJ sets and releasing more remixes and edits. In the past when she worked with Six Impala (she still does), their music has had influence from Vocaloid’s sound, especially in !¡! Find the Answer ¡!¡ back in 2023. Fans online have even taken her music and recreated them as Vocaloid covers. Her glitch-pop style appeals to internet-dwellers at all corners of the digital world, bringing unexpected fandoms together to celebrate her music. 

Personally, I’m all for Vocaloid and would love to see underscores x Hatsune Miku. And I’m not the only one with this fantasy– Reddit users have been creating fan art of underscores and Miku, hoping for a collab someday. Here’s my fanart of Miku, heart emoji. If I could say one thing to underscores it would be: Do It.

https://underscores.plus/

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