Musical Imagery: Hyperpop and Electronic Music Scenes

The millennial generation no longer relies on traditional music theory structures to define genres. The spectrum presented by Every Noise at Once illustrates the precarious position of music “falling out of popularity before its name has even been coined.” In today’s era, a music genre can be defined and refined in less than a decade—a process that once took traditional art movements centuries. Take Hyperpop, for example: since its emergence in 2013, the genre has evolved from disruptive, avant-garde beginnings into a more polished, commercialised form. By 2021, it had transformed into a reflective medium, exploring inner substance beyond surface appeal.

Is art inherently subjective? Hyperpop can be viewed as a microcosm of contemporary creative culture, where the seemingly chaotic rhythm of popularity becomes a space for continuous experimentation. This gives rise to a genre built on mutual inclusion, sampling, and fusion—eventually reconstructing itself into a coherent aesthetic system. Alternatively, it may be examined in relation to Art-Pop, a genre that more explicitly bridges pop culture and art, maintaining commercial appeal while resisting superficiality. These reflections offer valuable insights that can be extended to broader creative disciplines. By clarifying music’s visual and structural attributes and applying them to specific contexts in life, new pathways for aesthetic inquiry may emerge.

Li Jing-Yan, currently pursuing a doctorate in French Literature at Sorbonne Université in Paris, has been producing the music review programme Musikorama on bilibili since 2022. The programme introduces Chinese-speaking audiences to albums that straddle the boundaries between pop and experimental music. Her nuanced grasp of genre, culture, market dynamics, and artistic development lends the show a unique and precise interpretive voice within the abstract landscape of contemporary music.

LiaoRan Studio, founded in 2009 by Huang Bo-Han and Chiu Chun-Lin, has been a leading force in promoting electronic music in Taiwan through the framework of “sound art.” They connect music with everyday life, regularly releasing the LiaoRan Radio podcast on Spotify, where they explore creative topics through accessible conversations. Their engagement with party culture dates back to the Korner era, and today, they perform regularly as DJs at Pawnshop—one of Taipei’s key venues for underground electronic music.

This lecture, featuring online music programme producer Li Jing-Yan alongside Huang Bo-Han and Chiu Chun-Lin, will explore how creators employ musical imagery to expand the logical and sensory pathways of human perception. It will also examine how the evolution of music reflects the diversity and plurality of art as it manifests across academic, experimental, and commercial contexts.