I first covered Atlanta’s underground hyperpop king, Cybertrash, back in May of last year for his single, “West”, which still happens to be one of the most unique records that I’ve had the pleasure of covering at Early Rising. To this day, there’s not a single comparison that I can make to the song, which leads me to believe that he’s really onto something here. For an artist with just over 1,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, it’s crazy to think about where his project is going to go from here because there is genuinely no ceiling for Cybertrash. His sound is so big that it’s impossible to wrap my head around the fact that he’s still this small, but in reality that’s exactly what happens in this scene – one second you’re bubbling in the underground and the next second the whole internet knows your name. With co-signs for Aries, midwxst, rouri404, and fellow Atlanta-native, ericdoa, the 20 year old has been building buzz in the underground hyperpop community and is well on his way to a big year in 2022 and beyond. That said, I’m elated to welcome him back onto the Early Rising site today as he continues to impress us with a double-sided single.
Released just two days ago on June 1st, “play pretend” is a new direction and fresh start for the self-produced artist from the Peach State. After a year-long hiatus, “play pretend” marks a reintroduction for the genre-bender, except this time he has no plans of disappearing again as this is just the beginning of his rollout. I can’t say that I’m the world’s biggest hyperpop fan, but I can say that I’m a huge Cybertrash fan and that’s because his sound finds the perfect happy medium for alternative/indie-pop fans and hyperpop which certainly shines through in “play pretend”. Since it’s palatable for more mainstream fans and the underground, my intuition leads me to believe that as soon as the world finds this rising star he’s going to take the whole industry by storm. A true craftsman, Cybertrash shows an insane level of production ability on this record (which we’ve seen before in his past records and even in Tommy Richman’s “Games”) and his voice is butter as always. Like all of the greats, when you hear a Cybertrash record you know exactly who it is and to have that talent at this early of a stage in his career is beyond promising.
In addition to “play pretend”, Cybertrash also dropped off an accompanying single called “REDEYE – demo” produced by Juberlee, dvdx, and Cybertrash himself. In a similar sonic direction to “play pretend”, “REDEYE – demo” might go overlooked next to “play pretend” to some listeners but it’s equally as much of a smash. A little more tamed, “REDEYE – demo” still hooks you in all the way in a quick 1 minute and 26 second timeframe, leaving us with a final taste of what’s to come from Cybetrash and another reason to buy into the hype. That said, if you’ve somehow made it to the end of this long essay on why Cybertrash is the future of the underground, then do yourself a favor and listen to both of these records using the Spotify preview link below. Cybertrash is on the rise and there are no signs of stopping, so tap in now before people call you a bandwagon fan later.
