Live Review: TROPHIE condemns a genre by making it her own in 'Death To Pop'

TROPHIE is a British expat who's just found a home in Australia and a crew with SIDECHAINS. The producer and vocalist has launched onto the local scene with the titular single off her upcoming EP, Death To Pop, to be released on the cult label. The war cry isn't so much a damnation of the genre as a whole, more the strict rules it's known to follow. On the track she deconstructs the genre she's condemned, mixing elements of dubstep, witch house, trap and club for her deconstructed take on pop music.

Any good pop song worth its salt has to have a solid vocal and memorable lyrics, and 'Death To Pop' delivers that in spades. TROPHIE follows the pop formula to it's own detriment by delivering a polished vocal while singing the difficulties of the creative process and suffocating boundaries of the genre.

Under the vocals is a schmick instrumental, complete with dubstep drum beat and kinetic synth lines. It moves with the vocals shifting to complement the verse and refrain before entering a heaving breakdown. The club-oriented bass and distorted chords create a dense atmosphere in complete contrast to TROPHIE's breathy refrain.

In the second half of the track, it completely breaks away from pop into brooding atmospheric composition, layering pitched up vocals with skittering samples and sporadic percussion. The classically trained muso flexes her vocal chops launching into operatic vocalisations over violins for a triumphant close to a huge track.

For a debut release, she sure has made quite the impression, destroying the rules of the genre and creating a dark take of her own. With the rest of her EP on the way and a new live show in the works, we're pretty excited to see what's next for TROPHIE.

TROPHIE's upcoming EP, Death To Pop, is set for release at the end of this month and is available for preorder now.

PHOTO BY TOM TRUONG

WORDS BY HOLLY O’NEILL

LISTEN TO MORE NEW MUSIC HERE

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