Vroom Vroom and the Roots of Hyperpop

Amanda Warner (MNDR) is one of four writers of Charli XCX’s “Vroom Vroom,” alongside Charli XCX, SOPHIE and Noonie Bao. The song, released in October 2015 and produced by SOPHIE, is now treated as a blueprint for hyperpop. MNDR’s path to that room ran through Bay Area noise, New York synth-pop and years of writing for electronic producers.

The song

“Vroom Vroom” arrived as a single in October 2015 and gave its name to a four-track EP released February 26, 2016 on Vroom Vroom Recordings and Asylum. MNDR co-wrote two of the four songs: the title track and “Trophy,” where she also sings additional vocals. Divisive at first, the EP is now listed by Wikipedia as hyperpop and credited with shaping the sound that followed.

Where the sound came from

Before MNDR, Amanda Warner came up in the Bay Area’s experimental music scene, playing East Bay warehouse spaces like Otherworld, Liminal and Grandma’s House. That background shows in her own records. She described Feed Me Diamonds (2012) as “industrial pop,” shaped by the German minimal techno she played as a DJ, and Spin called it “a really ill techno record.” Abrasive electronics under big pop hooks is the same tension hyperpop made its signature.

The circle around it

Vroom Vroom sits inside a web of collaborators MNDR worked with before and after:

  • Charli XCX also co-wrote Brooke Candy’s “My Sex” (2018), which MNDR co-produced and sings on with Pussy Riot and Mykki Blanco.
  • Hudson Mohawke produced MNDR’s “Gravity” (2018) and worked on “Love In Reverse” with Empress Of.
  • GIRLI features on “Cult Of Me” from Hell To Be You Baby (2021), MNDR’s album about cults, self-obsession and social media.
  • SSION, who directed the “#1 In Heaven” video, made O (2018) with MNDR on vocals and writing.

Why it matters

Hyperpop histories usually start with PC Music and SOPHIE. MNDR was in the writing room for one of its foundational records, and her own path, from noise to club-ready synth-pop, is the same distance hyperpop covers. Read the Vroom Vroom credit and the timeline.