Edgar Sarratt III started this year sounding like a scared kid on the bus, unsure of what the future held for him. “I’m twiddling my thumbs, don’t know what comes next,” he sang waveringly on the opening line of “Final Breath,” the stunning highlight off his SUMMER03 mixtape released back in March. The song’s breezy emo guitar strum, throbbing digicore bass, and heart-pounding drum sticks captured the racing thoughts of the 18-year-old hyperpop breakout; it was an outpouring of self-doubt that zoomed by at breakneck speed.
The South Carolina born, Indiana-raised Sarratt (who goes by midwxst) has become one of hyperpop’s most promising young upstarts. A charismatic vocalist and producer with the ability to fully execute his vision, midwxst has been adept at threading the needle between Juice WRLD-styled emo trap and bass-blasting maximalist pop in the 100 gecs tradition, underlining hyperpop’s indebtedness to Soundcloud rap in the process. While other ascendant hyperpop acts like Glaive have already begun to buff out their songs to the point where they don’t sound terribly different from, well, pop, midwxst has pushed his sound in new directions (even after getting picked up by a major label). On his new EP, Back in Action, he sharpens his flows and trims some of his noisier production back, while still managing to capture the volatile energy that makes him such a compelling voice.
midwxst always feels most at home on candy-colored beats that let him flex his inner nerd. Nowhere is this more obvious than on “Tic Tac Toe,” which comes complete with Super Smash Bros. sound effects and goofy lines like, “Got that yellow on me like I’m Pikachu/And that choppa be blowing like it’s a flute.” midwxst has never hidden the fact that he’s an excitable band kid who was raised on Roblox, and his best tracks course with the kind of nervous excitement you get from cracking the top 10 in Fortnite. “All Talk” ping-pongs about like Bubble Bobble marbles ricocheting off the wall, with midwxst deftly switching between his usual triplet flows and a breathless double-time bridge, even dropping a house bassline in the middle of the verse as if it were nothing. It’s such pure fun that you might not even notice the crushing doubt that seeps into midwxst’s voice halfway through the song: “Never fit in, don’t fit in the classroom; remember hiding from class in the bathroom,” he belts just a moment before singing about hopping back in the Benz for another joyride. In midwxst’s hands, his vulnerability becomes his greatest strength.
Momentum is the name of the game with midwxst, and for the first two thirds of the EP, each track slams into the next, ratcheting up the dial further and further. A long time disciple of Pi’erre Bourne (particularly for his keen sense for smooth track transitions), midwxst experiments with a few Playboi Carti-styled tracks throughout Back in Action, with some landing better than others. The vvspipes-produced “Star” and the ericdoa-featuring “Slide” tap into the same fearsome, teeth-gnashing template that Carti solidified on Whole Lotta Red, a mode that suits midwxst’s maximalist impulses well. The same can’t be said for “LA” and “Made It Back,” whose more mellow, TLOP-y synths leave midwxst out to dry, his effusive vocals limited from being as impactful as they could be.
The EP fires out the gate with plenty of energy, but by the end you can feel the inevitable sugar crash setting in. It’s refreshing to hear midwxst firmly assert how foundational Soundcloud rap has been to the very soul and language of hyperpop, without losing the charming, open-hearted irreverence that’s made the genre such a breakthrough. On Back in Action, midwxst takes a step closer toward the mainstream, molding the current trends of hip-hop to fit his hyperactive vision. He may have started the year twiddling his thumbs, but now he sounds more confident than ever.
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