Almost five years ago to the day, underscores’ April Harper Grey told us exactly who she wanted to be: “I’m a pop star, baby,” she bragged on “spoiled little brat,” the tinny, pop-punk banger from her 2021 debut fishmonger. “spoiled little brat” is the only fishmonger song underscores performed on her most recent tour outing when she opened for Danny Brown. Is that because it’s an instant crowd-pleaser and fan-favorite? Or is it because underscores was signaling to her audience exactly what to expect from her in the future?
U, underscores’ third album, is Grey’s lean and mean bid for pop stardom. Gone are the proggy, conceptual arcs of 2023’s wallsocket. U hits all the beats of a classic pop record—a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem—without overstaying its welcome. It’s glossy and stylized, but it never sacrifices the zoomed-up, post-genre, chaos-prone quirks of her earlier work. The goal here is maximum impact in a slimmed-down package.
Take the album’s three singles: “Music,” “Do It,” and “Tell Me (U Want It).” On the one hand, these songs are spiritual successors to the wallsocket bonus track “Stupid (Can’t run from the urge).” They’re jittery electro-pop bangers built off 8-bit synths, hardened for impact. Still, underscores’ music has never quite sparkled like this before. Even with their hyperpop tricks—like a techno pivot to close out “Tell Me” or an EDC-ready drop on “Music”—U’s singles feel more Britney Spears’ Blackout than Dylan Brady; more early Rina than Revengeseekerz. The glitching out is not the point; the hooks, the style, and the pop star attitude are.
While wallsocket expanded outward, U digs deep into one spot. Part of this is by necessity. The album was primarily made while touring, and Grey’s constant transit necessitated a streamlined approach to writing and recording. “My setup has gotten way simpler,” she told Wonderland, opting for a smaller audio interface and mic. The thrill, then, is in the way underscores works within these limits, making intricate, knotty pop out of familiar building blocks. “Innuendo (I Get U)” is all breath and warbles, like a BLACKPINK dance-break with the playfulness of peak Timbaland. “Lovefield” grows out of a sweet little synth, looped into a bittersweet dance-pop outro. On “The Peace,” underscores makes a meal out of a vocoder sample. She adds more and more layers of flattened, ultra-processed vocals until the bass finally kicks in. Its restraint and release is some of her most emotive, expressive production ever. Clearly, she can do a lot with a little. Though no one would call anything underscores has ever done “minimal,” U’s songs are dense and tightly packed.
Perhaps the album’s most surprising moment is also its most basic. “Bodyfeeling” is a four-on-the-floor stomper that wouldn’t sound out of place on The 1975’s I like it when You sleep. In some ways, it’s the most “normie” song underscores has ever made; there’s no brostep drop or spoken-word loop to blur genre lines or give it any requisite hyperpop cred. Instead, she spits out vocal hiccups like Michael Jackson and rocks out with Mk.gee-worthy guitar tones. “Bodyfeeling” sounds like underscores finally gave herself permission to make pure pop, no qualifier—”hyper” or otherwise—needed. Turns out, she’s brilliant at it.
By the end of U, it’s hard not to find underscores’ bid for pop stardom incredibly convincing. She really can do it all (pun slightly intended): the addictive hooks, the branding, the choreography. It’s a festival-ready record for the kids that never take off their headphones. But, of course, to be a pop star is to only reveal a part of yourself. Pop stars are, at least in 2026, bound to certain expectations: build an era, curate an aesthetic, be both unknowable and also parasocially attainable. U is no exception, and that’s both its greatest strength and greatest limitation. It doesn’t aim for the scale and ambition of wallsocket. In its place are songs that, intentionally, have less at stake. Even at its most personal, the album is lovingly, beautifully plastic. wallsocket’s emotional core came from its world, a place Grey created, narrated, and invited us into. U’s emotional core comes from its transformation. April Harper Grey is Doing It, fulfilling the promise she made on “spoiled little brat” five years ago. She can be a pop star, and U makes you feel like you can be one too. [Mom+Pop/Corporate Rockmusic]
Andy Steiner is a writer and musician. When he’s not reviewing albums, you can find him collecting ‘80s Rush merchandise. Follow him on Twitter.
