Artist Interviews
This Connection event flyer showcases a lineup of artists who all fall somewhere within the hyperpop spectrum, some emerging, some iconic, but all of them incredible. I first admired these musicians as a fan, but through my illustration work for event promotion, I’ve had the chance to collaborate with nearly all of them. I reached out to a few of the artists for their perspective on this project's topic, and in this section I included two of them.
Ian Starr
Ian Starr performing at Nightcore Death Race. Photo by Instagram user @isodawg
Ian Starr at Animal Jamz 1. Photo by Instagram user @isodawg
Ian Starr is a songwriter, vocalist, producer, and founding member of the Alabama-based queer collective GenderDeath. Internet nostalgia runs through both his solo work and the collective's identity.
Ian Starr's catalog largely references Internet culture, as seen in his 2020 debut album, "777starrdust & Th3 S3v3n D3adly S1ns of Th3 1nt3rn3t", with the title spelled in leetspeak. His song "When I'm Bored"
is a personally significant release for me because it's a play on the 2010 animation meme by the same name, which was my "queer awakening".
[Video here >]
Ian Starr in front of police car at Animal Jamz 1 by Instagram user @isodawg .
Ian Starr and Gender Death’s visuals are an explosion of hyperactive furries drenched in neon rainbow cringe culture. I first met Ian through a Gender Death show called Meow Mix, and then through Roflcopter x Gender Death’s Animal Jamz 1-2 events. Because Ian Starr is one of the clearest embodiments of Internet nostalgia in contemporary queer rave culture, I added him to this flyer and reached out for his perspective.
Reflecting on his childhood online, Ian shared that the early Internet offered a sense of belonging he didn’t have offline as a closeted queer kid. He told me, “I really loved the free expression and anonymity that the old Internet provided… you could find friends who really loved the stuff you did, and you could be anyone you wanted to be.” He explained that this nostalgia shapes the atmosphere he tries to create with GenderDeath: “I think that’s what draws me to recreate that sense of the old Internet at our raves… it’s an instant point of connection when people meet at our events.” For him, rebuilding that environment is a way of healing the isolation of growing up queer and chronically online: “It’s beautiful that we’re all able to come together and have real community, because so many people… felt like they would never make friends they could truly connect with.”
To me, Ian captures the emotional core of why Internet aesthetics function as symbols of safety in queer spaces. Having grown up in conservative Southern Florida—and founding GenderDeath in Alabama—his community relies on the same digital refuge many Gen Z queer people depended on. This shared online history is what makes GenderDeath’s following so passionate.
Ian Starr at MeowMix. Photo by Instagram user @ilyqal_
Lauren Bousfield
Image of Lauren Bousfield discography via Reddit
"Lauren Bousfield – Elevation Through Sound (2023)." Image via TV Tropes.
Lauren Bousfield is an electronic musician, composer, and sound designer known for her chaotic yet beautiful melodic style. Her project Nero’s Day at Disneyland (2005–2009) blended glitch, breakcore, electro-industrial, and classical influences in a critique of consumer culture, laying groundwork for what would later be recognized as hyperpop. She has continued her maximalist sound under her own name and through projects like In-House Pharmacy and DOOR EATER.
I first discovered Lauren Bousfield's music in 2011, when Youtuber PewDiePie used her track “Child Protective Services” as his outro. I was 8 years old, and every time the outro music would queue, I'd get excited. There was something about the scratchy fast tempo song that I never got tired of, but there was no song credit for me to pursue until I rediscovered her music in 2020. Since then, she has become my most-listened-to artist, tied deeply to both my childhood and my early adulthood.
Bella Montagna. "TOON WORLD Lauren Bousfield [sticker]".
This past September (2025), I worked on the Yu-Gi-Oh–themed “Toon World” party, a collaboration between Roflcopter Party and the collective 909worldwide, of which Lauren is a member. After the show concluded we stayed in contact and she even fixed my laptop!
I asked Lauren about the role nostalgia plays in underground queer raves because she is one of the leading pioneers of experimental electronic music, with more than two decades of experience watching queer scenes evolve both online and offline. Her response was powerful and beautifully articulated.
In the “Internet Nostalgia” section of this website, I discuss capitalism’s significant influence on our longing for a simpler time before the Internet was largely dominated by consumerism. What Lauren said about us “searching for connections with each other that are genuine, not sold to us in dishonest feeling ways.” is not just an inference, it’s a reality supported by research like that of Academic Joshua Krook. Underground queer music events encourage connection through art and challenge the constraints of capitalism.
