{"id":434574,"date":"2026-05-10T08:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T08:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/434574\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T08:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T08:57:13","slug":"pinkpantheress-on-auto-tune-hearing-loss-and-the-niche-genres-that-made-her-a-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/434574\/","title":{"rendered":"PinkPantheress on Auto-Tune, hearing loss, and the ‘niche’ genres that made her a star"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an \u201cinternet artist\u201d \u2014 meaning \u201cmost of my fans are people that are heavily online,\u201d she explained via Zoom ahead of her Boston show this Tuesday \u2014 it\u2019s likely that the English producer and singer has infiltrated your daily scrolling. Her popular songs have become some of the most ubiquitous melodies on social media: the dazed 98 seconds of \u201cPain,\u201d the romantic tug of war \u201cBoy\u2019s a Liar Pt. 2,\u201d with rapper Ice Spice<\/a>, and, more recently, a fizzy bout of paranoia called \u201cIllegal.\u201d <\/p>\n

Naming the genres of those songs is a different story. PinkPantheress\u2019 tunes are bite-size, rarely over three minutes long, but sardine-can-packed with subgenres of electronic music from her home turf, like jungle and drum & bass. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI do think that I shove so many melodies into one song,\u201d PinkPantheress, born Victoria Walker, told the Globe. She named her 2025 single \u201cTonight\u201d as an example, explaining that she\u2019s witnessed Reddit discussions struggle to identify the song\u2019s \u201cwhompy\u201d style of electric dance music, called bassline. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually a genre from where I\u2019m from \u2014 from the UK \u2014 which I love to educate people about,\u201d she said, particularly \u201cpeople that are overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the kind of music Walker likes \u201cnerding out\u201d about, and class is in session on Tuesday when she performs at MGM Music Hall at Fenway to support her 2025 mixtape, \u201cFancy That,\u201d and its accompanying remix album, \u201cFancy Some More?\u201d (Like her tunes, even the projects\u2019 names are quintessentially British.) <\/p>\n

A former piano student and self-taught producer, Walker boasts an origin story that most artists dream of. Her first post to TikTok \u2014 a clip of unreleased music shared on Christmas day in 2020 \u2014 racked up 500,000 likes. Her music\u2019s presence on social media began to mushroom in 2021, when users started spreading her single \u201cPain,\u201d a now-billion-streamed song that falls under the umbrella of UK garage (not to be confused with garage rock, which precedes the electronic genre by at least 30 years). <\/p>\n

By the time rapper Ice Spice \u2014 another viral star \u2014 hopped on Walker\u2019s song \u201cBoy\u2019s a Liar\u201d to make a \u201cpt. 2\u201d remix in 2023, Walker was delivering hits with \u201cniche\u201d subgenres her listeners might not have even heard of. The song, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately appeared on her debut LP, 2023\u2019s \u201cHeaven Knows.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had people call me a rapper,\u201d Walker said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy, but 100 percent, because the way I present, that\u2019s the first assumption. And I think in America, it\u2019s just exacerbated by 10 times, because I think electronic and dance [music] \u2014 jungle, drum & bass \u2014 has less of a foundation here.\u201d<\/p>\n

She paused. \u201cEven though, actually, Chicago house was one of the birthing fathers of drum & bass and jungle. I do think the genres really only got developed back in the UK and in Europe, and even actually in Australia.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNerding out,\u201d indeed. <\/p>\n

Another \u201cEngland versus America\u201d perspective Walker sees among listeners is their various takes on Auto-Tune, a tool that Walker\u2019s open about using to curate her dove-like vocals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone ever tries to make fun of me for Auto-Tune, I fully can tell you right now, I\u2019ve never cared once in my life,\u201d she said, noting that she\u2019s from \u201cthe schools of\u201d artists like Charli XCX<\/a> and Lily Allen<\/a>, both English acts who have used Auto-Tune as a style choice. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people prioritize lyrics. Some people prioritize people\u2019s visuals,\u201d she added. \u201cBut I prioritize songwriting, and I think when someone\u2019s a good songwriter, I don\u2019t care how they sing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cultural differences aside, Walker\u2019s fared just fine in the United States. She\u2019s already achieved a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 this year \u2014 a remix of her song \u201cStateside\u201d that features Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson, which peaked at No. 6 \u2014 and she was one of the most anticipated performers at Coachella<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite the contrast from just a few years ago, when Walker was canceling performances for various health reasons. In 2022, she dropped off Spain\u2019s Primavera Festival because of \u201cpartial hearing loss.\u201d She later revealed that she\u2019s 80 percent deaf in her right ear, the result of never wearing earplugs while DJing or attending concerts when she was younger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt honestly taught me about the fragility of the body,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that does help me in my career because now I\u2019ll think twice before accepting to do certain things I know I can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

After initially mixing and mastering all of her material, Walker\u2019s diminished hearing has forced her to bring in other professionals, although she said \u201cthere was part of me that honestly felt quite relieved\u201d about passing the task to other people. (\u201cI did have a good go,\u201d she admitted, \u201cmy earlier songs were mixed pretty well, considering it was all myself.\u201d) <\/p>\n

\u201cI love controlling my own music \u2014 I love controlling every aspect and doing everything myself,\u201d she said. \u201cBut obviously, there\u2019s a part of you that realizes that someone will do it better than you. I guess I faced that reality in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another self-reckoning followed shortly thereafter, when negative feedback began piling up about Walker\u2019s live performances. That her career has skyrocketed online was a blessing, but it meant her onstage chops lagged behind her studio skills. <\/p>\n

What were listeners saying, exactly? \u201cPeople were just saying I was a bad performer, really,\u201d Walker recalled. \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

After completing a North American headline tour in 2024, she pulled the plug on the remainder of her shows that year \u2014 including festival appearances and stints opening for Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> and Coldplay<\/a> \u2014 noting that she had \u201creached a wall which I am struggling to penetrate through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time where I was like, \u2018there\u2019s a narrative that I can\u2019t control, and I don\u2019t know how to or why,\u2019\u201d Walker added. \u201cIt was really driving me crazy. \u2026 I was actually in physical pain at some point from it all. \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that to say, I left and I basically workshopped a whole new thing,\u201d she said, referencing the new-and-improved live concept that fans are witnessing on her current tour.<\/p>\n

It seems that after years of educating fans, the teacher has become the student. Well, fancy that. <\/p>\n

PINKPANTHERESS<\/p>\n

With Cece Natalie. At MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St., Boston, Tuesday, May 12, 8 p.m. Tickets $194. crossroadspresents.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Victoria Wasylak can be reached at victoria.wasylak@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her on Bluesky at VickiWasylak.bsky.social.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As an \u201cinternet artist\u201d \u2014 meaning \u201cmost of my fans are people that are heavily online,\u201d she explained…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-434574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}