The Trans Girl and Her Computer: Vocal Processing and the Creation/Expression of Gender in Hyperpop

Abstract

The discourse around transgender identities and rights has become increasingly polemic throughout the last decade. Simultaneously, aesthetic developments in popular music have primed audiences for “artificially-sounding” voices, and the accessibility of vocal processing technologies and digital audio workstations has increased dramatically. This thesis is concerned with trans voices, music production, gender and agency. I investigate different uses of vocal processing technologies through hermeneutic and critical study of two hyperpop artists; Laura Les and Dorian Electra. My research is situated in the emergent field of queer musicology, and the research question for the thesis is as follows: “How is vocal processing technology being used by transgender and gender nonconforming artists to create and express gender in hyperpop?” I develop the concept, identificatory distance, which relates to the metaphorical distance between the sounding voice and the gender of the queer artists and concerns how various technologies are employed to decrease or increase the discrepancy between the two. Perhaps the most important finding of the thesis is that these vocal processing tools are tools of survival. In the case studies investigated, the artistic developments are intermingled with the personal lives of these musicians. “Finding their voice” takes on a literal sense as they utilize technologies to express queer gender and voice, claiming their space in a cisheteronormative world.