The dance floor is and was never dead: The best electro-pop releases of 2026 so far

Graphics by Magda Kanecka

August Nguyen | July 2026

Heavy times call for heavier synths. While the self-proclaimed 365partygirl Charli XCX herself might be exiting sweaty club basements to crowdsurf on festival stages, the dance floor has never been more alive and well in the hands of OG pop provocateurs from Madonna, Robyn, to Kesha and emerging sonic worldbuilders alike from underscores, Tommy Fleece, to MGNA Crrrta.

BRUIT. hereby presents you an unranked, inexhaustive shortlist of the best electro-pop records so far this year. If the kids are bumping any of these, you know it’s a recession indicator (if you know, you know).

“U” by underscores 

Pop-ifying the genre-bending experimentality of “fishmonger” and the loose conceptuality of “Wallsocket”, “U” rightfully opens up a new wave of listeners for underscores. Imbued with lyrical wit, banging dubstep beats, and sticky vocal tunings, this quasi self-titled LP is electronic pop at its prime and purest.

“U” explores the familiar if not borderline default themes of wanting love and yearning for fun in dance pop through underscores’ idiosyncratic songwriting and a unique 2000s Britney Spears, 2010s Skrillex, and 2020s 100 gecs-inspired mix. It turns what are structurally perfected pop tracks into an entire sonic narrative, tied together by the iconic catchline “I-O-U”. This kind of singing-spelling defines the peak production in my personal favorite “Lovefield” where each bass drop almost synchronises with her enunciation of each letter “L-O-V-E-F-I-E-L-D”. 

The record’s seamless transitions in between the seductive lyricism of “Bodyfeeling” and the tear-jerker “Wish U Well”, the literal directness of “Innuendo (I Get U)” and the wink-wink nudge-nudge of “Do It”, makes it, in my opinion, the most cohesive yet layered electronic project in years. The level of artistic identity and recognisable sonic features in this record puts underscores in her own league amongst the current class of electropop up-and-comers.

“WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA”  by Slayyyter

Stepping away from the glitz and glamour of “STARFUCKER”, “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA” sees Slayyyter’s formative return to her “Midwest-core tweaker bar rat” root of dirty denims, ripped white tees, and stained mud boots. As brand new Pradas become beat up Chanels and the Chateau Marmont becomes abandoned gas stations, Slayyyter arrives at her most real and raw sonic self yet: one of feral screams, rowdy electroclashes, and raunchy lyricism.

While her first major-label project under Columbia Records, “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA” is deliberately, if not unnecessarily DIY. Slayyyter self-directed all of the album’s music videos from the St. Louis fever dream “BEAT UP CHANEL$”, the David Lynch horror-esque “CANNIBALISM!”, to the wild and viral “CRANK”. In an industry where Pinterest buzzwords produce personality, the iPod Music aesthetic of “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA” reflects Slayyyter’s own (counter-)cultural taste, wit, and identity. There’s truly no other artists who can write “He wanna fuck Slayyyter/Richard, we should link later” than someone so inspired by Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused” she took a whole stage name away from the movie.

“WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA” is everything this world needs more of: older technology, stickier weed, and nastier after parties. 

“Detour” by Kim Petras

Kim Petras’ final debut album, “Detour” marks her departure from the shackles of Republic Records, the rollercoaster relationship with whom she openly grieves and giggles at on “Korea” and “Need for Speed”. A clean-cut 36 minutes of bulletproof bangers, bawdy ballads, and baller attitude, the record masterfully balances between the kind of trashy slut pop Kim has been so well-known for and the surprisingly confessional lyrical highlights about her trans popstardom. 

Executive produced by electropop duo Frost Children and Margo XS (Demi Lovato, Zara Larsson), “Detour” sees Kim embracing a more abrasive techno-infused pop sound that allows her to be cheeky without unpalatable explicitness, corny without cliches, and vulnerable without emotional overload.

The record, at its core and and not too obviously so, exemplifies the “personal as universal” ethos of (mainstream) pop. “Brutalist”, for instance, paints as vivid a scene of Kim and her father running around what are now demolished buildings in Germany for hormones as that in “Jeep” where she has sex in the parking lot to techno, Eminem, and Slipknot. Even the almost brainrot pop pre-game anthems like “DTLA”, “Bitch Ball Out”, and “101” are anchored by particular metaphors or motifs.

It is, I think, such thematic complexity that makes “Detour” an instant, timeless cult classic for the bad girls living fast and dying young.

“Ultrasonic” by Tommy Fleece 

Tommy Fleece is pure fun. “Ultrasonic” expands on the bold bubblegum, scratchy digicore soundscape of “audio star” and “audio star 2”, rounding up an impressive back-to-back three-album run that manages to find many new nooks and crannies in so-called party music.

Music about music indeed never gets old and Tommy does this so effortlessly well in tracks like “Tune In” and “Bounce”. I love it when every element of a song mirrors the title as each synth in “Bounce” quite literally, bounces. He says “DJ turn it up ‘cause the ladies wanna bounce” and I would probably jump on a trampoline with no underwear on if they start spinning this in the club.

“Ultrasonic” is most memorable for its sticky dancefloor hooks but becomes even more so during the slower, unexpected moments of introspection. “Who’s To Say” opens the record with anxiety about a blooming love on acoustic guitar strings just for the BPM to crank up from there and not once dials down until the closing track. 

The LP is thus another testament to the range and level of emotional depth underneath all the neon paint splashes and crazy distortions of contemporary hyperpop.

“star scum city” by 2charm

With production credits from it girl EDM Ninajirachi, “star scum city” births an alternative subgenre of “techno sleaze gooner pop” that stands somewhere in between Porter Robinson’s maximalism, Babymorocco’s sexy electronica, and PinkPantheress’ softcore internet pop. It sounds like a gap-year Eurosummer trip surviving off 3-star rated hostels while spending too much on club entries, like making out with a hot stranger wishing they were your medium chopped ex and going to Paris to get that man off your mind just to want him there with you. 2charm’s ability to craft such niche emotive spaces around dancey trance beats is quite commendable for a debut LP.

The Australian duo taps into the kind of choreographable, almost unrisky electropop song structure of catchy choruses and dance breaks without being Tiktok-ified. “you will never be alone in barcelona”, my personal favorite and a grower in the record, rhythmically traces the mental flow state you’d have when going out in a foreign city. It starts off slow as 2charm narrates meditating through the phone on a hotel’s 14th floor, which then leads up to possibly the most addictive beat drop I’ve heard this year.

Seeing them live in Sydney confirms the amount of starpower behind the Ugg boots, the tiny shorts, and the silly fur hats that just bring me insane joy. “star scum city” is where you go for unabashed queerness, virtual romances and pure escapism. 

“Beautiful Disaster” by MGNA Crrrta

The most un-pop electropop album in the list, MGNA Crrrta’s “Beautiful Disaster” revives the nostalgia-soaked 2010s Zedd EDM bangers that are actually refreshing in a post-Brat hyperpop era filled with “Apple” dances, catchphrase-heavy songwriting, and “cool girl” aesthetics. For fans of Frost Children, Ninajirachi, and Bassvictim who have been sick of hearing the same white girl music at the gay club, the record’s brainrot lyricism that is almost indecipherable under fried electroclash autotunes will give you no choice but get feral.

Uncompromisingly EDM, “Beautiful Disaster” embraces this trendy 2016 Picsart, Rio de Janeiro filter-core, yet at no point tries to appear palatable. It stays true to the unadulterated partygirl spirit of blackout drunk weekends, boundless ecstasies, and burnt cigarettes that is increasingly colonised by fruity flavored vapes and digi pics for the gram. Tracks like “BFF”, “Heels broke = died”, and “Pür Love” comically, loudly, and quite literally remind the girlies of what a good time should feel like.

“Beautiful Disaster” brings party culture back to the Discord servers, the Tumblr blogs, the illegal DJ drives and fake IDs where it all began.

Honorable mentions

• “Torn” by Cobrah

• “NATURE IS HEALING” by horsegiirL

• “Ö” by Fcukers

• “J is for Joon” by Ms*Gloom

• “Dorian Electra” by Dorian Electra

In a year stacked with more radio-friendly sounding, mid-tempo releases (Olivia Rodrigo’s “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, Charli XCX's “Wuthering Heights”), these albums inhabit an alternative space of relentless, left-field electropop that would captivate, compel, and challenge without completely alienating any average pop enjoyers.

From the eroticism of 2charm’s “star scum city” to Slayyyter’s pure hedonism, vapid party music makes the world go round as we have fun all the time and rot occasionally under a system that wants us to do neither.