On March 20, 2026, underscores (April Harper Grey) released her third studio album, entitled U. Underscores is an up-and-coming producer and singer-songwriter from San Francisco known for her music within the hyperpop, pop-punk, and experimental electronic music sphere.
She’s recently announced a tour, Galleria – North American Chapter, with special guest umru. The two have a history of collaboration: in 2025, they released the dance single “Poplife” and have also done multiple b2b DJ sets together. Kicking off this May, underscores will be performing in 20 cities across the U.S. and Canada, including Philly’s Theatre of Living Arts.
Underscores’ work leading up to U focused on world-building, being concept-driven albums. Fishmonger, Wallsocket, and Wallsocket (Director’s Cut) blended a variety of genres to help tell their layered narratives. With U, underscores decided to shift gears and hone in on creating a more cohesive pop album that still has influences of EDM, hyperpop and even pop-R&B. While this album isn’t a concept album, it is still deeply personal. This album explores her relationship with music, love, fame, and stories of balancing all of these through nine tracks that somehow feel futuristic yet nostalgic at the same time. It definitely takes inspiration from 2000s pop, but features underscores’ signature flare because of its textured production.
Underscores has explained to Vogue that this is an album meant to be listened to by yourself, with headphones on. She’s tried to encapsulate the feeling of listening to music with our “headphones in, zoned out, the ambient feeling of a busy world swirling around you,” in liminal everyday spaces, which she’s always been fascinated by. This is why many of the visuals for this album are in places such as malls, airports, hotels, and supermarkets.
These visuals are present through the music videos such as “Tell Me (U Want It)” and in the album cover art by Japanese illustrator Ochiai Shohei, which depicts Stonestown Galleria, a mall in San Francisco where underscores spent time writing the record. According to an interview with underscores and Ochiai Shohei in The FADER, this shopping center became a second home for Grey. “While writing the record, Grey wandered its corridors, recording voice memos on escalators and drafting lyrics outside high-end storefronts,” Garret says.
Now that you know a little background about the album and underscores’ career, let’s explore the music within U.
The first single on the album, “Music”, came out in June 2025. This is one of the first songs I discovered by underscores. I fell in love with it because of its complex style, showcasing underscores’ creativity through the uniqueness of the song itself but also its accompanying visuals.
The music video is directed and edited by underscores herself, and it starts with rapid jump cuts of underscores wearing a variety of headphones, complementing her characteristic headphone hair, which she’s sported throughout this era. As the music video goes on, it cuts between scenes of her singing in a room surrounded by elements of music. Around her, music notes lit up on an LED background with floating CDs and more headphones. It goes back and forth between this and an arcade where a man plays Dance Dance Revolution to the tune of the song. It culminates with her dancing in a shimmery disco dress in front of flashing lights. This video sets the tone for the style of her album moving forward.
The song uses the metaphor of comparing a romantic connection to music itself. It’s a glitchy track that I’d say is both unconventional and unpredictable. For me, the best part is when she sings, “Pop, rock, electronic, rap, rock n’ roll. Nonstop, avant-garde, talkin’ on the phone. It sound like pop, rock, electronic, rap, rock n’ roll. Bass bump, supersonic, won’t you take me home?” I think this is the most memorable part of the song, and its repetition midway through the song serves as the perfect pre-lude to the fantastic bass drop.
In Nov. 2025, underscores released the single “Do It”. What I love most about this song is its bridge. This slowed and broken-down part of the song builds suspense leading up to the epic bass drop. With its over-the-top lyrics, “I just can’t do it, I’m married to the music, the music baby, if no one cares then prove it, then prove it babe,” it sums up the song’s message about prioritizing music over romantic commitments.
“Do It” is among the many songs on this album that make you want to dance. This song is another step underscores took toward trying something new in her music, with the song featuring original choreography. This makes the whole song so much more fun and really adds to its popstar concept. According to underscores in “12 Questions With Underscores”, though she never had any formal dance training prior to this, she did train for a few weeks to get down the dance, and it certainly paid off. Underscores stated that there’s almost a stigma around incorporating choreography in the world of underground or indie artists. She explained that many people may think it’s “too pop,” and they don’t want to do it in fear that it’s going to be embarrassing. going to be embarrassing.
“Do It” is proof that it’s anything but that, and it actually encourages more people to enjoy the music in new ways.
“The Peace” is a song about changing yourself for someone to keep them in your life even if those changes are harmful to you. The song explores “keeping the peace” with another person by remaining quiet, mirroring them, and going along with the things they do to avoid losing them, according to fans’ interpretations on Genius and The FADER. The lyrics “I don’t speak unless I’m spoken to, I don’t smoke unless you’re smoking too. I just want to keep the peace with you,” represent this. This “peace” is not truly comfortable since it’s upheld by actions that are performative and even detrimental.
My favorite part about this song is its structure and its storytelling aspect, detailing a love story that starts off in Brooklyn and travels to Europe. I like the kind of calming feel of this song compared to the rest of the album, with the layered vocal chops throughout the song making it a song that’s both catchy and immersive.
Through this third studio album, underscores is finding her distinct sound, with an album that may be more approachable for listeners compared to what she’s released prior. I believe U by underscores pulls listeners in because of the journey it takes listeners on through its upbeat, danceable hits like “Innuendo (I Get U)” and “Hollywood Forever” to its slower, ballad-y songs such as “Wish U Well”. This variety makes it an album worth listening to from start to finish.
U has layers of vulnerability and passion, and a sense of familiarity that will make it an experience you’ll want to keep revisiting. Since it came out, this album has been on repeat for me, and it’s one of those albums where each time you listen, you appreciate something new about it. As the hyperpop genre continues to rise, underscores is one of the emerging artists who you may want to look out for. I recommend checking out the rest of the album and diving deeper into underscores’ exceptional discography.