Lachlan Garrett: The Existentialist Mutant Redefining Hyperpop Through Vulnerability, Storytelling, and Sound

From the Midwest to a New Musical Identity

Lachlan Garrett is a singer, actor, songwriter, and producer whose artistic journey has taken him from the Midwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, through Los Angeles and now to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Describing himself as an “existentialist mutant,” Garrett has built a creative identity that refuses to stay inside conventional boundaries. As a musician, he works primarily within alternative pop, glitchcore, and hyperpop, combining a distinct vocal presence with highly processed production, experimental songwriting, and deeply personal storytelling.

A Theatre Background That Shaped the Artist

Before hyperpop became the center of his creative world, Garrett made a name for himself in professional theatre. One of his earliest major accomplishments came through writing the musical ENOUGH with Nathan Sabo. The production became a significant part of the Midwest theatre scene, with alumni including future Broadway performers Julie Peterson, Terry Bell, Tony Award winner Lauren Patten, Samantha Pauly, Jaime Lynn Beatty, and others.

Garrett went on to perform in summer stock and professional theatre, but eventually stepped away from that chapter of his life following his breakup with Sabo. What came next would ultimately lead him toward a completely different artistic identity.

Finding Himself Through Music Again

During a difficult period following the breakup, Garrett became friends with Deyaz. Their friendship began through Instagram messages before eventually turning into a video call that Garrett describes as unexpectedly meaningful. At the time, he was struggling with his confidence and had largely stopped making music.

Something about that conversation helped bring part of him back.

Garrett eventually shared some of the music he was creating as he moved toward hyperpop. One of those songs was “Lithium,” a track Deyaz connected with immediately. For Garrett, that reaction carried much more weight than he initially expressed.

Years later, that connection would help evolve into Paroxysm, a project that became an important chapter in his development as an artist.

Building a Sound Without a Box

Garrett’s approach to Paroxysm was anything but conventional. He brought together 317× platinum producer Vinny DeLeon and legendary engineer Ozzie Moore to help shape the project. Garrett describes DeLeon as a major part of the painstaking process, with some songs being reworked 12 or 13 times before they reached their final form.

Moore brought his own extensive experience to the sessions, having worked with major names including Drumma Boy, Rick Ross, Kanye West, Jack Harlow, and Mary J. Blige.

For Garrett, the studio became less like a workplace and more like an experimental laboratory. Genres, formulas, melodies, harmonies, glitches, vocal ideas, and lyrics were constantly being thrown against the wall to see what worked. Some of the most important elements of songs such as “Lithium,” “Fragmented,” and “August” emerged organically through that experimentation.

Garrett remembers questioning whether people would actually understand or embrace what they were creating. Moore’s response helped reinforce the idea behind the project: Garrett wasn’t trying to recreate something that already existed.

A $30,000 Independent Vision

Garrett independently produced the album, with the project’s sticker price eventually reaching approximately $30,000. That investment represents more than simply the cost of recording music. It reflects Garrett’s commitment to developing a sound and visual world on his own terms.

His music also challenges expectations surrounding the relationship between raw vocal ability and hyperpop. Garrett has primarily been regarded as a strong vocal talent, yet his music embraces the extreme processing, precision, and experimentation often associated with hyperpop and glitchcore.

That contrast has become part of his identity.

Turning Real Life Into Music

One of the defining elements of Garrett’s songwriting is how closely his songs connect to real experiences. Rather than creating fictional narratives, many of his songs draw directly from actual events, people, and locations.

The Intracoastal Yacht Club in Sunny Isles Beach appears in his songwriting, while the hook of “Asphalt” references a real incident in San Bernardino involving a scar on someone’s forehead after breaking through a window.

Those details give Garrett’s music a cinematic quality. The songs aren’t simply about emotions; they document moments from his life and preserve them through sound.

Every Song Has Its Own Visual World

Garrett’s creativity extends beyond the music itself. While developing the visual identity for his project, he began creating anime-inspired concepts for individual songs. What started as an idea for a few tracks eventually became a larger concept in which every song received its own unique cover.

Each individual cover was hand-drawn with paper and pencil, adding another personal layer to the storytelling surrounding the music. The main album cover was photographed by Benson Preval.

For Garrett, the artwork isn’t simply promotional material. It is another way to tell the story.

Faith Beneath the Chaos

Underneath the relationships, experimentation, heartbreak, ambition, and uncertainty is Garrett’s relationship with God.

He describes his faith as something that exists underneath everything rather than something that can easily be summarized. The album comes from a particularly messy period of his life, and his spirituality remained present somewhere within that mess.

That complexity is part of what makes the project feel personal rather than polished into something artificially perfect.

A Return to the Illinois Stage

January brought one of Garrett’s most memorable career experiences when the Illinois High School Theatre Association invited him back to Illinois for the 50th anniversary of Illinois All-State Musical Theatre.

Returning as an alumnus gave Garrett an opportunity to stand on a stage connected to an earlier chapter of his life. He also performed alongside Ellie Banke, an artist Garrett describes as one of his favorite singers, who is currently opening for Ed Sheeran on his Loop Tour.

Performing together in front of thousands of young theatre students became a surreal full-circle moment for Garrett. After years of pursuing music and other creative projects, he found himself back in a space that helped shape him in the first place.

From Hyperpop Underground to Top 40 Radio

Garrett’s music has also begun making its way beyond the online underground. Last December, “Snake” broke through to Top 40 radio in Nashville, something Garrett wasn’t expecting when he first began making hyperpop.

He had assumed that radio might not take the genre seriously and had accepted that his music could primarily exist online. Hearing his own music on the radio changed that expectation.

More recently, “August” and “Asphalt” have also received radio play, including appearances on stations in Las Vegas. Garrett specifically points listeners toward 103.1 FM in Las Vegas as one place where they may hear his music.

This summer, Record Labels Submissions Blog also selected Garrett as its Artist to Watch for June, adding another piece of recognition to an increasingly active period in his career.

The Actor Behind the Music

Garrett’s artistic career doesn’t stop with music. He has also made appearances in projects including Secret Society II and the television series Southland Bounty Hunters.

One particularly intense scene involved Garrett being involved in a high-speed chase, pulled over, thrown to the ground, and detained by law enforcement in Broward County as part of the production.

The scene was filmed realistically enough that Garrett’s mother reportedly questioned whether the arrest had actually happened. Garrett’s response was that the realism was simply a sign that he had done his job as an actor.

Surviving the Storms

When asked about the biggest challenges he has faced, Garrett doesn’t point to one isolated obstacle. Instead, he describes a long series of trials and difficult experiences that have shaped him.

His perspective is simple: if he laid out every challenge one after another, the fact that he is still here, still creating, and still trying to contribute something to the world might sound almost unbelievable.

Rather than allowing those experiences to define the limits of his future, Garrett continues turning them into creative fuel.

A New Era Is Already Taking Shape

Garrett says his music is evolving quickly, and he doesn’t intend to remain frozen in any one version of himself. He recognizes that rapid artistic evolution can divide audiences, with some listeners connecting more strongly to earlier eras while others follow him into whatever comes next.

For Garrett, that evolution is intentional. He takes feedback seriously and uses it as part of the process of shaping his next phase.

His newer music has become darker, while his production and overall approach have continued developing. He also plans to become more collaborative and take a more hands-on role in future projects.

More Collaborations on the Horizon

Garrett is currently in conversations about collaborations with underground artists and promises that listeners should expect some unexpected combinations.

After the experimentation and independent development behind Paroxysm, he believes the quality of his current projects has improved dramatically. The next phase of his career will involve more collaboration, stronger production, and an even more hands-on approach to his music.

A Singer’s Singer With a Four-Octave Range

At the center of everything remains Garrett’s voice. He is known for a distinctive, earthy and dark baritone, while also possessing a four-octave range and a softer falsetto that gives him considerable flexibility as a vocalist.

That vocal range allows him to move between intimacy and intensity while maintaining the emotional character that has become central to his music.

His collection of pop songs also carries an unusual versatility, with music that Garrett believes can fit naturally into everything from a workout playlist to a late-night bedroom setting.

The Next Chapter

With a new album on the way, growing radio exposure, acting appearances, new collaborations in development, and a sound that continues to evolve, Lachlan Garrett is entering another chapter of his career without appearing interested in repeating the last one.

From Midwest theatre stages to hyperpop experimentation, from professionally produced sessions to hand-drawn artwork, Garrett’s career has consistently revolved around the same principle: refusing to fit neatly into a box.

Now, with his next era taking shape, Lachlan Garrett is bringing that same willingness to experiment into whatever comes next.