What is Vaporwave?

Vaporwave is the musical equivalent of walking through an abandoned shopping mall at 3 AM. The lights are flickering, the fake plants are covered in dust, and the faint sound of an ‘80s pop song—slowed down to an unsettling crawl—echoes through the empty hallways. It’s nostalgic but eerie, comforting but dystopian, like remembering a childhood that may or may not have actually happened.

At its core, vaporwave is a sample-based electronic music genre that emerged in the early 2010s, pulling its aesthetic from corporate muzak, smooth jazz, early internet culture, and forgotten pop relics of the ‘80s and ‘90s. It thrives on slowed-down samples, reverb-drenched synths, glitchy loops, and a deep fascination with failed capitalism. It’s the music of defunct department stores, ancient Windows 95 screensavers, and public access TV ads for products nobody wanted.

What started as an underground internet joke somehow became an entire cultural movement, spawning thousands of albums, vaporwave-inspired art, and even an aesthetic that refuses to die, no matter how many people declare it “over.”

Where Did Vaporwave Come From?

If you’ve ever listened to a mall’s background music and thought, “This would sound amazing if I slowed it down 400% and added some heavy reverb,” congratulations—you might be a vaporwave producer.

Vaporwave didn’t materialize out of thin air. It evolved from various musical and cultural influences, taking bits and pieces from plunderphonics, chopped-and-screwed hip-hop, ambient music, and corporate jingles before melting them all into an ironic, surreal audio experience.

• Plunderphonics and Sample-Based Music
  • Vaporwave owes a lot to the art of repurposing old music, a tradition that started with John Oswald’s plunderphonics movement in the ‘80s. The idea was simple: take existing music, chop it up, manipulate it, and create something entirely new.
  • This concept was later embraced by hip-hop producers, glitch artists, and experimental musicians, all of whom helped lay the groundwork for vaporwave’s approach to sound.
• Chopped-and-Screwed Hip-Hop
  • Vaporwave’s obsession with slowing down music can be traced back to DJ Screw, a Houston-based hip-hop DJ who pioneered the chopped-and-screwed technique in the ‘90s.
  • The idea was to slow down rap tracks to an almost drugged-out, hypnotic pace, creating a dreamlike, surreal atmosphere. Vaporwave took this same concept but applied it to smooth jazz, pop ballads, and forgotten corporate soundtracks.
• Early Internet and Corporate Muzak
  • A huge part of vaporwave’s aesthetic comes from the bland, soulless music of the 1980s and ‘90s—the kind of stuff you’d hear in an infomercial, an airport, or an insurance company’s hold music.
  • It also pulls inspiration from MIDI compositions, Windows startup sounds, and the lo-fi charm of early computer graphics, creating an eerie nostalgia for an era where people thought cyberspace was the future.
• Japanese City Pop and Lounge Music
  • Many vaporwave producers have sampled heavily from Japanese city pop, a genre of glossy, funk-infused pop music that thrived in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
  • The smooth, futuristic optimism of city pop fits perfectly with vaporwave’s ironic-yet-sincere obsession with commercialized nostalgia.

What Does Vaporwave Sound Like?

Vaporwave is about creating a mood rather than following a rigid structure. The music is often slow, hazy, and drenched in effects that make it sound like it’s being played through a broken cassette deck submerged in a swimming pool.

• Slowed-Down Samples and Time-Stretched Vocals
  • Vaporwave tracks often take existing songs—usually from the ‘80s or ‘90s—and slow them down to a near-unrecognizable state.
  • This creates a surreal, dreamlike effect, making even the most upbeat pop song feel melancholic and unsettling.
• Reverb, Delay, and Echo Effects
  • Vaporwave producers love to drown their music in spacey effects, creating the illusion that the sound is coming from far away, like a forgotten memory resurfacing from the depths of the subconscious.
• Looped Melodies and Minimal Percussion
  • Unlike traditional electronic dance music, vaporwave rarely relies on heavy drum beats or complex rhythms.
  • Many tracks are built around repeating loops of smooth jazz saxophones, soft synth pads, or ghostly vocal chops, creating a hypnotic effect.
• Glitching, Stuttering, and Audio Decay
  • Some vaporwave tracks intentionally glitch and warp, mimicking the effects of a skipping CD or a corrupted MP3 file.
  • This adds to the genre’s fascination with digital decay and the imperfections of old technology.

Essential Vaporwave Albums and Artists

Vaporwave’s history is filled with anonymous producers, mysterious aliases, and obscure Bandcamp releases. That said, some albums have defined the genre and shaped its aesthetic.

• Vektroid – Floral Shoppe (2011)
  • Probably the most famous vaporwave album of all time, thanks to the iconic track リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー (which, let’s be real, is the vaporwave national anthem).
  • This album set the standard for the genre’s loop-heavy, dreamy, and unsettling sound.
• Saint Pepsi – Hit Vibes (2013)
  • A more upbeat and danceable take on vaporwave, blending funky city pop samples with nostalgic smooth jazz.
• Infinity Frequencies – Computer Death (2014)
  • A haunting, ambient take on vaporwave that feels like wandering through a deserted digital landscape.
• MACINTOSH PLUS – Sick & Panic (2011)
  • Another project by Vektroid, exploring more abstract and glitchy territories.
• Death’s Dynamic Shroud – I’ll Try Living Like This (2015)
  • An experimental vaporwave album that blends surreal pop deconstructions with bizarre vocal manipulations.
• Luxury Elite – World Class (2013)
  • A perfect example of the “mallsoft” subgenre, which focuses on the background music of retail stores and abandoned shopping centers.

Why Vaporwave Refuses to Die

Despite being declared “dead” multiple times, vaporwave keeps resurfacing in new forms. Part of its staying power comes from its deep connection to internet culture, where aesthetics and nostalgia cycles move faster than reality.

• It has influenced other microgenres, like future funk, mallsoft, and hardvapour.
• It has crossed over into mainstream culture, with vaporwave aesthetics appearing in music videos, commercials, and fashion.
• It still thrives in underground internet communities, where new artists continue to release albums that stretch the genre in new directions.

Vaporwave is more than just a music genre. It’s a cultural glitch, a moment in time where people decided that the muzak of a forgotten past deserved to be resurrected, distorted, and transformed into something surreal. Whether it’s meant to be ironic, sincere, or somewhere in between, one thing is certain: it still sounds like the soundtrack to a dream you barely remember, but can’t quite shake.

Bonus: Your Guide to Making Great Vaporwave