Perfume Genius

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About Perfume Genius

Perfume Genius renders trauma and intimacy into a tantalizing form of experimental pop that’s equally arresting and unsettling. When singer-songwriter Michael Hadreas, born in 1981 in Iowa, created Perfume Genius in 2008, he began moulding an intricate sonic world built from deep, personal scars. On his 2010 debut, Learning, he sings of addiction, queerness, and suicide, his quivering croon piercing through sparse piano melodies. That dark introspection seeps into every Perfume Genius song, even as he adds brighter, wilder textures to his sound. Following his various musical whims has given Hadreas a sense of empowerment—through the cinematic sweep of 2014’s Too Bright, the shimmering synth-pop of 2017’s No Shape, and the orchestral dissonance of 2022’s Ugly Season. “I'm just trying to allow myself to go all the places that I instinctually want to go,” he told Apple Music. “Even if they feel like they don’t make sense. Because ultimately, I feel like they do.”

HOMETOWN
Des Moines, IA, United States
BORN
25 September 1981
GENRE
Alternative
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