Vaporwave originates from a microgenre of electronic music. Nowadays, it becomes a visual art style and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped, and screwed samples of smooth jazz, elevator, R&B, and lounge music from the 1980s and 1990s.
Vaporwave has an undeniable visual style but pinning down what exactly that style is can be difficult. From the outside, vaporwave can look like a fever dream of electric colors, Japanese characters, 90’s nostalgia, and sandy beaches. Even those with only tangential knowledge of the genre can feel oddly drawn to the beautiful collage of imagery. Some still insist that vaporwave is entirely ironic. But musicians and artists deeply entrenched in the genre will give a different answer.
The blending of imagery isn’t random, it’s undeniably evocative of the 80s and 90s aesthetics. It embraces a washed-out low fidelity look, retro-style anime, and low poly 3D graphics long since discarded to the recycling bin of history. But underneath the sparkles and irony, much of vaporwave aesthetics feels haunted and sad. The word “vaporwave” itself comes from the word “vaporware”, software that is promised by developers only to vanish without a trace.