​glaive

From being crowned the “hyperpop king” to making a risky switch to folk-pop, Ash Blue Gutierrez (born January 20, 2005) would be quick to make a name for himself following the release of his breakthrough single “astrid” in June 2020. In taking over the underground and revolutionizing the hyperpop genre, glaive became best known for his colorful hooks, passionate lyrics, and the sugary background instrumentals that accompany him.

Despite claiming that he started music in 2020, the North Carolina based artist had begun in 2018, releasing “Romantic Things” under the hellgoose alias. Setting the bases for his career in 2019, glaive would rebrand to his more recognizable name—which he confirmed had came from Dark Souls III in an interview with Lyrical Lemonade:

Subconsciously, I’m like “I think this is going to be my music name” and it all kind of came together

During this time, he’d meet hyperpop producer ​kurtains, who’d produce for and collaborate with him, providing many opportunities for growth. glaive took part on many hyperpop collective tracks, including ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎bloodhounds‘ “RED,” ​ericdoa’s “attitude,” kurtains’ “spinna,” and the unreleased FROMTHEHEART hit, “GET USED TO IT.” Following his features throughout 2020, glaive’s singles would improve in quality whilst growing on SoundCloud, releasing songs such as “petrolman” and “mannequin,” as well as since deleted tracks “reticle,” “borzoi,” and “Pissed Off” with ericdoa—the duo’s first of many collaborations to come.

Following the June 2020 release of “astrid,” glaive began working on his first extended play, cypress grove. Throughout the following months, he released two singles for the EP, as well as “clover” and “arsenic” as standalone songs. November 13 would see “eyesore” release as the promotional single to cypress grove, and the debut project followed a week later on November 19, 2020.

The November releases would be supported by Interscope Records, introducing Jeff Hazin as glaive’s executive producer as he strays away from hyperpop. Signing a deal with the record label, glaive began production for his sophomore EP, fulfilling his contract of two EP releases.

Despite being one of the most known artists to emerge from the thriving hyperpop community on SoundCloud, glaive would be quick to show his distaste for the hyperpop genre, attempting to stir away from the label—stated in an interview with the New York Times,— blaming those around him rather than his own music:

I feel like hyperpop is not a genre, I’ve made straight-up pop songs, nothing hyper about them, but they’ll still get put in the hyperpop label because I’m friends with all the people that make ‘hyperpop.’

The all dogs go to heaven era would begin soon after, as glaive would be quick to commence production for the project. Coincidingly, glaive and frequent collaborator ericdoa—alongside producer friends who’d assist glaive in the making of all dogs go to heaven—would get an Airbnb together in January 2021, where they worked on joint EP then i’ll be happy. Releasing the lead singles for both these EPs in the first quarter of 2021, glaive would feature on three tracks—​midwxst’s “Smile,” ​aldn’s “what was the last thing u said” and ​renforshort’s “fall apart”—which had all released a month after each other.

During this time, glaive’s social medias began to build a community, which he’d engage with often on Instagram Live whilst previewing new songs. Alongside his growth, hackers would begin searching for his unreleased music, and would compromise his SoundCloud account—which stored demos and unreleased tracks—in April 2021. As his music would spread, he’d begin to face leaks, including all dogs go to heaven’s second single, “detest me”—which appeared online four days prior to its release. On a weekly basis throughout July 2021, leakers would post all the files in batches—including the entirety of all dogs go to heaven, by July 20.

glaive would stay silent on the matter and announce all dogs go to heavens’s official release date soon after the final promotional single, “bastard.” Following all dogs go to heaven, ericdoa and glaive would visit U.S. cities for a pop-up tour to promote their latest releases, as well as their upcoming release—performing “heather”' and “mental anguish” live. A month after the live performances, then i’ll be happy would release on October 6, 2021—2 months after all dogs go to heaven—with a (proper) duo tour beginning the week after.

all dogs go to heaven’s deluxe, old dog, new tricks would be executively produced by Perto, returning the hyperpop-adjacent beats to glaive’s discography. Following an extended contract with Interscope—where glaive was to release an EP and LP—the project would be his final release before shifting to folk-pop, experimenting with “icarus.” Bringing previous collaborators midwxst and aldn—glaive began 2022 with his first headlining tour to promote old dog, new tricks.

Following the release of old dog, new tricks, production for glaive’s debut album—i care so much that i dont care at all.—commenced in March 2022. Mass leaks would begin to occur more often as “minnesota is a place that exists” and “three wheels and it still drives!” had both surfaced online prior to release—alongside a draft of the album, which would periodically see demos leak online. Following four mass leaks, the two assumed album singles would be removed off the final track list, and the new rollout would begin with “as if” and its accompanying music video—being the first in a trilogy—on April 28, 2023. Information related to the album would be found early on numerous occasions, however the album would finally release on July 14, 2023.

His debut album would serve as a personal diary, revealing his deepest and darkest thoughts about his late teenage years—and would be his entrance into the folk-pop scene. In an interview with Vulture, glaive shared his perspective of the album’s production:

So the album is 13 songs, but I probably made like 80 songs for it.
[…]
Making so many songs, I ran out of stuff to talk about, so I had to get a little less talking about stuff that was happening around me. A lot of the songs now are very introspective. They’re very much self-criticisms, whereas a lot of my earlier songs were more criticisms of relationships that I had with people. I can criticize myself forever. I don’t have to talk to anybody to do that.

With the release of i care so much that i dont care at all, glaive had subtly teased that he was in a new relationship, leading to fan speculation of love songs; however, no new songs would be previewed until September 2023, where a snippet of “phobie d'impulsion was posted to Instagram. Following a series of genre-varying snippets and covers, glaive would announce a project set to release by the end of the year, although no information nor snippets would come out of that. However, on November 5, 2023, things took a turn when glaive revealed that he shaved his hair off in Alaska, retiring the iconic hairstyle he’s retained since the start of his career. Alongside the shocking announcement, he had teased a track intended to release for the new EP, titled a bit of a mad one. Whilst concluding the Europe leg of his i care so much that i dont care at all tour, he would perform new songs whilst posting snippets on social media. Nearing the end of November, he would preview releasing tracks on Instagram Live, confirm a trip to Mexico for recording music videos, and even proclaimed that a bit of a mad one could be expected to release on New Year’s Day 2024, to which it didn’t.

Entering 2024 with no EP being released, glaive was quick to make it up to fans with the release of the project’s lead single, “huh” on January 26, 2024, commencing the official rollout. A week later, “even when the sun is dead” released, serving as the second single. Following a two week gap, the third and final single from the EP, “i don’t really feel it anymore,” was released on February 16, a week ahead of the full project. All three singles released with music videos recorded and edited by glaive himself.

On February 19, 2024, and as previously done in 2023 with releases such as “​skinny white boy in that big black benz again” and ​ovine hall, glaive put a number of songs—this time a short playlist of demos—out prior to a major release. This time, the infamous second glaiv3 account would be retired and the tracks would be posted to his third active SoundCloud account, a bit of a mad one, which originally housed scrapped songs recorded throughout October 2023, all of which had surfaced online in January 2024 prior to “iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” being unprivated.