QT

QT is a Danish eurodance and bubblegum pop artist. The project is a person act rather than a band, and it sits within bubblegum dance, EDM, electro, euro house and eurodance.

The name is used for an artist persona created around a semi-fictional energy drink concept called DrinkQT. The music and the drink are treated as linked parts of the same idea. QT’s debut single, Hey QT, is produced by A. G. Cook and SOPHIE and appears in 2014.

QT also releases the album CLEARING through PC Music. The album is released in 2022 and is developed over a number of years, with songs previewed live as early as 2018. It includes contributions from Sophie, A. G. Cook, Jónsi and Caroline Polachek.

Hayden Frances Dunham, also known as HYD, is the performer behind QT. Dunham is an American performance artist who grows up in Austin, Texas and studies at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. Before QT, Dunham works as a designer and artist. Dunham creates QT after developing the idea of making a song to promote a QT energy drink, and asks for the name to be repeated throughout the track. The project is presented as a virtual character, and its concept is compared with the film Simone and the virtual pop figure Hatsune Miku.

DrinkQT is designed by Kim Laughton. It is distributed at performances, and it is made available for pre-order in 2015. The drink and the music are described as two forms of the same product.

Dunham meets Sophie at events, and finds A. G. Cook through his online work. The project also becomes part of a sponsorship dispute involving Red Bull Music Academy and a PC Music show.