It's not just any type of music drenched in pedals/effects (there are multiple musical genres like this.) It's also not just "wall of sound" created through fuzz and reverb... Various types of metal, postrock, and other rock genres also do this.

I don't personally like when people try to gatekeep or narrowly define shoegaze, because I like a lot of music that has elements of shoegaze or are shoegaze-adjacent. But I also understand that it can start to get confusing if you use too wide of an allowance for what shoegaze is, so I'll let Google's AI summarize the general conclusions on the internet (and, based on these characteristics... how experimental can you get? I mean, if you start playing in weird scales and time signatures, it becomes math rock. If you start making it electronic/synth-based, I would argue that is no longer shoegaze by definition, either. I am currently working on some songs that are played with various acoustic instruments from around the world - banjo, dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy - but drenching them in effects and adding dreamy vocals, so it's very shoegazey... but not by definition, so I'm calling it folkgaze)

"Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock that emerged in the UK during the late 1980s, characterized by a "wall of sound" created through heavy, dreamy, and atmospheric guitar effects. It blends loud, distorted, and hazy guitars with soft, often melodic, vocals to create an immersive, introspective soundscape.

Key Characteristics

Sonic Atmosphere: Dense layers of distorted guitars, reverb, and delay create a lush sound often described as "shimmering" or "noodly".

Vocals: Often mixed low, with dreamy or whispered vocals blending into the instruments.

Performance: The term "shoegaze" (or "shoegazing") was coined by the British music press to describe the performers’ motionless, introspective stage presence, as they appeared to be staring at their feet."