Dance
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2023 is in launching in major way in the dance world, with Skrillex announcing that he’s dropping a double album this year.
On New Year’s Day (Jan. 1), the producer born Sonny Moore posted an announcement to social media reading “QFF/DGTC 23,” with the acronyms widely understood to stand for the names of a pair of albums coming in 2023. Then on Jan. 2, he posted a snippet of the project’s first single, “Rumble,” a sinewy, foreboding collaboration with Fred again.. and UK grime MC Flowdan.
In response to the album news, the electronic producer community responded in what is most accurately described as rejoice. “2023 looking great already,” wrote Tchami, with bass artists from Subtronics to Ray Volpe to Peekaboo to tk sprinkling in such responses as “HYPERVENTILATING,” “H O L Y S H I T B A L L S” and “i’m f—ing WEEPING.” Even Missy Elliot, with whom Skrillex collaborated on the unreleased 2018 track “ID,” chimed in, effectively summing up the excitement with a series of alien head, flame and chef’s kiss emojis.
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The albums will mark Skrillex’s first studio albums since his 2014 debut, Recess, which album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in April of 2014 in the apex of the EDM boom.
Skrillex has of course been mega-prolific in the interim, winning a pair of 2016 Grammys alongside Diplo in their duo Jack Ü — “Skrillex, he’s probably the best producer of electronic music I’ve ever met him my life. He can turn anything into anything on his own terms, the guy is the master,” Diplo told Billboard in 2022.
Hear the 15 second preview of “Rumble” in the above video.
She’s sliving! Paris Hilton surprised her fans on Friday (Dec. 30) by releasing a 2022 update on her now iconic single “Stars Are Blind.”
Titled “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version),” the updated recording — which features new vocals and production — is available exclusively on Amazon Music. “This song has always meant so much to me, it felt right to close out 2022 with a refreshed version. And seeing my face lighting up Times Square is so special,” the heiress shared on Instagram about the song.
“Thank you to everyone who has always supported my music career. I literally have the best fans on the planet and have loved seeing all of your posts about the new song,” she continued before making a promise. “P.S. More new music to come in the new year,” she concluded with a winky face and the hashtag #NewYearNewP.
Originally released as the lead single off her cult favorite 2006 album Paris, the reggae-tinged bop soared to the top of the Dance Club Songs chart and remains Hilton’s sole entry on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 18. The LP also included fan-favorite singles such as “Turn It Up,” “Screwed” and “Nothing in This World.”
In recent years, “Stars Are Blind” has been covered by Kim Petras and was also included in 2020’s Promising Young Woman starring Carey Mulligan. Meanwhile, Hilton’s music career has turned from pop to dance music as she’s gained a reputation as an internationally renowned DJ.
Check out “Stars Are Blind (Paris’ Version)” and see her announcement below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Maxi Jazz, a DJ and singer who fronted the eclectic British dance band Faithless known for such hits as “Insomnia” and “We Come 1,” has died. He was 65.
Faithless announced his death on social media Saturday, saying he “died peacefully in his sleep last night.”
“He was a man who changed our lives in so many ways. He gave proper meaning and a message to our music. He was a lovely human being with time for everyone and wisdom that was both profound and accessible,” the band’s statement reads.
Additional details about his death were not immediately available.
Born Maxwell Fraser in London, Maxi Jazz emerged in the British club scene in the 1980s as a DJ on pirate radio and founder of the Soul Food Cafe System. He later formed Faithless along with producer-instrumentalist-DJ Rollo Armstrong, keyboardist-DJ Sister Bliss and singer-songwriter Jamie Cotto. They drew upon such a wide range of influences that their record company described their debut album “Reverence,” released in 1996, as “folk-house-hip-hop-blues-ambience-jazz-rap for the dance floor and sofa.”
“Reverence” did not catch on initially, but eventually gained a wide following; the band went on to global popularity through its dynamic stage performances and albums including “Outrospective” and the greatest hits collection “Forever Faithless.”
Faithless broke up in 2011, but reunited recently, without Jazz, who had since formed Maxi Jazz & The E-Type Boys.
Martin Garrix and JVKE jump onto Billboard‘s multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart (dated Dec. 24) with “Hero” at No. 13. The track earned 1.1 million U.S. streams in the Dec. 9-15 tracking week, according to Luminate.
“Hero” marks the 51st charted title for Garrix (and the second for JVKE), tying him with The Chainsmokers for the fourth-most among all acts, dating to the chart’s January 2013 inception, after only David Guetta (73), Kygo (61) and Marshmello (53).
At No. 14, another pairing debuts, as Mallrat (aka Australian singer Grace Shaw) and The Chainsmokers start with “Wish on an Eyelash 2.” Mallrat’s first appearance, “Wish,” as noted above, ups The Chainsmokers’ career count to 51.
The song, in keeping with The Chainsmokers’ recent lo-fi sound highlighted on its October release So Far So Good (Lofi Remixes), opens with 1 million streams. The track is a newly recorded, collaborative version of Mallrat’s “Wish on an Eyelash,” released on her Butterfly Blue LP. (The set started at No. 6 on the Australian Albums chart in May.)
Additionally on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Kx5 (Kaskade and Deadmau5) and Elderbrook enter at No. 25 with “When I Talk.” Kx5’s fourth charted title is its second-highest ranking, after “Escape,” featuring Hayla (No. 11, June). Also Elderbrook’s seventh chart hit, “Talk” took in 575,000 streams, with Kx5 having performed at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Dec. 10.
Shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha return to the top (after three weeks below) for a sixth total frame with “I’m Good (Blue)” (2-1). The song ties Guetta’s 2009 No. 1 “Sexy Chick,” featuring Akon, as his second-longest-leading hit; only his “When Love Takes Over,” featuring Kelly Rowland, spent more weeks at the summit (nine, 2009). Guetta is tied with Calvin Harris and Rihanna for the most No. 1s — 12 each — since the list began in August 2003.
“Good” is garnering core-dance attention at outlets including SiriusXM’s BPM, Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel and KMVQ-HD2 San Francisco. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)
The track also continues at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs for a 13th week and Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs and Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales for a 14th frame each, as it drew 68.8 all-format million radio airplay audience impressions and 10 million streams and sold 4,000 downloads.
Revisiting Dance/Mix Show Airplay, Rêve rides to her first top 10 on any U.S.-based Billboard chart with “Whitney” (15-10). The more pop-leaning original version of the song, which references Whitney Houston’s cover of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” received a dance radio-friendly remix from Essel Nov. 18.
Tomorrowland is returning to Brazil in 2023. The Belgium-based dance festival will happen Oct. 12-14, 2023, in Parque Maeda in Itu, a municipality of São Paulo.
This expansion marks Tomorrowland’s return to Brazil after a seven-year hiatus, as the fest also happened at the same site in 2015 and 2016, drawing roughly 150,000 attendees each year. “In addition to its grandeur as an event, the importance of Tomorrowland is reflected in actions aimed at the city and the local community,” Itu mayor Guilherme Gazzol said in a statement. “We are proud to host this world-renowned festival in Itu, a historical tourist city.”
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With this return to Brazil, the Tomorrowland brand officially has four major events on the 2023 calendar, with the company hosting a one-day show in Mexico, CORE, on Jan. 14, 2023, in Tulum. This show will focus on the underground house and techno heard on the flagship Tomorrowland festival’s CORE stage, and include sets from Maceo Plex, Nina Kraviz, Channel Tres and more.
From March 18 to 25, Tomorrowland hosts its winter event at the Alpe d’ Huez ski resort in the French Alps. The lineup for this show is yet to be announced. The flagship Tomorrowland festival will then return to its longtime home of Boom, Belgium, over two weekends” July 21 – 23 and July 28 – 30, 2023. (For the first and only time, three weekends of Tomorrowland happened in 2022 as the festival attempted to recoup financial losses incurred during the pandemic.)
The company will then round out its year in South America, with its Brazilian event expected to again draw 150,000 attendees. The lineup for this show has yet to be announced.
For the first time in its 23-year history, Ultra Music Festival is heading to the Middle East.
The globally known electronic music fest announced on Tuesday (Dec. 20) that it will be touching down in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi on March 4-5, 2023. The event will host two stages — a big room focused main stage and a house-centric Resistance stage — with a lineup to be released in the coming months.
The event marks Ultra’s debut in the U.A.E. after the 2020 version of Ultra Abu Dhabi was cancelled due to the pandemic. The event will happen on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, a leisure and tourist destination that also annually hosts the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Tickets are on sale now.
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Ultra Abu Dhabi will mark the first time that the Miami-based company — or any other U.S.-based dance festival brand — has hosted a show in the Middle East. After launching in Miami in 1999, Ultra has become a global leader in delivering electronic music to markets the world, with iterations of the show happening in Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Singapore, China, Australia, Spain, Croatia and beyond over the years.
Meanwhile, Ultra’s flagship festival returns to Miami’s Bayfront Park on March 24-26, 2023 with a lineup that includes Swedish House Mafia, Armin van Buuren, Carl Cox, Claude VonStroke, CloZee, Eric Prydz, Grimes, Gryffin, Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Zedd, REZZ,a double appearance by deadmau5 — who’ll be performing as part of his Kaskade collab Kx5 and alongside Oliver Heldens’s alias Hi-Lo during a b2b as his own techno alter-ego Testpilot — and other genre stars.
This week in dance music: We talked to nightlife promoters about how they kept crowds on the floor this year, we chatted with Dutch producer Mau P about his hit “Drugs From Amsterdam,” the Rüfüs Du Sol guys dropped the lineup for the festival in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula this May, Kaskade and deadmau5 didn’t let an exploding generator stop them from playing a historic show at the L.A. Coliseum, we said arrivederci to the second season of White Lotus with this house edit of the show’s theme song, we heard an exclusive from Soulwax’s soundtrack for the latest Grand Theft Auto Online update, Diplo teased the return of his country project, Fabric London enacted a lifetime ban on an attendee who shared a video of a fellow clubgoer, Chris Lorenzo was announced as the headliner for Monster Energy’s 2023 Up & Up tour, Sony Music sued Ultra Records Founder Patrick Moxey over his continued use of the Ultra name and Fred again.. made moves on Top Dance/Electronic albums.
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And last but not least, we assembled lists of our 50 favorite dance tracks and 25 favorite dance albums of the year.
Is there more? There’s always more! Here, in the final First Spin of 2022, are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Zeds Dead & GRiZ, “Ecstasy of Souls”
The mere thought of a collaboration between melodic bass masters Zeds Dead and GRiZ elicits cinematic grandeur and an epic mood — but who could have known it would come to life in Ennio Morricone proportions?
“Ecstasy of Souls” is built on the dramatic back of the late Italian composer’s iconic theme for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This track inherits all those traits; building a divine feast of sound and texture over a beat so bad (in the Run D.M.C. sense) it’ll set your dance floor on fire. Once the drop hits, you’ll be making ugly faces in pure astonishment.
“We were doing a big back-to-back set in Arizona and wanted to create something super epic for the intro,” the Zeds Dead guys are quoted. “We tossed around a few ideas and finally decided to try something with a version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly theme. Something about the Wild West and the new frontier seemed to be calling our name. GRiZ is the best, and this was a lot of fun to work on. It brought us back to our old remixing days. We’ve been playing it at every show since, and it’s gotten the most insane reactions. Stoked to finally put it out!” – KAT BEIN
DJ_Dave, “Break”
While the rest of us are planning for 2023, DJ_Dave is already raving in 3023. The future-facing algorave producer is back with her latest single “Break,” a wistful track somewhere between pop, electronic and cyberspace. Its drum patterns softly pitter-patter like tears spilling onto concrete, while Dave begins over solemn synths and layers of pitched vocals: “I’m burning out/ Asking too much, losing my touch.”
“I made this song so long ago when I was messing around with Sonic Pi for the first time and I’m so excited to finally get to share it,” she wrote on Instagram. The single arrives in the form of a video involving both a live code edit and live performance. “my first time singing + coding in a vid alone because I really wanted to showcase everything that goes into the process of performing.” — KRYSTAL RODRIGUEZ
Deorro feat. Lost Boy, “Nobody Like You”
Successfully cycling through genres (including the Latin sounds of his heritage) throughout his career, Deorro has now found a house groove in “Nobody Like You.” Out via Ultra Records, the bouncy track has a melancholic edge, with vocals from L.A. singer Lost Boy proclaiming “I don’t want to be nobody like you,” while illustrating the frayed end of a romance gone wrong. The track got major shine during Deorro’s recently completely 60 (!) date Tour De ORRO, and additional play during his Dec. 8 halftime show during the L.A. Rams game at SoFi stadium, in which he got his hometown crowd on their feet with his signature celebratory and sound-traversing style. — KATIE BAIN
Skepsis & Raphaella, “Know What It Means”
Is there anything better in life than a bangin’ drum and bass beat with a strong female vocal and a kickin’ hook? It’s hard to imagine a more pure alternative when jammin’ to Skepsis’ latest. “Know What It Means” is the U.K. bass producer’s first official taste of d’n’b, and we’re hoping this is the start of a strong trend. Persian-British singer-songwriter Raphaella delivers a top-notch performance over the chune so hyphy that our sneakers might catch blisters. The music video is pretty pro as well: Directed by Ranvia Kaur Johal and Eleanor Grace Hann, its story of a young couple that falls out of love will get ya right in the (very true-to-life) feels. – K. Bein
Jackie Queens, “I’ll Find a Way”
Perseverance is at the heart of Jackie Queens’ new song “I’ll Find A Way.” The South African house heavyweight brings a simultaneous determination and comfort through her rich vocals, which breeze over an Afrohouse rhythm that chugs towards a chest-swelling crescendo. With lyrics about strength and taking pride in warrior roots, the song is described in a press release as a “tribute to Black women’s courage.” “I’ll Find a Way” comes from the soundtrack for YE! A Jagun Story, the first part of a forthcoming film trilogy from Nigerian-American filmmaker John Oluwole Adekoje and Bomb Squad producer/composer Hank Shocklee. — K.R.
Subtronics, ANTIFRACTALS
Philly-based producer Subtronics ends 2022 with a nod to both the year that was and the year ahead with the release of ANTIFRACTALS, a batch of deliciously dirty, rail-riding edits of his already hard-hitting LP FRACTALS, released this past January. The new LP is packed with remixes from what feels like half the bass music community, with contributions from PEEKABOO, Virtual Riot, Jantsen, Wooli and Grabbitz, and edits from Subtronics himself. “I’m honored to have so many top-tier producers put their spin on my vision, it really means the world to me, and I’d like to extend a huge thank you to all of them,” says the producer born Jesse Kardon. “Over the last year, I have continued to evolve as an artist, so ANTIFRACTALS has been an awesome journey for me to refine FRACTALS even further. I think I like these versions better than the originals.” Surely much of both LPs will be heard on the producer 27-date North American tour, which launches on January 13 and takes him to venues including L.A.’s 17,000-person Kia Forum. — K. Bain
In 2022, dance albums were a bigger part of the cultural conversation than they’ve been in years. Not only did several artists finally release the passion projects they’d worked on in isolation during the covid years, marquee acts dropped long-awaited follow-up albums, and two of the biggest pop artists in the world both released dance-focused LPs within weeks of each other.
Exploring different influences and dimensions of house music, Drake and Beyoncé brought dance music to mainstream audiences – and the top of the Billboard 200 – with force not seen since the peak EDM years. These efforts also likely brought at least a few mainstream ears to the deeper realms of the sprawling dance space.
Listeners nostalgic for the golden age of EDM were also blessed with LPs from a few of their faves, too. And while releases from the likes of Swedish House Mafia and Krewella didn’t match the commercial success of their earlier works, artists in the post-EDM era prioritized artistic reinvention over streaming numbers, finding success and expanding their legacies in the process.
Whereas the typical path to a dance artist’s debut album runs through a marathon of club and festival dates, prodigious debuts from artists like Shygirl and Ariel Zetina arrived in the aftermath of DJ sets being confined to Zoom. While house masters Honey Dijon and The Shapeshifters were reliable delights during our collective coronaraving years, each seized this moment to flex their bonafides on long-anticipated LPs, which proved well worth the wait.
As in years before, 2022’s best dance albums demonstrate true diversity – of race, gender, age, nationality, and style – unmatched by any other genre. Here’s to all the artists who gave us long-players for the living room, for the dancefloor, for old heads, for new fans and for everyone in between.
These are our 50 favorite dance/electronic albums of 2022, presented alphabetically by artist.
Fred Again.. (aka, Fred Gibson) debuts at No. 10 on Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart (dated Dec. 17) with Actual Life (April 14 – December 2020). The set starts with 2,600 equivalent album units, including 2,000 from album sales, Dec. 2-8, according to Luminate.
The pandemic-themed set, originally released in April 2021, hits the chart following its Dec. 2 arrival on vinyl. It’s Fred Again..’s second entry and top 10, after a later release in the series, Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2020) (No. 3, November).
Actual Life 3 spurred five hits on the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, including the top 20 achiever “Clara (The Night Is Dark)” (No. 18, Nov. 12). Overall, Fred Again.. owns 12 charted titles, including most recent single “Strong,” with Romy (No. 27, Dec. 3), and “Turn On the Lights Again..,” with Swedish House Mafia and featuring Future (No. 16, Aug. 13).
Speaking of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, INTERWORLD earns its first Billboard top 10 with “Metamorphosis” (11-10). The track, whose profile has surged thanks to TikTok, earned 2.4 million U.S. streams, up 8%.
Jengi (Dutch producer Jan Berendsen) jets to his initial Billboard chart appearances with “Bel Mercy.” The track, at No. 40 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, collected 278,000 domestic streams and sold 600 downloads. With the latter figure, Jengi also jumps in at No. 5 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart.
Continuing with Billboard firsts, but shifting to the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Lena Leon spins to her inaugural top 10 with “Spiral” (12-7). The song is drawing core-dance airplay on SiriusXM’s BPM, Music Choice’s Dance/EDM channel and iHeartRadio’s Evolution, among other outlets. (The Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart measures radio airplay on a select group of full-time dance stations, along with plays during mix shows on around 70 top 40-formatted reporters.)
“‘Spiral’ was written with my friends Andrew Tyler, Flo August and the Disco Fries about a panic attack I had in my own house during the pandemic,” Leon tells Billboard. “It’s one of the most personal things I’ve ever written, and I decided to release it myself after feeling like there wasn’t enough female representation in dance music. I never expected this kind of reaction in a million years and I’m so grateful this one is resonating with so many.”
Additionally on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, Tiësto travels into the top 10 with “10:35,” featuring Tate McRae (14-9). It’s Tiësto’s 17th top 10 (and McRae’s third), tying him with Kaskade for the fifth-most top 10s since the chart began in August 2003. The twosome trails only David Guetta (34), Rihanna (24), Calvin Harris (20) and Justin Bieber (20).
Nearly a year after Ultra Records founder Patrick Moxey sold his 50% share of the lauded dance imprint to Sony Music, the executive is being sued by the major label over his continued use of the “Ultra” trademark.
When Moxey sold his remaining stake in Ultra Records this past January, it marked a turning point in dance music history — giving Sony full control of the label it had previously held a 50% stake in. While Moxey parted ways with the imprint he founded in 1995, he held on to his other company, Ultra International Music Publishing, LLC. But in a complaint filed last month in New York, Sony Music argues he has no legal rights to use the “Ultra” name following the sale.
“Notwithstanding that Moxey received a substantial payment as part of the buyout, after which he ceased to have any involvement in the business of Ultra Records, he has sought to perpetuate the falsehood that he remains involved with Ultra Records by wrongfully continuing to use Ultra Records’ ULTRA trademark as part of his music publishing business,” reads the complaint, which was filed Nov. 11.
The complaint continues that under the terms of a 2012 agreement that marked Sony’s acquisition of 50% of Ultra Records, “Ultra International Music Publishing and its affiliates were only permitted to use the word ‘Ultra; under license from Ultra Records. That license was terminated by Ultra Records following the buyout, effective March 29, 2022.”
The complaint goes on to state that Ultra Publishing’s continued use of the name is in violation of the Ultra Records trademark, noting that “No written license agreement was ever executed between Ultra Records and Ultra International Music Publishing concerning the latter’s use of the ULTRA trademark.”
In a statement provided to Billboard, Sony Music states that “Patrick Moxey sold Ultra Records and the Ultra brand to Sony Music Entertainment in exchange for a substantial buyout payment, and now is perpetuating the falsehood that he remains affiliated with his former company by continuing to use the Ultra name in connection with the publishing operations he controls. These actions knowingly misrepresent his involvement with Ultra and are in clear violation of the trademark rights SME acquired in a mutually agreed upon transaction.”
While a representative for Moxey did not immediately return a request for comment, in a statement given to Music Business Worldwide, he claimed that Sony has “done nothing but bully me from the day I sold them my record company. Ultra International Music Publishing has been an independent standalone business for over 20 years, which publishes songs co-written with Drake, Post Malone, Ed Sheeran, 21 Savage, Rihanna, Future, Kygo and many more.
“The vast majority of our songs are not on Ultra Records or Sony [Music],” Moxey continued. “I have made it abundantly clear on numerous occasions in media interviews that Ultra International Music Publishing is completely separate from Ultra Records, and always has been. I have every right to use the name ‘Ultra’ in connection with Ultra International Music Publishing, and won’t be intimidated by a massive global corporation.”
After leaving Ultra Records, Moxey announced a new dance label venture, Helix Records, which has since released music from Snakehips, Willy William and Two Friends. The imprint is a division of Moxey’s longstanding hip-hop label, Payday Records. Both labels are distributed by Warner Recorded Music’s indie services arm ADA Worldwide.