Record producer and former Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello recently spoke to Billboard about the current state of the genre of EDM and his upcoming solo album, Wild Youth.
In regards to dance music today, Angello is a bit disappointed. “It’s safe. The attitude is like, ‘We’re making great money, let’s milk it.’ That bothers me. I grew up in a music-loving family that listened to Stevie Wonder, Barry White, Nas and Jay Z, real storytellers. We’re not telling stories in dance music, we’re using the same sounds over and over again because they’re easy to make and they keep the focus of the fans.”
“I expect more,” Angello said of EDM songs today. “Granted, I’m a very harsh critic of myself and of others, but I do expect more. I want to be blown away. I want to be sitting there with my eyes wide open, saying, ‘Whoa, what is this record, what’s he playing? I’ve never heard this before,’ and so on. It’s not happening.”
“But in EDM, people are stuck on this obsession with getting on the radio, and now, I can’t tell the difference between a dance record and a Selena Gomez song,” he added. “It’s a phase, sure, but someone needs to usher us out of it. This career doesn’t have to be a joke. We need to be able to take it seriously again.”
Check out his latest song “Wasted Love” featuring Dougy from The Temper Trap below:
