Posts tagged Dubstep

DUBSTEP! Rihanna with her album Rated R can take credit as one the first US pop star to really have some strong Dubstep influence in their music. Since then, Britney Spears released a pretty good dubstep influenced pop album last year in Femme Fataleand all of the stuff that has happened on this chart has lead to Dubstep being the next big thing people are stumbling over themselves to cover. Last year, I wrote about the slight dubstepiness of “On the Floor” by Jennifer Lopez, and here is a quick update on that idea looking at “Love You Like a Love Song”, “You Da One”, and some general ideas on the Skrillex.

“Love You Like A Love Song” by Selena Gomez is hard to exactly figure out how popular the song truly is, as it came out last summer, but it took some time for it to gain a moderate amount of radio buzz. So, maybe it took some time for the rest of the world to appreciate the bass oddness instead of finding it off putting. It’s a love song about love songs and with an odd pairing of some of the glossiest vocals I’ve heard in a pop song in recent memory with over active bass sounds. But, considering how loose the definition of dubstep has gotten in the last few years that is still enough for music writers (this one included) to say that there is dubstep influence in the song and one of the better ones with roots in pop music to get that distinction.

Dubstep went from something so under-covered in music circles, I’d bet a year ago most music critics would have been asking “What is a Skrillex?” while mocking those people who were saying “Who is Arcade Fire?” after their Grammy victory.  But, where we stand now, dubstep is the music of the young people that must be covered. So, great writers are now wrestling with the music of Skrillex and other more American based Dubstep producers, whose names are usually never mentioned in Dubstep articles, because Skrillex serves to be the head of this second electronic music revolution and conveniently the only one most writers can name.

Not to be too crabby, but when I first heard Skrillex more than a year and half ago I thought he was garbage, so seeing people stumbling over themselves to praise the man is strange to say the least. Which accounts for the name of this article, because early on Dubstep pieces would characterize it as music for bros to mosh out and go crazy to, which while not untrue as people started to pay more attention to the music, it became obvious this was music both genders equally enjoyed. Also, for all of the Grammy nominations and sold out shows that Skrillex will play, the way that dubstep is entering the mainstream is through female artists, who take some dubstep elements are work them into their music far better than Skrillex and his peers (Flux Pavilion, Zeds Dead, Nero, and a the UKF group if you want some other examples of this stuff).

“You Da One” is a weird Rihanna single still trying to find another life to eventually top the charts like so many of her songs have already. Yet, focusing on bass drops in dubstep, quickly loses the fact the drums of most dubstep songs have an instantly recognizable slowed up lurch compared to other more bland four on the floor pound of most pop songs on the radio today. That is the most notable dubstepish part of “You Da One”, as while the bass is noticeable the drum pattern is what gives the anticipation of a bass drop eventually happening, even if it doesn’t really happen. I don’t really enjoy too many Skrillex or Rusko (supposed originator of this Bro-step style) dubstep songs that are heavy on bass drop and not much else, but considering they are probably the reason a songs like “You Da One” or “Love You Like A Love Song” were even considered for a major label means I will begrudgingly accept their place in the world.