Enjoy some hot sounds of the summer
Bad Bunny has had one of his biggest hits with ‘Where She Goes.’
The house sound of 2023 may not differ too much from that of 1993 and there’s a reason why so many of today’s bangers are being mashed up with classics of years gone by. Things always go in cycles when it comes to music and the 90s house revival has happened previously too, but ‘Show me Love’, ‘What is Love’, ‘Gypsy woman’ are more popular than ever. They were always huge anthems but in 2023 most kids know every word to these classics and Tik-tok has helped elevate them further into small bite-sized chunks ready for mass consumption.
Thus we have a situation where every new track gets a house reworking too. It may lack a bit of imagination at times but there’s hardly a new track that doesn’t receive some sort of tik-top mash-up with ‘Show me Love’ or ‘Gypsy Woman’ whatever else. Some go further and use the original dance anthems (‘Show me Love’, ‘What is Love’, ‘I’m Blue’ and many more have been covered and reworked extensively recently).
Others just become viral mash-ups; an example being the ‘Gypsy Woman’ blend that has made Jorja Smiths massive ‘Little Things’ even bigger recently. The mash-up has given the originals new life and this often happens in pop music. A few examples off the top of my head would be the the ‘Doctor Pressure’ remix of Mylo and Miami Sound machine, The ‘Girl is Mine’ by 99 souls and ‘Destination Calabria’. There are many many more!
But let’s get back to 2023. This summer it’s very evident that it’s not only house beats that are becoming popular. The tempos are rising and becoming more varied too. I’ve written extensively about how jersey and other underground club movements are influencing pop music and the likes of ‘Just wanna rock’ by Lil Uzi Vert, ‘Vibe’ by Cookiee Kawaii and ‘World Cup’ by IshowSpeed are all examples of this production. Bad Bunny, arguably the world’s most popular artist at the moment, has had one of his biggest hits yet with the jersey banger ‘Where She Goes’ and it’s fair to say this sound will continue to infiltrate.
In my opinion Brazilian funk is the next global sound that will break the mainstream and I can see it in the clubs already over the last few tears. Reggaeton, Dancehall, trap, drill, k-pop, afrobeats and amapiano are all doing the same and it’s obvious that people are looking for something more exciting tempo wise than just strictly 4x4 grooves so this is where Brazilian and baile funk fits in. Another really exciting development is the return of drum ’n’ bass to the mainstream. Purists will hate it but drum ’n’ bass is everywhere in pop in 2023. From tik-tok pop stars to d&b legends, jungle rhythms can be heard on music from Pinkpantheress, Rudimental, Shy FX, Nia Archives and many more in what is a pretty exciting year for crossover club culture jams.
The anthems from other genres keep coming too. Hip-hop/trap and r&b haven’t been as dominating as usual with the mega hits but surely Travis Scott will change that with ‘Utopia’, after just a few tasters so far. The UK continues to drop bangers and this summer ‘Sprinter’ by Dave and Central Cee is going head to head with ‘Who Told You’ by J Hus and many more. The Weeknd enlisted Madonna and Playboi Carti on ‘Popular’ which is just that, while all the Barbie spin off tracks have proved big too (Dua Lipa, Ice Spice, Nicki Minaj and co.).
Afro and amapiano anthems continue aplenty but much of the breakthrough ones seem to take six months to hit the mainstream ‘Calm Down’ took a year!) and as always there’s tunes that turn from LGBTQ anthems into pop hits too. (‘Padem Padem’ by Kylie and ‘Rush’ by Troye Sivan).
And sometimes even tracks that are years old become hits (‘Jain’ by Makeba.)
