In the ever-evolving sphere of music, a new genre has carved itself a niche: EDM.
EDM, an acronym for ‘electronic dance music’, is the newest craze sweeping the nation. Although the genre itself is actually older than us kids, EDM has only just begun to catch on to the public eye. Before now, the music was primarily known for being played in darkened clubs, but never before have any DJs become household names. These days, electronic artists such as deadmau5, Armin van Buuren, and David Guetta have reached worldwide status as some of the best sources EDM.
Electric dance music is comprised of many subgenres of music, typically built on the premise of being able to dance to it, hence the ‘dance’ in ‘electronic dance music’. Despite what the general public says, there are actual differences between each subgenre. If trance and hardstyle (two very different genres) were considered to be stylistically the same, DJs everywhere would keel over from heart attacks! Like rock, EDM genres range from very mellow (glitch hop and dubstep) to the electronic equivalent of death metal (hardstyle).
Paul Rankin (8), shows that it’s possible to like everything on the spectrum, as his favorite genre is “hardstyle,” because he likes “the general crazyness of it,” but then says that his favorite DJ is “Pretty Lights, ‘cuz it’s chill music.” Paul also wants to go to the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) when he’s older, a true sign of a real EDM fan.
Elizabeth Richardson (8) also has no specific favorite genre, as she proved when asked what she listened to. “Skrillex, Knife Party, deadmau5…A recent song I’ve been listening to is “Who’s Gonna Save Us” by Revolvr.” Obviously, it’s easy to relax to the sounds of many different types of electronic dance music.
Whether you’re in it for the dancing or for the music, plenty of people find EDM to be their choice genre of music, and a whole new integral part of this generation’s culture.
-Lauren Quinn
