[2021] We Have Stopped Caring about Certain Things in Dance Music, Haven't We? [The COVID Impact]

This is my first article of 2021.

For dance music, 2020 was probably a year unlike any experienced before.

Except for producers who mainly quietly made tracks at home or in the studio, or audiences who enjoyed dance music only through digital tools such as Spotify, it was undoubtedly a painful period.

So this time, I will write, with plenty of personal opinion and without mincing words, about changes in the dance music scene during 2020 and what may happen in 2021.

Trends Stopped Mattering

I think this sums up the biggest change caused by COVID.

Put another way, anything beyond “my favorite genres, sounds, DJs, and producers” stopped mattering.

Why? Because almost all contact with dance music moved online.

If you use Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, or Beatport, you know that AI recommends things based on your listening and viewing history, and may even start playing them automatically.

Actively searching for new genres, sounds, DJs, and producers becomes a hassle you stop bothering with, doesn't it?

I have written in previous articles that “this is the age of Techno and House,” and they really are popular, but you can completely ignore trends.

Music Became Something to Listen to While Doing Something Else

When festivals and club events disappear, that inevitably happens.

Of course, some dedicated people may show online live performances on a big screen, put a mirror ball in their room, and sit facing the screen, but they are probably a very small minority.

Apparently many people consume YouTube content through audio alone without watching the screen, and music has become something to listen to while doing other things, doesn't it?

I spend almost my entire workday staring at a Macbook, so I now listen more to Deep House, Ambient, and Lofi Hip Hop, which suit working, and less to upbeat or vocal tracks.

I Think Resuming In-Person Events in 2021 Will Be Difficult...

Although I wrote that, I think it is impossible to predict what will happen to in-person events.

There are too many variables to judge.

As of January 3, 2020, when I am writing this article, a new coronavirus variant has emerged as a threat, and several governors in the Tokyo metropolitan area have asked the cabinet to declare a state of emergency. COVID shows no sign of subsiding.

Furthermore, we cannot rule out the arrival of a new virus to replace COVID.

Personally, I see COVID as something we should dismiss with the term “Wuhan cold,” and I oppose unnecessarily halting the economy. But public opinion and decisions by national and local governments are another matter; judging from the information I have seen, things look difficult.

Conversely, some places appear no longer to regard COVID as much of a threat (Dubai, for example, or Wuhan itself, where it originated). In some countries, in-person events may continue to be held, albeit on a smaller and more local scale than before.

Melodic Techno Is Hot

Finally, after writing that “you can completely ignore trends,” “I listen more to Deep House, Ambient, and Lofi Hip Hop,” and “actively searching for new genres, sounds, DJs, and producers is a hassle I do not bother with,” forgive me for reversing all of that, haha, but even while hopping between things online, I sense momentum behind Melodic Techno in the scene.

If you are interested, filter by the Melodic Techno genre on Beatport and check it out.

Incidentally, in the 2000s, JAMES HOLDEN and NATHAN FAKE were very active as brilliant innovators who transformed progressive, techy, hypnotic sounds in tricky ways, and I have encountered sounds with a similar vibe (or rather, they are similar in various ways, haha).

High Contrast Recordings was a long-established Trance label, if I remember correctly, so the sense of crossover there is interesting too.

Rebane & Meyer – Prelude [High Contrast Recordings]

Nathan Fake – The Sky Was Pink (James Holden remix)