The evolution of The Chainsmokers over the past couple of years has been genuinely exciting. After producing some highly acclaimed remixes for big pop acts, the New York duo stepped into the spotlight with their immediately praised original material.
Filtered through a pop lens, their material was topping the charts around the world but with each new release it started to sound more forced and lacked a spark of creative flow. With harsh criticism starting to form due to the predictable nature of their material, they have pulled a full 360 and reignited the spark with the music they are now releasing.
Currently on tour with recent collaborators 5 Seconds Of Summer, they have finally dropped their third studio album ‘World War Joy’ which continues this heavy experimentation with darker tones and a slick EDM polish.
Recent singles ‘Who Do You Love’, ‘Kills You Slowly’, ‘Do You Mean’, ‘Call You Mine’, Takeaway’ and ‘Push my Luck’ lead the way but there are a few new hidden gems that will have listeners more than impressed.
‘The Reaper’ featuring Australia’s Amy Shark is a collaboration you didn’t know you needed to have in your life. This is the perfect example of how collaboration should be occur. Fusing their two unique and distinct sounds together, they push each other to create something unique and memorable.
With soothing harmonies and dark EDM pop beats leading the way, you will be immediately drawn into this interesting sonic with it’s gritty breakdowns and vocal riffs.
From there ‘Family’ featuring Kygo is more country-pop influenced which has commercial radio potential while the soothing ‘See The Way’ featuring Sabrina Claudio is commercial pop with an experimental breakdown.
Then you’ve got another unexpected collaboration which will leave you feeling nostalgically happy. ‘P.S. I Hope You’re Happy’ featuring Blink 182 is the perfect ego EDM crossover. And it’s exactly how you’d imagine it. Drums and guitars with EDM production layered over with the right balance.
With this album they’ve really proved that they won’t be boxed in to commercial trends or trying to immolate pass successes. Instead they are just making music they want to make with the artists they want to collaborate with.
They also haven’t tried to over do it. with only 10 songs in the track listing, they keep the impact at a maximum high. It’s punchy and memorable which is the way you want it to be.