How does EDM resonate with us
The impressions that Electronic Dance Music (EDM) gives others are usually darksome: dull and repetitive tempos, drugs in live houses, techno sounds, and etc. The mainstream doesn’t deem it as a genre of music but as artificial melodies synthesized by metallized instrumentation. However, fans of EDM have completely different thoughts. In David Michael’s article “How do electronic music fans thinks differently”, he reveals how fans of EDM perceives EDM differently compared to the mainstream, and also as a part of EDM lover community, my perspectives are also mostly aligned with David’s arguments.
“Is this the same song you just played? I can’t tell the difference.” “What? Of course this is a different song!” That’s the conversation David usually had with his friends whenever he played EDM on the car, and it also happens when I strive to recommend my EDM playlist to my friends. Although EDM seems appealing to us, the majority don’t deal with it, and it’s foremost due to the lack of lyrics in EDM. For pop, country or other mainstream music, the lyrics always rank the first among the components of a song. It epitomizes the emotion that the song wishes to convey to the audience. Moreover, the lyrics allow the listeners to sing along with the singer, which establishes a cozy as well as harmonious atmosphere for the listeners to approach their idols. In the masses’ opinions, instrumental elements (which EDM rely most on) are only embellishments that beautify the song, and it is the vocal spearheading the entire composition.
Therefore, from the view of the mainstream, EDM as sounds sorely composed of “dull” and “impassive” tempos is not qualified to be treated as a genre of music.
But are the facts of EDM really likes how people have been stereotyping it for years? If any EDM fan is being asked about this question, the questioner would only get a firm “no”. Admittedly, EDM doesn’t have any lyrics as contribution to the song and could only deliver vague emotion to its listener, we (the lovers of EDM) have our own interpretation of it. “Different people want to get different things out of their music. I like to give my own interpretation on what the musical selection’s melodies, harmonies, dissonance, and rhythms are telling me.” These are the two statements that I feel most aligned with. While listening to EDM, I always indulged myself in my own spiritual world: when there’s an ethereal melody, I could either place myself in an airy or aquatic space; when there’s a coalesce of intensive and soothing tempos, I could witness the wax and wane within the world; when the song reaches its high tide, I could feel that I have climbed over another summit in the Himalayas.
EDM gives spaces to its fans to draw imaginations on things and not directed by lyrics like other genres. One of my friends who favors EDM has a habit of listening to Millions Days by SABAI before campaigns like public speaking and debates because the high tide section allows him to imagine himself address his arguments confidently while exposing to the audience. “It delivers me power to make my presentation successful, and without this feeling beforehand I can’t be comfortable doing this.” said by him. There’s a reason that people love EDM, and it could vary as long as they resonate with a specific tempo, in which people commence falling in love with EDM. The procedure is captious but rewarding: EDM fans undergoing this squint towards forming a more united community compared to the mainstream.
“I think I really noticed the difference when I came to the realization that there are so many songs that I am crazy about and have been listening to for years, and yet have no idea what the lyrics are. I came to realize that I often pay much more attention to the music than the lyrics or even the intended meaning of the song.” claimed by David. This is the commonality among all the EDM fans. Instrumentations are valued more in a song, and we relish the time appreciating the sound mixing, combing, separating and eventually turning into what the song is about. Nowadays there’re also EDM composition with lyrics going viral on the internet, but lyrics is not the protagonist: it serves more like a binder connecting melodies together, and pushing the emotion towards the peak when the high tides come.
EDM fans are not only fans of EDM, but also fans with songs whose melodies provoke believes deeply rooted in the mind. It might happen as a coincidence and needs luck to discover. But since we could embrace other music, we wish the mainstream to also try listening to EDM and excavate the melody uniquely favored by you, your spiritual world and your voice rooted in your heart.
