It is no secret the creation of hits records is a complicated process. Many things need to be factored in for the song to be approachable to the audience of the genre, while simultaneously the song needs to be innovative enough for the audience to love. More of one can certainly hurt the chances of the artist with his fans.
The New York Times sat down with rising EDM producer stars The Chainsmokers and Flume, to explore the creative process behind their hits that have catapulted them into international stardom.
Australian record producer, Flume stated he liked to focus first on the melodies. For the single ‘Never Be Like You’, featuring Kai, Flume said they first sent things back and forth online, and then got her to sing like 20 minutes of “oohs” and “aahs”, which he then cut bits and pieces, and constructed the chorus and the verses. Only after the melody was in place, did the two get into the studio together in New York, picked a theme and started working on the lyrics. After they split, Flume reveals he discovered a little trick, which created the fluttering effect in the main synth chord line. This was the innovative bit he was looking for in the song, and that was it!!
The Chainsmokers, on their hit single “Don’t Let Me Down,” Featuring Daya, revealed they actually made the drop of the song first, and then stretched and reversed it. When messing around with a new Fender electric guitar, they found an infectious framework in combining airy indie guitars with a powerful backdrop. The lyrics of the song were then set with Emily Warren and Scott Harris joining in on a four-hour epic session. After the lyrics were set, they selected Daya due to her unique voice as the final touch, forging a perfect anthem for the festival season. The result of their collaboration and refined effort was a track that went triple platinum and that was streamed more than 500 million times online.
In both of these cases, we saw the simplicity of an original idea on the part of the music producers that they turned into such timeless and influential songs, with the help of collaborators.
