'The underground is gonna change,' dubstep star tells MTV News.
By Akshay Bhansali, with reporting by Adam Stewart
Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me"
Photo: Jive
While a more complete demo told only part of the story Monday, legions of Britney Spears fans have no doubt spent the better part of Tuesday morning (January 1) reveling in Brit Brit's return with her new single, "Hold It Against Me," which was made available for download at midnight.
In many ways, Ms. Spears has served up a jam in line with popular music's current craze, EDM (electronic dance music), but make no mistake, "Against Me" is a hard-hitting thumper of a pop electro-house tune. What's especially unique about the Dr. Luke- and Max Martin-produced single is that, in typical trailblazing fashion, Spears has saluted the dance music world by including a section of dubstep in the surefire radio hit.
About 2:20 into the song, the track slips into a simple dubstep break with Spears calling out, "Gimme something good/ Don't want to wait, I want it now/ Drop it like a hood, and show me how you work it out."
Already, less than 24 hours after the song's official release, some are questioning whether Spears has hammered a nail into dubstep's coffin. Some of underground EDM's purist fans are worried that Spears has watered down their guarded and beloved art form.
But the current prince of dubstep told MTV News he thinks Spears is doing a great thing for the genre, even though he isn't in love with the section used in "Against Me."
"The more the stuff that is underground becomes mainstream, the more the underground is gonna change," Skrillex explained Monday. "I think it's gonna inspire people to obviously do something different."
Los Angeles-based Skrillex, born Sonny Moore, has a background in the post-hardcore metal scene, but in the past two years, has achieved popular success in the EDM world. He signed with deadmau5's mau5trap records and, toward the end of 2010, released a slew of dubstep singles that topped beatport.com's chart, even holding eight positions on the dance-music site's top 10 at one point.
"I thought the track ["Against Me"] was great overall," the face of popular new dubstep said. "I'll be honest, man: I love Max Martin. I think he's an absolute genius. And Dr. Luke did it, right? I think they are a f---ing dream team. I love the track!
"I thought the dubstep part was unnecessary," he continued. "Not to say it was done wrong. I feel like it was very self-aware and consciously put in there to be 'the dubstep part.' I can see a lot of people getting pissed about it — the purist dubstep and drum and bass fans — but at the end of the day, it's cool that people are trying new things. Sooner or later, anything that happens in the underground — be it watered down or not — it always makes itself into the mainstream. It's cool to hear."
To Spears' credit, Skrillex, who it would seem couldn't come from a more opposite musical background than Spears, spoke of her legacy.
"I really respect her," he admitted. "From being a Mouseketeer to all the controversial stuff and to all the stuff she has been through. She does have an incredible legacy and an incredible story. The fact that she is still making records just says a lot."
Do you think "Hold It Against Me" will have an impact on dubstep? Sound off in the comments below!
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