When someone thinks of Electronic Dance Music (EDM), most think of loud and perhaps even annoying club music. But simply categorizing EDM as loud music people dance to would be unfair to its name.
There are numerous subgenres to EDM including the most popular ones; House, Trance, Techno, and Dubstep music. With these innumerable genres, music artists are able to express themselves in various ways, thus contributing to the creativity of the music scene.
Porter Robinson, also known as Virtual Self, is a Dance/Electronic Artist. He is widely known for songs such as “Goodbye to a World” and his collaboration with Madeon on “Shelter,” with a Japanese animation to promote it. He contributes to the EDM scene by sharing his journey of creating music, countering the stereotypes of electronic music being loud and distasteful.
Robinson’s recent album (released on April 23, 2021) “Nurture” centers around his musical journey and highlights his mental struggles as a musical artist, but it also provides an outlook of peace and contentedness.
He begins his album with “Lifelike,” an instrumental opening that is filled with harmonics. Its intention is to introduce the album as a revival of not only Robinson but his music as well.
After the instrumental opening is Robinson’s song “Look At The Sky,” which focuses on the feeling of hope. He explains in his tweet on the track that the lyrics are him imagining what life would be like beyond fear and anxiety. Not only that, but it’s to point out that the world will outlast us, and that we as people should contribute to the planet before we leave it.
He also writes about his mental struggles throughout the years and opens up about the creation of Nurture having to do with expressing himself during a time of depression.
“Get Your Wish” is a song that plays after “Look At The Sky,” which continues with the theme of moving forward. As Robinson states, “Get Your Wish is about finding a reason to keep moving forward, even if it’s not for your own sake.”
There is a battle with himself as Robinson questions his happiness and whether music contributes to that, or the lack thereof. But then he is faced with clarity when being reminded of the beauty and endless possibilities of the world. Robinson describes it as the feeling when one is driving and a song they are listening to moves them in a nostalgic, transcendent way. “Get Your Wish” is a breakthrough song that expresses the sacrifices Robinson makes in order to produce music that gives him happiness.
Robinson’s last song from his album “Trying To Feel Alive,” speaks on the ending of a chapter. He tweets out about “Trying To Feel Alive,” expressing his intention for the song to be a conclusion along with the idea of not feeling complete being a catalyst to move forward.
As a whole, Nurture is an album that contributes to the melodic scene in the world of EDM. But beyond the scope of that, it advocates for the betterment of mental health through music.