JaySic, DANÊL & Roye – Step Up

• Big Room rendition of Darin
• Excellent blend of DANÊL and JaySic
• Intensity Recs and Glow Records blending their personas!

Honestly, I wasn’t aware about “Step Up” By Darin, a Swedish artist that released this hit in 2005 (fun fact: produced by RedOne, who was recently involved with 2022 FIFA soundtrack). It has the typical Dance structure I foresaw, adhering to a R&B theme and a lead similar to Usher’s “Yeah”, which trended at the time. The tune scored its reputation in the Nordics, topping as #1 in Sweden and #9 in Finland.

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Why am I talking about “Step Up”, nearly two decades later?

Well, JaySic and DANÊL (remember his 90 plus?) just dropped a marvelous rework on the Dance hit and I had plenty entertainment listening to it! This is another joint venture between the forthcoming Intensity Recordings and Glow Records, fusing together their distinctive flairs. In fact, I personally associate Glow with old-school Big Room and Progressive House, while Intensity is not a stranger to experimenting with aforementioned genres and more.

After a melancholic and familiar breakdown, where “Step Up” is played with solid claps and a Big Room lead, the drop kicks in by mixing JaySic’s supersaws and Danel’s glitchy Bass House theme in a colorful composition. The bassline maintains just the right amount of bounce, extremely enjoyable I would say!

The only part that didn’t resonate with me was the final transition, where I think that Darin’s original wasn’t emphasized enough, the vocal only used as a secondary detail hidden behind the Big Room leads. Which is fine, I wasn’t acquainted with the original version so I wasn’t particularly disappointed, yet “Step Up” sounds more as a new ID with an old vocal slapped onto it rather than a complete rework. I would prefer a glimpse of the original lead, simply to adjunct that additional touch of quality here and there.

Putting criticism and nitpicks aside, the teamwork of JaySic and DANÊL is remarkable, and “Step Up” does put up a show!

You can listen to “Step Up” here:

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