From Pop Anthems To the Dancefloor: Is Disco Making a Comeback?

Arts | September 23, 2020

Disco's been popping up everywhere these past few months. From Kylie Minogue's new album to fashion runways, a new generation of pop artists is diving back into the seventies and emerging with unstoppable hits.

This summer, an unexpected collaboration reminded us of disco's importance to our times. From producer Cerrone, a trailblazer in the genre and one of the most avant-garde rappers on the French scene, came the single Experience. In its three minutes and forty seconds, we realize that disco never disappeared — in spite of technological advances, hip hop's domination of the charts, and several decades separating us from Giorgio Moroder's hits. Even better, we're able to fully appreciate the presence of artists who contributed to the genre's resilience. Yuksek, Todd Terje, Michael Mayer, Corine, L'Impératrice and Folamour — all have ensured disco's continued relevance. A true hybrid, at turns flashy and synthetic (Italian disco), sample-laden (in French touch and hip hop) or combined with rock n roll (LCD Soundsystem), it consistently keeps pace with stylistic evolutions.

"We've been talking about disco's comeback for decades," says Cerrone, whose sixteenth solo album dropped last February ("DNA"), noting that renewed interest had already begun to rise in 2007, when Calvin Harris burst onto the pop scene with his debut album, I Created Disco. "That said, for the last four of five years it's also true that there's been an attraction to disco's original sounds, with live instrumentation and heavily sampled tunes, which you also find in house, techno, garage, and EDM. Here, though, it's really back on its home turf, especially with artists like Dua Lipa." Informed by 47 years in the business, Cerrone believes that the English songstress is today's "best example of disco's effervescence, especially given the influence she enjoys and her ear for catchy melodies, which you can really hear on Future Nostalgia. It's a tape that Rolling Stone characterized as "the sound of a liberated disco."

A New Generation

"Dua Lipa is of course not the only artist who's brushed up on the 70's to sharpen her sound, which is orchestrated and boosted for our era. Beyond the tributes we've seen over the last few years (Pop Sympathie at Versatile Records, France Chébran at Born Bad), and a revival of past stars (Sheila, whose album King of the World produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, was recently re-released), and composers who've remained unknown for too long (Bernard Fèvre, Willian Onyeabor), there are dozens of artists and structures that are working towards disco's rehabilitation. Such is the case at Partyfine, a label founded by Yuksek, where you're seeing the rise of new disco-lovers (Alex Rossi, Dombrance, Jean Tonique). It's also true of label Disco Halal, based in Tel Aviv and represented by emerging artists like Deviant Disco and Discomatin. There's also Myd, who talks about his music as a continuation of disco heritage: a mix between acoustic and electronic sounds, rapid tempos and vocal hooks that make people want to get up and move. Not so long ago, I even played I Feel Love by Donna Summer at the club, which I wouldn't have done three or four years ago", he laughed.

According to the French producer, a member of Club Cheval and author of the Superdiscoteca project, his return to disco began around 2013, the year that Daft Punk ruled the airwaves with Random Access Memories, a striking contrast to the prevailing preference for digital mixing. "Daft came into this mythic studio from the 70s, invited musicians from the period and developed melodies that echoed it, all while composing electronic hits. They were so avant-garde that an entire generation of artists needed a minute to realize, once again, what Daft Punk understood ahead of anybody."

"Disco is a state of mind."

Disco's far more than a strong pop sensibility and a love of partying. "It's above all a state of mind," states Cerrone, detailing the links between disco artists and fashion. "I started my career in the early 70s and I am part of a generation who really prioritized not looking like anyone else. In that state of mind, we quickly understood that to stand out you had to have a real personality — something theatrical and colorful."

It's probably no accident, then, that a number of fashion houses have recently opted for a return to flashiness: glittery sneakers at Maison Margiel and satin mules at Prada, along with crystal-woven handbags at Alexander Wang, the pieces are clear nods to the over-the-top dress code of places like Studio 54, Paradise Garage, and other legendary disco-era clubs. Those in which bodies freed themselves and different minorities partied together without a thought for the outside world, in a shared quest for ecstatic atmospheres and stylish overstatement. "For a few years, the disco look became kind of a bad costume," jokes Myd. "But today, I see skaters wearing clothes that were typical of the era. Everything's getting mixed together, it's great!"

A brief glance at L'Impératrice seals the deal: the visual identity of this Parisian disco-pop group hints to the period. From their glittery look to their music, which they themselves call "popcosmic disco," everything they turn out seems destined for hit compilations and, above all, the dance floor. Here we see parallels between these pop-lovers and what Myd says about the scene — "the French are very comfortable with the idea of mixing pop and dance tracks. It's what made French Touch producers what they were; it's what made Justice and it's what you see today in artists like Folamour."

An International Phenomenon

Beyond our borders, English and American musicians are also reviving the seventies, turning out a host of complex melodies that are nonetheless composed to get people on their feet. Take Miley Cyrus' Midnight Sky and Jessie Ware's What's Your Pleasure? — both of which sound more like the genre's contemporary rebirth than any yesteryear throwbacks. These younger artists are of course guided by the success of peers like Jamiroquai, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Kylie Minogue. The Australian star also unveiled her most recent work this past summer, her fifteenth album, aptly entitled Disco.

On the cover, Kylie appears with heavily-lined eyes, XXL fake lashes, and a perm — a return to a period where, as Myd puts it, "we were constantly looking to make hits that were as rigorous as they were popular, sophisticated and capable of getting people going." Cerrone concludes: "Disco will always have this unstoppably festive aspect. There's no other style that gets people this excited, it's really physical. It's what I think makes it a timeless genre."