Dancing, decadence, big boots, and bad decisions—2024 has reentered its Indie Sleaze Era. Before jumping into the intricacies of the music and investigating the up-and-coming artist The Dare, we must reminisce on the early 2000s club scene.
What is Indie Sleaze?
The term ‘Indie Sleaze’ was coined in 2021 in reference to the early 2000s, where the vibe was carefree, glamorous, and even a bit grimy. The music scene traces back to the New York City Indie scene where bands like The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs had a chokehold on live music goers. The lyrics were ironic and the tempo had a retro vibe meant for dancing and moshing. The term became an umbrella term for Indie music whether it was fused with dance, punk, rock n’ roll, or grunge. Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem were running the dance and punk region. Arctic Monkeys, and later Vampire Weekend, was rooted in rock n’ roll. Indie Pop was dominated by MGMT. Beyond the music, ‘Indie Sleaze’ captured a cool and sexy lifestyle. Parties and bad choices were glorified and the attitude in one word… hedonistic. Somehow even at the time, it felt nostalgic.
Who is The Dare?
Everyone lately seems to be ruminating on this question. The Dare appears as a mysterious, vaguely British-looking man in his signature crisp black and white suit—a modern-looking Paul McCartney, if you will. He has been spotted everywhere: DJing massive nightclubs with Charli XCX, attending fashion shows, filming music videos, and partying with Hollywood’s It-Girls. Behind the facade, The Dare is what Harrison Patrick Smith goes by when he is recording music. The 29-year-old is actually a Los Angeles native unlike his Beatles haircut suggests and worked as a public school substitute teacher before he released the Indie Sleaze anthem “Girls”. The song was almost an immediate hit on TikTok and among the Gen Z audience.
The boldly ironic lyrics read:
I like the girls that do drugs (Drugs)
Girls with cigarettes in the back of the club (Club)
Girls that hate cops and buy guns (Guns)
Girls with no buns, girls that’s mean just for fun
Charli XCX heard the song and reached out to him on Instagram. What followed was The Dare produced the hit “Guess” for her new album and then worked on the remix with Billie Eilish. The producer and singer has over 150K followers on Instagram, yet The Dare’s impact on culture has only just begun. He told The New York Times that he likes music “that rubs people one way or another” and dislikes music “that plays in the background at a cafe.” On September 6, The Dare released his debut album, and one can only expect dancing and hedonism to ensue.
Why Is Indie Sleaze Reviving Now?
Over the past few years, we have seen this nonchalant glorification of glamour and messiness more prevalent in modern culture. There’s Charli XCX and “brat girl” Summer and there are also hit films like Saltburn: young people with gray morals who dress frivolously to play tennis and drink champagne at any hour of the day. People were drawn to the twisted plot and morals and reliving the film through the 2000s hits “Time to Pretend” by MGMT and “Perfect (Exceeder)” by Mason and Princess Superstar. The fashion aesthetic contradicts the ‘clean girl’ vibe, replacing slick backs with messy braids and home-cut bangs. All the It-girls are sporting micro shorts, slouchy totes, and tall moto boots.
Nonetheless, trends do not come out of nowhere. The Indie Sleaze revival is rooted in a post-pandemic world where people yearn to be wild and free. There is a spreading desire to have fun through the hard times. In a time with so much chaos and lack of control, is there harm in relinquishing control and letting loose to a heavy bass? The Dare will hopefully answer that for us.
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