Leaning into the popular “sped up” trend, Skaiwater dropped a nightcore version of his most recent album ‘Rave’ this week.
UK-born Skaiwater burst onto the scene in 2022 with his viral breakout hits “Miles” and “Eyes,” dropping a series of popular remixes including one featuring Lil Uzi Vert himself that appeared on his last tape. While Rave was already one of the most underrated projects out of the underground last year, the young viral phenom doubled back this week to give the project new life with a full nightcore remake.
And with just two features on the original version (in addition to Uzi) from Xlovclo and labelmate Prentiss, this time around he made the lone addition of ATL’s rising star Destin Laurel for the remix of “Auto.”
For the less TikTok-savvy among us, “nightcore” refers to a certain type of sped-up remix that has been dominating social media in recent months. According to Wikipedia, “a nightcore edit is a version of a track that increases the pitch and speeds up its source material by approximately 35%,” named after the Norwegian DJ duo who popularized the idea of pitch-shifted remixes.
While there are certainly mixed opinions, one scroll through any social media platform will tell you that sped-up re-works are the prevailing sound and have helped countless songs go viral over the last year – with many artists now beginning to release their own official remixes instead waiting for the internet to do its thing. One example of the power of this trend, a youtube channel titled “Sped Up Nightcore” recently uploaded a random sped-up mashup featuring old Uzi vocals produced by Arizona Tears.
While “Watch This ARIZONATEARS Pluggnb Remix” might not be pure nightcore, its debut at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 is a testament to the power of these viral user-uploaded remixes – with some sources citing that as many as 80% of the top 100 sounds on TikTok are tempo-altered.
Skaiwater has made a name for himself with his infectious upbeat sound that challenges the borders between genres and appeals to both the underground and the mainstream. In a similar way, ATL native Destin Laurel has been rising through the ranks of the underground with his uniquely refreshing melodic approach – much like Skai also producing many of his own sounds. As such, Destin made an excellent addition to “Auto” for the sole new feature and only non-sped-up moment on the Rave remix ahead of the release of his own upcoming EP, Searching for Klarity.
Overall, Skaiwater is one of the most unique, forward-thinking and commercially successful newcomers rising out of the new wave. It’s about time young upcoming artists looking to use the internet to their advantage start taking notes.
Listen to Skaiwater’s Rave (nc) below
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