I can’t hear this song without thinking of University Radio Nottingham. My student radio station, I spent three years there and in my final year, had a dance music show on Fridays, 7-9pm, to get students in the mood for going to the student club, Ocean (for which I also gave away four tickets). I played this song so much in that little basement, and fills me with fond memories that I look back on that room (not least because, after being the last person to have gone on air in those studios whilst interviewing Big Narstie, a group of us stripped it to its bones as the station prepared to move basecamp last summer).
Trevor Dahl, Kevin Ford, and Matthew Russell sound like they should be a group of uncle’s, but, whilst I can’t confirm or deny that, they do make up DJ/Producer trio Cheat Codes. Based in Los Angeles, they broke into the charts in 2017 with their song No Promises, which featured Demi Lovato on the vocals. They ticked the box of dance music producers who were looking for chart success, however with Balenciaga, there is at least a slight venture towards more traditional dance/electronic music.
The song was released on 4th May on Spinnin’ Records and, unsurprisingly from a song called Balenciaga, focuses on the superficial and materialistic nature of the 21st Century population. The male vocals speak about buying a romantic interest Balenciaga and Prada products, with little emotional return on his monetary investment coming from the subject of his affections. Typical love stuff, but the instrumental is slightly heavier than your usual dance-pop track and seems to be a gradual evolution of the trio’s sound to move away from the typical chart music.
Nothing is wrong with creating that sort of music. In fact, one of the next songs they released was Only You which featured Little Mix and probably helped pay the bills. It’s refreshing though, alongside these major chart singles, to see Cheat Codes experimenting with different sounds. Their early work was very housey and it’s exciting to see the artistic variation continuing over the years from a dance artist that have made an impact on the charts and the dance-pop crossover revolution.
Spotify Playlist Link: https://spoti.fi/2CKuVex
A Song A Day 