The New York City club scene has experienced a rebirth in the past two years. The expansion of programs like The Boiler Room has slowly been festering and growing into a bigger scene, one dedicated to partying and creativity without boundaries. Clubbing without rules, bodies in a room dancing to the art coming from a turntable. Since the complete shutdown of the city and club scene during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a quiet rebirth in the clubs of the Lower East Side and, more recently, everywhere. Movements like The Boiler Room, pop-up DJ sets, and live-streamed parties have fed the thirst for something new in the music scene, and it just so happens to be a remix of something old.
One of the figures at the center of this New York City movement is The Dare, a 27-year-old ex-substitute teacher who has built a reputation in the club scenes and beyond, becoming a favorite producer and close friend of Charli XCX, another Goliath in the club scene. He was recently featured as the producer of both “Guess,” and “Guess featuring Billie Eilish, ‘ which is where much of the public (or those who are chronically online) became aware of his music independent of producing for others.
His new album, “What’s Wrong with New York?” which landed on shelves on Sept. 6, has received mixed critical reviews but extremely positive public reviews through social media. The Dare hosted two days of live shows, and DJ sets to celebrate the release, of which have become legendary on TikTok and X due to their exclusivity and rowdiness. Videos of The Dare diving into the crowd, throwing his microphone around, thrashing around on stage, or climbing balconies to be closer to the party have blown up, and it has become nearly impossible to secure a ticket to his new tour. Even his “uniform,” a black and white suit with a skinny tie and sunglasses, has been coined as a new fashion trend and is beginning to appear on mood boards everywhere.
It seems the mission of this album, and of The Dare, by extension, is to bring back the Indie Sleaze aesthetic that society experienced in the early aughts. A movement of sex positivity, late-night clubbing, and smudged makeup, it was especially prevalent on Tumblr through aesthetic boards and posts. The movement died out during the rise of a “cleaner” aesthetic, and the club scene hasn’t been the same since, emphasizing less dancing and more posing for pictures and photo ops. However, it’s been seen through acts like Charli XCX, The Dare, Addison Rae, and other smaller artists that we’re starting to make a shift back to the sleaze that once was. As many are aware, “Brat Summer” was the overlying trend of this summer.
Instead of the cleaner outdoor-focused activities and aesthetics that trends tend to turn towards in the summer, we instead focused our attention inward. Messy hair, days-old makeup, tight and tattered clothing, sunglasses, and a general glamorization of the unglamorous was in, and in turn, being “clean” was out. It was, and is, cool again to be a “party girl,” according to Charli XCX on Brat’s closer, “365.” Fashion trends are even beginning to reflect this, as designers and retail stores are beginning to sell more baby tees with sleazy slogans, enormous sunglasses like the ones Charli and The Dare rep, and miniskirts. Hairstyles are becoming less and less important, as greased-back hair and bedhead seem to be prevailing trends due to their utilitarian nature.
The question remains: Are artists like Charli XCX and The Dare still enough to begin an entire movement? Well, as this summer has proved, yes. Even if you aren’t a fan of these two, it’s obvious that they have a wide reach. Almost every relevant brand posted something in the Brat font and color scheme on their social medias, with The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) even jumping in on the trend. Charli XCX and The Dare’s fall tours have almost completely sold out. While they are both at very different capacity levels, it is nonetheless impressive, especially due to how new The Dare is to the music industry. Brat topped the charts this summer, and every time Charli XCX releases a new remix, it seems to have the same effect. So far, she has teamed up with artists like Addison Rae, Billie Eilish, Lorde, Yung Lean, and Troye Sivan to completely change the tracks on Brat and make more, well, “Club Classics.” In short, indie sleaze is back. It’s happening. It may even be better than ever. You just have to be willing to mess up your makeup and club until the wee hours of the morning to see it.
