Artist
The Chainsmokers
Why we feature this artist The electronic drop becomes a conversation between voices The Chainsmokers' most durable singles made a large electronic production feel attached to a small, recognisable scene. A remembered relationship, a late-night conversation or…
- From
- United States
- Sound
- Electronic dance music, pop
- Active
- 2012–present
Start with the music
Tracks to explore
The artist, in context
The story of The Chainsmokers
Why we feature this artist
The electronic drop becomes a conversation between voices
The Chainsmokers' most durable singles made a large electronic production feel attached to a small, recognisable scene. A remembered relationship, a late-night conversation or an uncertain return could provide the lyric, while a guest singer changed the emotional angle. Alex Pall and Drew Taggart gradually moved from DJ-led singles toward a more explicit songwriting and album identity.
The run from Roses to Closer
The novelty of #SELFIE brought early attention in 2014, but Roses, featuring ROZES, gave the project a different kind of musical centre in 2015. The vocal and the instrumental hook seemed to belong to the same atmosphere, with the electronic arrangement making room for intimacy rather than relying only on a large release.
Don't Let Me Down with Daya and Closer with Halsey followed in 2016. Closer was particularly effective as an exchange, with Taggart and Halsey giving the remembered relationship two audible perspectives. The production stayed relatively spare around the principal phrases, making the song feel conversational even as its hook became familiar on an enormous scale.
The album framework
Memories... Do Not Open appeared in 2017, including Paris and the Coldplay collaboration Something Just Like This. Sick Boy and World War Joy subsequently developed through a sequence of singles, allowing the album track lists to grow as the music was released. That method fitted a project whose public identity had already formed through individual collaborations and contrasting guest voices.
So Far So Good in 2022 gave the duo another way to organise a studio album, with Taggart's own vocal presence more central to the frame. Across the catalogue, the most convincing tracks connect the electronic production to an emotional situation the listener can locate quickly. The drop then becomes a response to the song's tension, rather than an event added simply because the rhythm has reached the expected number of bars.
Essential releases
Bouquet
The EP gathers the Roses period and helps establish a more atmospheric identity beyond the first novelty hit.
Memories... Do Not Open
Paris and Something Just Like This bring the collaboration-led approach into a full studio album.
So Far So Good
A later album places the duo's own songwriting and vocal frame more consistently at the centre.