Earlier this month, on Music’s Biggest Night, Dua Lipa teleported us from our living rooms and yearlong quarantine to Studio 2054, her homage to New York City’s legendary Studio 54 nightclub where disco thrived from 1977–1980. In a stunning visual display entailing costume changes and dramatic dance interludes, Lipa performed two songs (“Levitating,” “Don’t Start Now”) from her GRAMMY-winning album, Future Nostalgia.

“I wanted to do something that felt fresh and new,” Lipa told GRAMMY.com last year, “something that touched on a memory, something that always rings so true to me, especially in my childhood.” Her dancefloor inspiration was integral to the perfect storm that was a 2020 disco-pop revival, with artists like Doja Cat and Victoria Monet also trying on the groove for size and dancefloor veterans Jessie Ware, Róisín Murphy and Kylie Minogue showing us how it’s done.

Related: Jessie Ware On Returning To Her Dance Roots And Continuing To Learn

The success of these recent releases is validation for strong women vocalists who make dance hits spanning multiple decades, sounds and perspectives. Though the genre has evolved over the years, women singers remain a constant. And while they’re not always given their due, it’s their voices we remember, their lyrics we sing and their legacies we celebrate.

Decades before Lipa was born, disco began as a musical movement of four-on-the-floor rhythms, deep synthesizers and lush melodies combining to create a sound for spaces in which Black, Latinx and queer audiences sought refuge and escape. What started underground made its way to the top of the charts and radio airwaves, thanks in large part to disco divas and their soul-stirring hooks.

The indisputable queen of them all was Donna Summer, who catapulted to international superstardom in the ‘70s with classics including the erotic epic “Love to Love You, Baby,” siren-like “I Feel Love” and the aptly steamy “Hot Stuff.” Together with GRAMMY-winning Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, she brought the sound of urban counterculture to middle America and beyond by simple musical seduction; her voice was warm and sensual, disguising disco’s radical message of liberation to unsuspecting listeners.

Read: Kaskade Talks New 'Reset' EP, Executing Epic Fortnite Show, NFTs & More

“This is it, look no further,” Brian Eno reportedly declared to David Bowie after hearing “I Feel Love” for the first time. “This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.” It was an accurate prediction of Summer’s impact. A bona fide hit machine, she charted 32 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (including four No. 1s) over the course of her career and nabbed 18 GRAMMY nominations, winning five.

While “I Feel Love” radiated euphoria, Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”—the first (and only) winner of the Best Disco Recording GRAMMY—was a timeless anthem for hard times. Its message transcended the era and also spoke to the moment. "The problems that we shared during the day,” Gaynor said, “we came together in the evening, to overcome together, or to get away together, and one of the ways we came together was on the disco dancefloor."

Sister Sledge, Anita Ward, Thelma Houston and Cheryl Lynn each had disco hits of their own, cooing in sultry tones across mirrorball-lit dancefloors. But being a disco diva was about more than being a singer: they were powerful, fabulous and aspirational. Long after disco’s heyday, the legacy of their artistry lives on through new-school chanteuses like Lipa, Ware, Minogue and Murphy.

The party eventually came to an end, as disco’s ubiquity in the ‘70s prompted a racist backlash in 1979 that abruptly led to its mainstream downfall. After some time in obscurity, club hits came back with a vengeance in the ‘90s as dance music’s next evolution: house music.

Martha Wash was the powerhouse voice behind two of the decade’s biggest hits, Black Box’s “Everybody Everybody” and C+C Music Factory’s “Everybody Dance Now (Gonna Make You Sweat).” Both songs, released in 1990, topped the Billboard Hot 100 and charted in the Top 10 internationally. While these achievements should have boosted Wash’s profile as an artist, the tracks’ producers had used her vocal recorded from studio demos without crediting her. Adding insult to injury, they cast other women to dance and lip-sync in Wash’s place for their music videos and live performances.

Loleatta Holloway, a vocalist best known from her ‘70s disco hits (including “Hit and Run” and “Runaway” with The Salsoul Orchestra), had faced a similar situation the previous year when Black Box sampled her 1980 single “Love Sensation” without permission on their U.K. No. 1, “Ride on Time.” Believing they were entitled to both compensation and credit for their work, regardless of it being a sample or a demo, Wash and Holloway each successfully sued the artists and their respective labels, winning both credit and financial settlement. Wash’s victory was bigger than herself; it set a precedent enshrining that record labels are responsible for assigning proper vocal credit for all releases, regardless of how the vocal recording was made.

As Holloway and Wash were writing new rules for vocalists, a singer/songwriter named Crystal Waters was working a government job by day while writing her own club hits on the side. Her second single, “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless),” a socially conscious house track based on a true story, has a deceptively simple hook that burrows itself in your brain. Released in 1991, it was the first of Waters’ twelve No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, including “100% Pure Love” and “What I Need.” Like fellow dance music singers Ultra Naté and CeCe Peniston, Waters took four-on-the-floor tracks to the next level with pop-structured lyrics that were cathartic, catchy and universally relatable.

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Related: Janet Jackson's Iconic 'Rhythm Nation 1814' Turns 30 Today & We Still Have Work To Do

During this time, Madonna and Janet Jackson approached the dance charts from a pop perspective. Both known for their theatrical performance style and vocal prowess as much as for their versatility, they could drop a ballad one moment and a club-ready track the next, from Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Express Yourself” to Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” and “Throb.” These expert shapeshifters paved the way for future chameleons like Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Beyoncé, pop artists who stepped onto the dancefloor with tracks like “Born This Way,” “Till the World Ends” and “Run the World (Girls),” respectively.

Beyoncé dabbled in dance music, but her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland opted for a fully immersive experience, reinventing herself as a solo artist with a fresh, pioneering sound. In 2008, producer David Guetta, a well-established club DJ in his native France, had recently cracked the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with “Love is Gone” and was looking for a bigger and better sequel.

That summer, Rowland went clubbing in Cannes, France at the club where Guetta was DJing. She became particularly enamored with a track he played during his set, the instrumental version of what would become their 2009 collaboration “When Love Takes Over.” She asked to write and record vocals for it, the final result being a big-room serenade sweetened with his piano melody but commanded by her euphoric, heart-swelling chorus.

“When I finished producing it, we were like, ‘Wow, we have a monster hit,’” Guetta said in a 2009 interview. “We could feel that it was really, really big.” More than an anthem, “When Love Takes Over” was the launchpad for America’s EDM boom, a neon era of radio-friendly dance-pop that could also bang on club dancefloors and festival stages. The song topped 15 charts across 12 countries, including Billboard’s US Dance Club Songs, and was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 2010 GRAMMY Awards show.

Rihanna was also looking to take her music up a few BPMs after her 2009 album Rated R. Her first venture into EDM, 2010’s “Only Girl (In the World),” produced by Stargate and Sandy Vee, was a success, eventually winning Best Dance Recording at the 2011 GRAMMY Awards show. For her 2011 album Talk That Talk, Rihanna recruited Calvin Harris, a Scottish producer who had achieved critical acclaim and A-list studio sessions but who had yet to break through with a global hit. Harris produced two singles on the album: the winding, acid-electro house track “Where Have You Been” and “We Found Love,” on which Rihanna bares her vulnerable falsetto. They reunited for Harris’ massive summer hit (penned by Taylor Swift), “This Is What You Came For” in 2016.

Watch: Ellie Goulding Talks Songwriting, Loving Skrillex & Björk & Growing Up On Electronic Music

Rowland’s relationship with Guetta, and Rihanna’s with Harris, was symbiotic. Rowland and Rihanna each became early adopters of a fire-blazing dance-pop phenomenon while Guetta and Harris got to increase their profiles with a new, large and lucrative American audience hungry for more. Hoping to find similar success, pop artists like Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and Kelis paired with Guetta, Harris, Zedd, Skrillex and more in the early 2010s. As dance music became more popular, the dynamic between producer and popstar shifted and producers became the popstars themselves, though a vocalist was usually not far behind.

In the current second-wave EDM era, where white men still sit at the top, Aluna has made it her mission to change how dance music perceives and treats women artists, especially Black women artists, asserting their importance even when it isn't obvious. “She’s there in the lyrics, she’s there in the voice, sometimes you see her in a video, but you don’t see her right there in the middle,” she told Billboard last year. “That’s really the shift we need to make.”

Aluna was best known to the world as one-half of electronic-pop outfit AlunaGeorge. Her cherubic vocals are instantly recognizable whether she’s singing on their own songs, such as “You Know You Like It” and “Attracting Flies,” or appearing on Disclosure’s “White Noise.”

In 2020, she made a huge statement by embarking on her solo career and releasing her debut album, Renaissance, that October. Tired of fielding daily requests from people who “wanted [her] voice, not [her] face. Not [her] Blackness,” Aluna made herself the record’s focal point as the main artist and producer rather than simply feature on different producers’ songs.

Read More: Aluna On New Album 'Renaissance' & Making Dance Music Inclusive Again

Whereas Aluna has beamed across radio airwaves worldwide, Anabel Englund has long been the voice of dance music’s underground. As a member of tech house supergroups Hot Natured and Pleasure State, the singer/songwriter’s smoldering tone and earworm melodies are the centerpiece of songs like “Electricity” and “Reverse Skydiving,” both of which she co-wrote.

Englund released her debut album, Messing With Magic, last October, and landed her first Billboard No. 1 on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart that same month with syrupy house chiller “Picture Us.” “Working with a group, I have to share my energy as part of a whole,” she said. “Being on my own, I’m able to harness my energy into what I have to say.” Like Aluna, Englund assumed co-production duties on the album in addition to singing and songwriting. Her former bandmates make appearances throughout while she remains the marquee name, never being overshadowed.

A more recent arrival to the scene, Lipa dabbled in dance music before diving headlong into Future Nostalgia’s disco-inspired sounds, including on her 2017 self-titled debut album (“Hotter Than Hell,” “New Rules”). In 2018, she collaborated with Harris and Silk City (Diplo and Mark Ronson), respectively, on the ‘90s-house-influenced hits “One Kiss” and “Electricity.” The latter song won Best Dance Recording at the 2019 GRAMMY Awards show and in a big look for dance music, Lipa performed “One Kiss” during the main ceremony. To cap the night, she also won the GRAMMY for Best New Artist. Between house and disco, Lipa has provided two of dance music’s foundational genres a massive revitalized platform in the pop world.

Long after disco’s prime, Summer’s captivating artistry lives on in chanteuses like Lipa. Meanwhile, the voices and lyrics of Aluna and Englund pick up where Crystal Waters left off, and Wash and Holloway’s legacy can be heard in a new generation of house music divas like Karen Harding, Alex Mills and Kaleena Zanders. Just like Lipa showed on the GRAMMYs stage, each of these singers proves that the women on dance records are capable and deserving of the spotlight, hopefully always getting brighter than the ones that shone on the many women before them.

The Women Essential To Reggae And Dancehall 

July has graced us with a diverse array of new music from all genres, lighting up dance floors and speakers everywhere.

The last weekend of the month brings exciting new collaborations, including another iconic track from Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, as well as a fierce team-up from Paris Hilton and Meghan Trainor. Halsey and Muni Long offered a taste of their forthcoming projects, while Jordan Davis and Miranda Lambert each delivered fun new country tunes. 

In addition to fresh collabs and singles, there's a treasure trove of new albums to uncover. Highlights include Ice Spice's Y2K!, Rakim's G.O.D., Sam Tompkins' hi, my name is insecure, Wild Rivers' Never Better, Tigirlily Gold's Blonde, and kenzie's biting my tongue.

As you check out all the new music that dropped today, be sure you don't miss these 10 tracks and albums.

Although fans anticipated Machine Gun Kelly's next release to mark his return to hip-hop, no one seems to be complaining about "KellyRoll." Embracing the trend of venturing into the country genre, mgk teams up with fellow GRAMMY-nominated artist Jelly Roll on their newest track, "Lonely Road."

The genre-blending track interpolates John Denver's classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads." However, unlike Denver's sentimental ode to the simplicity of rural life, mgk and Jelly Roll reinterpret the track through the lens of romantic relationships that have come to a, well, lonely end.

As mgk revealed in an Instagram post, "Lonely Road" was a labor of love for both him and Jelly Roll. "We worked on 'Lonely Road' for 2 years, 8 different studios, 4 different countries, changed the key 4 times," he wrote. "We finally got it right."

In another interpolation special, Halsey samples not one but two classics in their latest single, "Lucky." The song's production features elements of Monica's 1999 hit "Angel of Mine," while the chorus flips Britney Spears' fan-favorite "Lucky" into a first-person narrative.

While Halsey has always been a transparent star, their next project is seemingly going to be even more honest than their previous releases. After first revealing their journey with lupus with the super-personal "The End" in June, "Lucky" further details their struggles: "And I told everybody I was fine for a whole damn year/ And that's the biggest lie of my career."

Though they haven't revealed a release date for their next project, Halsey referred to her next era as a "monumental moment in my life" in an Instagram post about the "Lucky" music video — hinting that it may just be their most powerful project yet.

Read More: Everything We Know About Halsey's New Album

Ahead of Paris Hilton's forthcoming album, Infinite Icon — her first in nearly 20 years — the multihyphenate unveiled another female-powered collaboration, this time with Meghan Trainor. Co-produced by Sia, "Chasin'" is a lively pop anthem about discovering self-worth in romantic relationships and finding the strength to walk away from toxicity.

"She is the sister I always needed and when she calls me sis, I die of happiness inside," Trainor told Rolling Stone about her relationship with Hilton. Coincidentally, Trainor first wrote the track with her brother, Ryan, but the pop star was waiting for the right collaborator to hop on the track — and Hilton was just that.

"We made something truly iconic together," Trainor added. "It was a bucket list dream come true for me."

A highly awaited return to music after eight years, Australian electro-pop duo Empire Of The Sun are back with their fourth studio album, Ask That God.

"This body of work represents the greatest shift in consciousness our world has ever seen and that's reflected in the music," says member Lord Littlemore in a press statement.

Like their previous work that transports listeners to a different universe, this album continues that tradition with trancey tracks like lead single "Changes" and the thumping title track. Ask That God offers a chance to reflect on the blend of reality and imagination, while also evoking the radiant energy of their past songs.

Dance music's collaborative powerhouse, Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, are back with another summer hit. Their latest track, "Free," marks the fourth collaboration between the duo — and like their past trilogy of hits, the two have another banger on their hands.

The track debuted earlier this month at Harris' show in Ibiza, where Goulding made a surprise appearance to perform "Free" live. With Harris delivering an infectious uptempo house beat and Goulding's silky vocals elevating the track, "Free" proves that the pair still have plenty of musical chemistry left.

Post Malone's transition into country music has been anything but slow; in fact, the artist went full-throttle into the genre. The  New York-born, Texas-raised star embraced his new country era with collaborations alongside some of the genre's biggest superstars, like Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton. Continuing this momentum as he gets closer to releasing F-1 Trillion, Post Malone teams up with Luke Combs for the new track "Guy For That."

The catchy collaboration tells the story of a relationship that has faded, where the protagonist knows someone who can fix almost anything, except for a broken heart. It's an upbeat breakup song that, like Post's previous F-1 Trillion releases, can get any party going — especially one in Nashville, as Malone and Combs did in the track's music video.

Just one month after Surfaces released their latest album, good morning, the duo's Forrest Frank unveiled his own project, CHILD OF GOD — his debut full-length Christian album. Among several features on the LP, one of the standouts is with GRAMMY-winning artist Tori Kelly on the track "Miracle Worker."

Over a plucky electric guitar and lo-fi beats, Frank and Kelly trade verses before joining for the second chorus. Their impassioned vocals elevate the song's hopeful prayer, "Miracle Worker make me new."

Their collaboration arrives just before both artists hit the road for their respective tours. Frank kicks his U.S. trek off in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 31, and Kelly starts her world tour in Taipei, Taiwan on Aug. 17.

Since their debut in 2022 with "Tippy Toes," Japanese girl group XG has been making waves and showing no signs of slowing down. With their first mini album released in 2023 and now their latest single, "SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT," the group continues to rise with their distinctive visuals and infectious hits.

The track features a nostalgic rhythm reminiscent of early 90s R&B, showcasing the unique personalities of each member. As an uptempo dance track, it's designed to resonate with listeners from all across the globe.

"SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT" also serves as the lead single for XG's upcoming second mini album, set to release later this year.

For nearly 15 years, Mustard has been a go-to producer for some of rap's biggest names, from Gucci Mane to Travis Scott. On the heels of earning his first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper as a producer with Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," he's back with his own collaboration-filled project.

Faith of a Mustard Seed features a robust 14-song track list with contributions from Vince Staples, Lil Yachty, Charlie Wilson, and more. The LP marks Mustard's fourth studio album, and first since 2019's Perfect Ten.

In an interview with Billboard, Mustard shared that the album's title is an ode to late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who suggested the title during one of their final conversations before his untimely death in 2019. And once "Not Like Us" hit No. 1, Mustard knew it was time to release the long-in-the-making album.

The GRAMMY Awards and the Summer Olympics are unarguably the pinnacles of their respective fields. Indeed, most recording artists dream of making an acceptance speech for their magnum opus during the biggest night on the music industry calendar, while athletes competing in any of the Games’ 32 different disciplines are continually motivated by the lure of the podium.

But how often have the two intertwined since the first GRAMMY ceremony took place a year before Rome 1960?

Well, perhaps more than you think. Sure, the musical efforts from basketballers Shaquille O’Neal (gold at Atlanta 1996), Kobe Bryant (gold at Beijing 2008 and London 2012), and Damian Lillard (gold at Tokyo 2020) might not have registered with the Recording Academy. Likewise, those from track and field hero Carl Lewis (nine golds and one silver from four consecutive Games), light middleweight boxer Roy Jones Jr. (silver at Seoul 1988), and near-superhuman sprinter Usain Bolt (eight golds from Beijing, London, and Rio 2016).

But there are a handful of sportsmen (sadly, not yet sportswomen) who have competed for both gold medals and golden gramophones. There are also pop stars who have attempted to capture the blood, sweat, and tears of the quadrennial spectacle in musical form — whether as an official anthem, television theme, or simply a motivational tool — and been rewarded with GRAMMY recognition for their efforts.

With the Olympics’ return to Paris just around the corner (July 26-Aug.11), what better time to celebrate those occasions when the Games and the GRAMMYs align?

It seems fair to say that Gloria Estefan, the Cuban hitmaker who helped to bring Latin pop to the masses, and avant-garde eccentric Björk, wouldn't appear to have much in common. They have, however, both received GRAMMY nominations in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category for their respective Olympics themes.

Estefan was recognized at the 1997 ceremony for "Reach," the gospel-tinged power ballad that embodied the spirit of the previous year's Atlanta Games. Iceland's finest musical export picked up a nod for "Oceania," the swooping experimental number she co-produced with Warp label founder Mark Bell which helped to soundtrack the opening ceremony of Athens 2004. And both went home empty-handed, the former losing to Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" and the latter to Norah Jones' "Sunrise."

The incomparable Whitney Houston might not have added to her GRAMMY haul at the 1989 ceremony — Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" prevented her from converting her sole nod, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, into a win — but she still stole the show. Houston owned opened the 31st GRAMMY Awards with a performance of "One Moment in Time," the nominated track that had defined NBC's coverage of the Seoul Games.

Co-written by Albert Hammond, produced by Narada Michael Walden and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, the UK chart-topping single certainly had a first-class pedigree. But it was Houston's lung-busting vocals that made the torch song such a sports montage favorite. The iconic diva once again stirred the emotions on the music industry's biggest night of the year with a rendition that's since become a staple of her many hits collections.

Read more: Songbook: A Guide To Whitney Houston's Iconic Discography, From Her '80s Pop Reign To Soundtrack Smashes

Shakira fought off some interesting company to win 2001's Best Latin Pop Album GRAMMY. Alongside records from Luis Miguel and Alejandro Sanz, the category also included Christina Aguilera's first Spanish-language affair, and a bilingual effort from champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya.

The American became a national sensation overnight when he won the men's lightweight boxing gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. But despite new material from seasoned hitmaker Diane Warren and a cover of Bee Gees' classic "Run to Me," his 13-track self-titled debut didn't exactly set the charts alight. Despite the GRAMMY nod, De La Hoya hasn't entered the recording studio since.

But when it comes to GRAMMY-nominated boxers, then the man who famously floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee is undoubtedly the don. Shortly before he changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, the light heavyweight gold medalist of the 1960 Rome Games was recognized for his amusing repartee in the Best Comedy Performance category. Hailed by some as a progenitor of the rap artform, I Am the Greatest lost out to a man slightly different in stature: portly parodist Allan Sherman.   

And the sporting icon also had to experience another rare defeat 13 years later when his reading of The Adventures Of Ali And His Gang Vs. Mr. Tooth Decay lost out to Hermione Gingold & Karl Böhm's Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals in 1977’s Best Recording for Children.

Legendary composer John Williams is one of the most-nominated artists in GRAMMY history having amassed 76 nods since his work on detective series "Checkmate" was recognized in Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media in 1962. Two of his wins in this remarkable tally have been Games-related.

In 1985, Williams won Best Instrumental Composition for "Olympic Fanfare and Theme," which he wrote and arranged for the Los Angeles Games the year prior. In 1989, the conductor received a nod in the same category for "Olympic Spirit," another majestic instrumental produced for NBC’s coverage of Seoul '88.

Interestingly, Wiliams isn't a particularly avid sports fan, but as he told The New York Times, he can still relate to those going for gold. "The human spirit stretching to prove itself is also typical of what musicians attempt to achieve in a symphonic effort."

Magic Johnson’s Educational Guide Wins Best Spoken Word Album  

Basketball appears to produce more aspiring musicians than any sport. Marvin Bagley III, Lonzo Ball, and Brandon Clarke are just a few of the NBA names to have released albums in the last few years. But the only time a hooper has been recognized at the GRAMMYs is for an audiobook.   

The year before guiding Team USA to the men's basketball gold at Barcelona 1992, Magic Johnson had bravely revealed that he'd contracted HIV, defying the stigma that surrounded it at the time. The year after his Olympic triumph, the iconic shooting guard was honored for joining the fight against the disease. Johnson won the Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album GRAMMY for What You Can Do To Avoid AIDS, a compassionate guide designed to educate the youth of America whose proceeds went to the sportsman's eponymous foundation.   

Based on the real-life exploits of British runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell at the 1924 Paris Olympics, period drama Chariots of Fire won Best Picture at the 1982 Oscars. But it’s the titular number from Vangelis' anachronistic synth-based score that remains its crowning glory.

First played as the aspiring Olympians train beachside in the slow-motion opening flashback, the instrumental not only topped the Billboard Hot 100, it also picked up a GRAMMY nod for Record of the Year. "Chariots of Fire" has since become synonymous with the more modern iteration of the Games, appearing in the BBC's coverage of Seoul '88, gracing the start of the men's 100m final at Atlanta '96, and perhaps most famously of all, being performed at London 2012's opening ceremony by none other than Rowan Atkinson's rubber-faced buffoon Mr. Bean.

Read more: 10 Essential Vangelis Albums: Remembering The Electronic Music Pioneer

The title of his ninth studio album is an apt description of Steve Aoki himself.

The cake-throwing DJ/producer — best known commercially for his 2012 remix of Kid Cudi, MGMT, and Ratatat’s "Pursuit Of Happiness" — can very well be called a paragon of longevity in dance and electronic music. And like his stature as one of the world’s highest-paid DJs (Forbes regularly cites him on its annual list), this status is hard-won.

"[The dance music industry] is…not forgiving," he tells GRAMMY.com on a Zoom call from his home in Las Vegas. He appears in quintessential Aoki fashion: shirtless, his long, dark hair cascading down his shoulders. "Yes, I have a safety level where I can continue to play shows based on old tracks, but that doesn't last very long. You have to constantly stay ahead." 

 Akin to HiRO — the protagonist of the HiROQUEST graphic novel series that he created to pair with his last two studio albums, HiROQUEST: Genesis and HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix — Aoki is on a quest of his own. HiRO (a genetically augmented meta-human) is tasked with traveling into the multiverse 400 years into the future to save Earth from an unavoidable disaster. Aoki’s charge — continuous innovation of his craft to sustain his longevity in dance music’s ever-saturated and rapidly-moving market — is no less dire nor significant to the Dim Mak Records founder.  

"I've always had this starvation complex where I have to keep doing my s—, or else I'm going to die," he muses casually, phone in hand as he paces around his house, as he’s done since he joined our call. Judging by the deadpan manner in which he delivers this line and the laugh that caps it off, this is not a revelation for Aoki. As the Greek maxim goes, "know thyself." Assuredly, he does, and well enough to know he has to keep doing his thing, hence Paragon.

Read more: Steve Aoki Connects Music & The Card-Game Metaverse On 'Hiroquest': "It's About Telling The Story Of The Future Cryptid World"

The 18-track project, out June 28, harkens back to Aoki’s dance floor roots following 2023’s Latin-influenced HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix and 2022’s alternative- and punk-guided HiROQUEST. It teems with high-profile crossover collaborations, like "Heavenly Hell" (Ne-Yo), "Electrowavebaby 2.0" (Kid Cudi), and "Get Lower" (Lil Jon). Most importantly, though, it reflects "a newer sound of Steve Aoki" — a compelling and contemporary means of extending his "safety level" in the dance space.

Ahead of Paragon’s release via his own imprint and an international tour, Steve Aoki spoke with GRAMMY.com about the album’s relationality to his artistic identity and HiROQUEST and why, even after nine albums, he’s still "very excited and very hungry to get back in the studio and continue to write music that matters." 

 This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

Why was now the right time for you to go back to your true dance roots?  

An album is always about where I am at that moment. I look at each album in a way where I don't want to think too deeply about it. I want it to be more of a timestamp that, in 10 years’ time, reflects that moment in time for me.   

This time, a lot of the collaborations I was doing just fluidly became more of the same synergy. It’s a flow, and Paragon is also directly reflective of the kind of music I'm playing at my shows.  

Dance music is certainly on a rise, especially the newer sounds of dance music. Sonically, the climate's changing a lot, which challenges me as a producer who was more dominant in the 2010s. I was putting out a lot of music then, and those songs were more prolific in the electronic dance music community.  

Now, I'm challenged to stay ahead of my own production. The DNA of your sound stays with you, but you’ve got to always innovate, and this is by far the most innovative dance album I've ever done.

What, in your opinion, makes 'Paragon' so innovative?

When I go back into Paragon and I listen to each song, it's a newer sound of Steve Aoki; it's very dynamic and diverse. There’s house records, there's techno records, there's different beats-per-minute ranges — it's not just hard-hitting festival records.   

I think it's forward-thinking for me as a producer, and I'm already working on the "Part B." I distinctively made it shorter than my previous three albums, which were over 20 songs each. This is more of a traditional album length because I look at it as a two-part story musically. 

I have a bigger story that I've been attaching to my albums, like HiROQUEST and HiROQUEST 2. I wrote a book that joins those two albums into a full-length science fiction fantasy anime storyline with art and cards and collectability factor, all that fun stuff outside of music. 

Paragon is going to be an Easter egg or precursor to what's to come — the continuation of HiROQUEST. I just wanted to not use the name HiROQUEST because I wanted to do something different.

How does the album’s title fit into this larger narrative?

The Paragon Aura is a huge theme of Book 2 of HiROQUEST — it's what brings HiRO back from the "lost world" where he's been stuck. He essentially dies at the end of Book 1 and gets stuck in this lost world. This aura brings him back.

The HiROQUEST is a quest of 10 rings and HiRO is trying to obtain all 10, so he gets this power that’s going to be discussed in Book 2.  In order to forge the 10 rings to this omnipotent god ring, he has to use the Paragon Aura. The Paragon Aura is an extremely powerful tool and it's a big theme of the second book. 

You’re certainly a paragon of longevity in the dance space, which is rare. How have you maintained such an enduring and continuously expanding presence? 

The hunger needs to be there. It doesn't matter how successful you might be to the world. Yes, I have a safety level where I can continue to play shows based on old tracks, but that doesn't last very long. You have to constantly stay ahead. 

I think dance music is a bit different from rock or other genres where you can tour off your old catalog. Blink-182 never has to make another new song if they don't want to; they're going to sell out stadiums based on their catalog. Radiohead, Coldplay, they never have to make another new song — they're going to sell out.  

There's certain artists in the dance world that are veterans in the space. They’re household names. Like Tiësto or David Guetta…they don't have to release any more music, but they do. When they drop new music, it's still consistently part of culture, which is so exciting. I think that's exciting about the dance world; we still have a strong fingerprint. 

Do you count yourself among the veteran dance acts who don’t have to release more music if they don’t want to?  

There are definitely people who might think I'm in this category, but I don't personally think about myself like that. Not doing so keeps me fighting for it. I'm still very excited and very hungry to get back in the studio and continue to write music that matters.  

The baseline has to be that you're giving all of yourself to this. I still remember touring in a band with four sweaty dudes, showering once a week, and staying at people's houses. Not once in those 14 tours did we ever stay in a hotel. All the money went to gas and feeding ourselves.

We’d be broke by the end of the tour, and I’d be ready for the next one. I still remember the feeling of okay, we’re broke, we’re stinky, and we’re back in our town. Now we gotta write more music to get back on the road again, and I loved it. I did like 14 full tours by the time I was 21. It's a lot more luxurious these days but doing what you love has to be the foundation or else you can't survive the hard. 

I've been doing my record label, Dim Mak, for almost 30 years now. The people who have worked for Dim Mak…it's a lifestyle. Yes, they're working to get a paycheck, but they're working first and foremost because they believe in the culture. You have to be down with the culture first and the paycheck second. 

What can fellow DJ/producers take from the example you’ve set?

I think the most important thing is to never stop making music and leveling up your shows because those are the two most important things as an artist in any space. The live experience is really important. Your music is number one, though, because if your music's not good, no one's even going to go to your live show. You need to build your sound to a point where people know your music as you, and then you better show up and make your show really good. And not even just good — you’ve got to make it your own show.     

A Steve Aoki show is a unique show, and in some cases, it's outperforming my music. People will talk more about my cakes than my new album. I'll take it though, because I just want people to have a great experience. 

There are a lot of artists who find their sound, develop it, people latch onto them, and then they just fizzle out for whatever reason. When it fizzles out, that's when the real test comes and it’s to go back to it. If you really care about the long game, you’ve got to keep putting more cakes in the oven. 

Nine albums is a tall tally, especially for the dance genre, where the album is not the dominant format. Why is it important to you to continue making albums despite this dynamic?

I've always been an album guy because I was a band guy. When you're in a band, the most important thing is to make an album, not a song. You have to make a collection of music that defines you. 

When I was in bands, I listened to albums, and I’d listen to every single song. I know people don't do that anymore, but I still like to follow that, I can't help it. I collect vinyl; I do certain things in the old-school sense that you can't kick out of me.

Read more: 8 Times Dance Stars Channeled Their Inner Punk Kid, From Deadmau5 & Gerard Way To Rezz & Silverstein 

I know people aren't listening to the full album. I know they're listening to the song that's probably the main song of the whole album. And even if one one-hundredth of my fans listen to the full album, I don't actually care. I'm still going to make the album. It goes back to the most important thing: I'm doing it for myself first. 

I love telling a story. All the attention to detail and my intention to create this moment in time means so much to me. I know one one-hundredth of the people are going to be there for it, and I'm totally fine with that. I've grown a community of fans because I care so much about the detail; I go so deep into the story. I do it for them too. And the people who are in and out and come just for the quick hit, that's fine. They're absolutely welcome and invited to be part of it. 

That one one-hundredth appreciates the concept-driven approach to album-making, especially because this genre isn’t exactly known for that compared to other genres.

Yeah, and I think a lot of stuff that I'm doing, especially with HiROQUEST, has not been done before, like bringing in anime culture, card culture, comic books, and manga. No one's doing that in [dance music]. The Weeknd did a comic book and so did Kid Cudi. I'm following the same practice of combining these worlds.

And I went deep in HiROQUEST: Book 1. It's 50,000 words. I spent like 16 months writing this book; it’s 250 pages. That’s a big ordeal, but what's great is we’ve already sold out two printings. We're already in our third printing now, which is incredible for a story that had never been heard before.

I love my fans for that. It allows me to have the courage to keep going. To step out like this is a lot of work and a lot of time, and you don't want to fall on deaf eyes and ears. I'm already writing Book 2.  

Tove Lo & SG Lewis Crafted Sweaty New EP 'HEAT' In Celebration Of Their Queer Fans 

Every June, Pride Month offers a time for the LGBTQIA+ community to reflect and raise awareness — but also, to party it up. While there were plenty of Pride anthems to pack playlists prior to this year, the past 12 months have seen some flawless new additions from a mix of fresh talent and long-standing stalwart artists that the queer community happily embraces.

While there's no set template on how to create an undeniable Pride anthem, there are major hallmarks: high-energy tempo, candid lyrics, delicious camp, and an undeniable groove. Between pop bops and dance floor jams, no Pride party is complete without at least a couple of the songs listed below. Cheers to the cathartic power of music to usher in another season of acceptance and equality. 

You play it when you wake up. It's on the radio on the way to the club. It's playing at the club. Heck, it's even blasting at the gym the next day. 2024's newly crowned pop princess, Sabrina Carpenter, released an instant classic when she unfurled "Espresso" in April — more than enough time to learn the lyrics by Pride Month.

With an infectious melody targeting your ears like a jolt of morning caffeine, its steaming dose of memorable lines ("I'm working late/ 'cause I'm a singer") are the handiwork of Carpenter along with three veteran lyricists, including close collaborator Steph Jones, Amy Allen (Harry Styles, Selena Gomez) and Julian Bunetta, who is perhaps best known for his plethora of work with One Direction. "Espresso" marks further proof that if there's one thing Carpenter knows it's how to command an audience, whether through her captivating stage shows or viral, story-telling music videos that link together (including for recent single "Please, Please, Please").

Read More: Sabrina Carpenter Releases New Single "Please Please Please": Everything We Know About Her New Album 'Short N' Sweet'

Charli XCX — "360"

It's safe to say that Charli XCX is experiencing a new phase of her decade-long career as a critically acclaimed starlet. Her sixth studio album, BRAT, marks an evolution of her sound into a batch of adult tracks tailor-made for the club. As a result, it's spawned a number of viral memes among her legions of LGBTQIA+ fans, who have also boasted lime green avatars on social media in honor of what's being dubbed "brat summer."

It's no coincidence then that she'd release the project in the midst of Pride Month, led by the relentlessly pulsating single "360." With lyrics that have quickly already found itselves queer canon — "Drop down, yeah, Put the camera flash on" — the album boasts a hyperpoop energy and unapologetic individuality, making her recent spate of shows some of the hottest tickets in town.

Read More: Charli XCX's Road To 'Brat': How Her New Album Celebrates Unabashed Confidence & Eccentricity

Giddy up! One of the brightest out stars in the LGBTQIA+ musical universe, the ever-masked Orville Peck has made a name for himself as a queer outlier in the country music scene. So it stands to reason that he'd partner up with none other than Kylie Minogue — who had the defining song of Pride '23 in the form of "Padam Padam" — for their own anthem for 2024. The result is "Midnight Ride," a whistle-powered, Diplo-produced earworm that's perfect for a rainbow-tinted hoedown.

The team-up is part of Peck's forthcoming duets project, for which he recruited a cavalcade of singing partners for queer-themed country-tinged tracks in a unique two-volume album dubbed Stampede (which drops in full Aug. 2). The collaborators include Willie Nelson, who croons with Peck on the eye-raising ditty "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other."

Dua Lipa — "Houdini"

When Dua Lipa released Future Nostalgia in 2020, it became an instant classic in the pop world and LGBTQIA+ lexicon alike, cementing Lipa (and songs like "Don't Start Now" and "Physical") into the grand pantheon of queer playlist magic. The pressure was on, then, for her follow-up to live up to its commercial success and fandom.

Cue "Houdini," from this year's Radical Optimism, a cathartic dance floor anthem by one of the gay community's newer idols. Aside from setting the perfect tone for Pride Month with its delicious hook and refreshing confident lyrics "(Prove you got the right to please me"), in an interview with  SiriusXM Hits 1, Lipa said the production of the track set the tone for the new project: "I was like, "Okay, I feel like now I know exactly what this album's gonna be and what it's gonna sound like."

Read More: Dua Lipa's Road To 'Radical Optimism': How Finding The Joy In Every Moment Helped Her Become Pop's Dance Floor Queen

The Challengers soundtrack

Who knew that a soundtrack to a tense and sultry tennis drama would yield an album fit for the dance floor? The thumping array of tunes that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross churned out for Luca Guadagnino's Challengers has proved to be a hit beyond the film, with its synth-propelled soundtrack proving to be a unique and wild tracks, including the driving "I Know." 

Its embrace in the LGBTQIA+ community should come as no surprise considering the single note the director gave Ross before he started work. "The way he described 'Challengers' was in a one-sentence email," Ross told Variety earlier this year. "Do you want to be on my next film? It's going to be super sexxy.' Two x's."

Ariana Grande — "yes, and"

Ariana Grande is no stranger to gay-friendly anthems; in fact, she delivered one of 2020's most iconic Pride moments with her Lady Gaga duet, "Rain On Me." When her album eternal sunshine dropped earlier this year, it was no surprise that she'd offer a few more bops for a Pride playlist.

Among them is "yes, and," a Max Martin-produced hit that can get even your stiffest friend moving on the dance floor. Perhaps it's no coincidence, then, that the creative team took the sonic elements of ballroom culture — a uniquely queer LGBTQIA+ experience — and fused them with lyrics perfect for a personal Pride anthem. "Say that s— with your chest," she croons. We will, Ari!

Read More: Listen To GRAMMY.com's 2024 Pride Month Playlist Of Rising LGBTQIA+ Artists

If you've been on a dance floor in the recent past, odds are you've grooved to nostalgic beats courtesy the South Korean producer Peggy Gou. The breakout star is known for her unique brand of throwback dance jams, which carry a distinct '90s-era flavor that has led her to be embraced in queer spaces from Fire Island to West Hollywood. The most infectious, "(It Goes Like) Nanana").... samples the German artist ATB's 1998 track "9 PM (Till I Come)," no doubt a reaction to the recent revitalization of 90s-era culture popular in the LGBTQIA+ community, which provides a thumping link to queer culture past.

"For me,  the DJ is someone who teaches people the value of music and educates them," Gou told L'Official of her musical mission. "It is someone who transmits a beautiful memory and is somehow responsible for it."

Chappell Roan — "Casual"

While Roan has been a bubbling-under singer/songwriter for a handful of years, 2024 has proved to be decidedly her time to shine. Ever since the release of her debut album, 2023's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, her back catalog has logged impressive streaming numbers, and she's commanded massive crowds at the likes of Governor's Ball and Bonnaroo.

Part of her appeal comes from her unabashed candidness about her sexuality (Roan identifies as a lesbian) and resilience. Both are exemplified by her single "Casual," which is about a relationship that doesn't seem to get all that serious, for better or worse.

However, Roan told the Associated Press last year that normally she isn't so sexually candid.  "The songs kind of give me the opportunity to act like that, and say that, and dress like that," she explained. "It's mainly to piss off — it's all a rebellion. That's what it is. It is very empowering, I think, for a lot of people. ... It's just not as empowering to me as it is living out a fantasy."

Read More: Chappell Roan's Big Year: The 'Midwest Princess' Examines How She Became A Pop "Feminomenon"

By now, we've all heard Troye Sivan's infectious hit "Rush" or seen its viral music video — both of which earned the singer his first GRAMMY nominations this year. In the interim, his 2023 album, Something to Give Each Other, is filled with plenty of other tracks that speak intimately and eloquently about the queer experience.

Take, for example, the luscious "One Of Your Girls," a meditation on when a gay man has a transactional fling with an otherwise straight person. It subsequently has turned into yet another queer definitive anthem for the Australian star.

As a result, Sivan has turned into one of the musical heroes of the community: not only unabashedly talented, but an eloquent chronicler of the gay experience. Even better, as he told  NPR last year, his queer-focused projects are as cathartic for him as they may be for listeners. "There's a big element of pride in the fact that I am now so comfortably, openly gay."