Looking at Dux Content’s single “Like You” a year ago, the expectation might be that, in a year’s time, A. G. Cook’s and Danny L Harle’s project might either become hopelessly clubbier or sound exactly the same as mainstream pop. Instead, “Snow Globe” is a PC Music version of “Let It Go” from Frozen. Tender musical theater narrative combines with soft synths that build to an emotional and musical catharsis. But while the track really could be considered musical theater, it still follows patterns from both the pop world and the club. By using the aesthetic of a theatrical or pop voice, Dux Content (and the uncredited singer) are calling out the performative (“fake”) nature that’s often overlooked or attempted to be critiqued in pop and dance music, especially in songs where the lyrics are all about perceived honesty and vulnerability (commonly the case right now in both genres). Katy Perry is easy to call out as “fake,” but “Snow Globe” seems to be critiquing artists more akin to early Taylor Swift: the lyrics are so mundane that it eventually becomes a poetic statement unto itself.
Again, this song inadvertently brings up a debate about female appropriation: by not crediting the singer, it critiques the way females are treated in the pop and, ironically, musical theater industries, showing how fine the line is between reenactment and satire.
• Dux Content: https://soundcloud.com/duxcontent
• PC Music: https://soundcloud.com/pcmus
More about: A. G. Cook, Danny L Harle, Dux Content
