I don’t ever really expect anything life changing from Hardwell. It’s not that I doubt the guy’s work ethic as a DJ/producer, but he’s married to a style of big room house that has become so ubiquitous in the festival circuit that it all blends together as one big blur of xylophone-y synths and massive kicks.
In that regard, “Chameleon” is a perfect name for his new collaboration with Wiwek, as it sounds close enough to everything else played on festival main stages and fails to stand out. Big synths flare up and capture the listener’s attention before giving way to painfully typical hard kicks. While some interesting samples are used in the latter sequence, they add little to the track as a whole.
Seeing as how Hardwell recently played a hip-hop/moombahton set at EDC, you’d think he’d be more inclined to show off some of his supposed versatility. Perhaps it was more a stunt to build street cred than anything, but I was hoping for a change in direction from the two-year-running DJ Mag #1.
Listen to Hardwell and Wiwek’s “Chameleon” above and let us know what you think in the comments.