This Week in Dance Music: Empire of the Sun, Chase & Status, and More Excitement!

Chase & Status are back with a powerful new track, “Backbone,” featuring U.K. grime star Stormzy. This release follows the success of their 2023 collaboration “Baddadan” and delivers a hard-hitting diss track aimed at subpar MCs, with Stormzy’s sharp lyrics perfectly matched by the duo’s booming production. This track follows Stormzy’s surprise appearance during Chase & Status’s Coachella set, adding further hype to its debut.

In other notable releases, Loud Luxury and Bobby Shmurda have teamed up for “Cool Like That,” a tech house-meets-big room track that blends Shmurda’s rapidfire flow with euphoric dance beats. Shmurda, inspired by his time serving and newfound appreciation for dance music, collaborated with the Canadian producers for this energetic single. Jayda G’s new house track “Feeling Alive” captures the essence of joy and celebration, coming off a successful summer of performances. Kelly Lee Owens offers a warm IDM experience with “Sunshine,” while Laidback Luke and his son Marlonbeats deliver a heartfelt house track, “One On One,” marking Luke’s return to Dim Mak after seven years. Lastly, Christoph and Sandy Rivera’s “Changes” from Defected Records’ Together project blends fresh and veteran sounds in a hypnotic dancefloor transition track.