When a producer gets a call from a 13-year-old niece calling their work the coolest thing they’ve ever seen, or a 90-year-old grandfather asks, “What’s a Grammy?”, you know you’ve touched something global. This is the reality for Chris Lake, whose remix of Taylor Swift’s track Opalite has generated reactions ranging from teenage awe to generational confusion. Lake is one of four dance artists tasked with reimagining the song from Swift’s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl (2025), joining Ely Oaks, BUNT., and Skream. Remixing a massive pop hit into a club-ready format is a standard challenge, but the pressure spikes when the source material belongs to an artist who bridges the gap between Gen Z and the grandparent generation.
What it means for makers and artists
For the electronic music community, this project represents a unique collision of worlds. As Lake noted, accepting the brief instantly commands attention because Swift resonates on a frequency unlike anyone else on the planet. However, the task was not without hesitation. Lake admitted that while Swift writes beautiful, emotional pop, she is arguably not the ideal candidate for a club remix, yet the opportunity proved to be a fantastic, albeit uncomfortable, experience. The goal was to honour the original while injecting the energy required for a dance floor.
Chris Lake’s approach
When asked about his favourite remix of all time, Lake pointed to Armand Van Helden’s take on Tory Amos’s Professional Widow. He cited Armand’s signature sound as a benchmark of quality, noting that decades later, producers still try to emulate that specific style. Regarding the Swift project, Lake explained that the main difficulty lay in the song’s structure. The verses utilise unconventional chords that flip into a standard major progression in the chorus. Lake’s solution was to create a progression that worked through the verse into the chorus while maintaining a distinct feel that complemented the vocals.
Technically, Lake’s workflow involved a rigorous process of printing to audio. He would break down a complicated project into six stems, move to a new session, and repeat the cycle until he landed on the final version. The entire process of sourcing the specific sounds for the final beat took approximately two hours, though the overall assembly spanned three days. A key element of his sound design was the heavy use of Overdrive in Ableton Live. Lake considers this plugin one of the most underrated tools available, as it adds vibrancy and a sense of imperfection that makes the track feel more musical.
For the shimmering melodic drops, Lake drew inspiration from a subtle guitar run in the original recording. He layered this sound with reverb and delay, then applied overdrive to the tail of those effects. This technique, which he described as making the sound “disgusting” in a good way, created the gorgeous textures found in the instrumental sections.
Ely Oaks’ strategy
Ely Oaks defined a successful remix as one that shines a new light on the original without altering its core intention or vibe. The aim is to open the track up to a potential new audience. He noted that remixing a pop artist offers more room for exploration than working with other dance artists, but finding the right spot is more difficult. A specific technical hurdle was Swift’s softer vocal range compared to the vocals Oaks usually works with, requiring a delicate touch in the arrangement.
Oaks relied heavily on Serum 2 for his synth work, supplementing it with Ableton’s stock effects. He frequently utilised the RC-20 Retro Color, Comeback Kid, and Valhalla Reverb to create immediate space and texture. He particularly praised the Comeback Kid plugin for its built-in ducker feature, which keeps the mix from cluttering without the need for complex sidechaining or send/return routing. Oaks described the experience as a lucky shot; after several attempts that sounded terrible, he finally landed on a version that successfully pushed the track into full-on rave territory—a realm Swift has rarely explored.
Key takeaways
- When remixing massive pop hits, the primary challenge is balancing the original song’s emotional intent with the energy required for a dance floor, often requiring a delicate touch with the vocals.
- Workflow efficiency is crucial; printing to audio and breaking projects down into stems can streamline the sound design process and allow for more creative experimentation.
- Specific plugins like Overdrive and the combination of RC-20 with Valhalla Reverb can add the necessary vibrancy and space to make a pop track feel organic and musical.
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