It’s January 2025, and these are my guesses about where EDM and house go this year. They’re opinions from someone who makes this music, and I have no data to back them. A couple of weeks ago I posted a short New Year’s note about my own plans. This one is about the scene.
AI moves deeper into production
I expect AI and machine learning tools to show up in more of the production process this year. The idea that interests me most is music that responds to the listener: a playlist that adjusts to your mood, or a festival track that shifts its tone and tempo with the energy of the crowd. I think 2025 is when that stops sounding like science fiction, even if the first versions are rough.
More global rhythms and more genre blending
Progressive house, melodic house and trance will keep changing as production techniques change and people collaborate across scenes. I expect to hear more Middle Eastern, Indian and Latin influences, in house especially.
I also expect the walls between genres to keep coming down: house beats with trap snares, techno basslines under pop vocals. Some of it will be a mess. Some of it will be the most interesting music of the year.
Smaller rooms come back
Big festivals aren’t going anywhere, but I think there’s a growing appetite for the opposite. House came out of Chicago clubs in the early 1980s, and I expect to see more small venues this year where DJs can try deeper, less polished material. New styles tend to start in rooms like that.
Bigger visuals and greener festivals
On the large-scale side, I expect more augmented and virtual reality in live visuals, and probably hologram performers sharing a stage with real ones. I also expect more ways for a crowd to interact with a set from their phones.
At the same time, I think sustainability becomes a baseline expectation: renewable power, reusable cups, less waste. I’d like to see festivals judged on that as much as on the lineup.
Vocals and community
I think vocals get a bigger role in 2025, especially soulful or nostalgic hooks over modern production. Older sounds with newer beats underneath.
And I think fans will care less about follower counts and more about real contact with the artists they like, through live streams, behind-the-scenes posts and in-person meetups. Dance music has always run on community. I wrote last year about what that feels like on a dance floor.
That’s the list. I’ll be working on new music through all of it, and what I’ve released so far is here.