Sort of “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” Just as often as hardstyle is angry, it’s also motivational. And yet, the genre has a positive and uplifting side. At various points in hardstyle’s history, the tempo has varied, but it’s always been high as far as EDM is concerned, spanning from 135 up to 160. It’s aggressive and it’s not slow, the beat drives. In terms of aesthetics, hardstyle is dark and intense. Listen to more tracks by Headhunterz, Wildtylez, and Blademasterz/Brennan Heart and consider that your “required reading.” And maybe add a couple “Z”s to your name.

I always recommend listening to lots of music when trying to nail an aesthetic down. So what makes classic hardstyle? It’s a mix of specific musical elements, and overarching attitude and aesthetics. Regardless, we can all agree that this is hardstyle, pure and simple. I’m sure it’s easy to find two hardstyle tracks that sound nothing alike. For example, since Hardstyle was invented in the late 90s, it has evolved and changed. So when talking about how to write in a particular genre, I think it’s necessary to paint with a very broad brush and be vague. Maybe there are as many genres as there are EDM tracks. As soon as a track invents a new genre, somebody gets on the horn to complain that the second track in that genre is not truly of that genre. Is there a world of music with more debate over genre labels than EDM? I’d estimate there are ten thousand EDM genres at this point.

Izotope trash 2 hardstyle kick