Ray Volpe is cooking again.
For months, bass music fans lined around the block waiting for a taste of his aptly titled banger, “SONG REQUEST.” Well, opening day is here and Chef Volpe is ready to share his latest creation with the world.
“I think bass music is such a sound design-first genre compared to others,” Volpe tells EDM.com. “There’s a massive emphasis on sound design and creation but not as much on songwriting. I try to emphasize that by making these cooler, catchy ideas that feel easier to remember. I think that’s the recipe for me.”
Bass is Volpe’s specialty but he draws from post-hardcore, metalcore, rock and pop-punk influences. He has an appetite for catchy choruses and hooks. It’s something he leans into when producing a genre of music that’s often light on good singalongs.
“I just want to have the same feeling. I just want that catchiness,” Volpe explains. “So I try to make things that are short, sweet and to the point. I think it’s easy to get really convoluted and very overwhelming with ideas and try to get really complex.”
A viral video and spins from world-famous DJs like Steve Aoki elevated “SONG REQUEST” to one of 2024’s most anticipated electronic music releases. Even Busta Rhymes busted out a filthy bass face when hearing the song. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then his face on video is a priceless co-sign.
The overwhelming excitement for “SONG REQUEST” is drawing comparisons to Volpe’s career-making 2022 hit “Laserbeam,” a song that graduated from an overnight trend to a pantry staple. But he’s much more comfortable these days with the suspense.
A quiet confidence is filling in for where nerves used to take the reigns. Volpe welcomes the ambitious comparisons between his new song and his biggest hit as he works towards his second musical Michelin star.
“‘SONG REQUEST’ feels like the first real sequel,” Volpe says. “It feels like the first really big one. The main difference at the beginning when I made ‘Laserbeam’ is that I thought it was a really cool song. I didn’t know it would do as well as it did.”
“But when I thought of the idea and I put it down on paper for ‘SONG REQUEST,’ I think I knew. Not to say I was cocky, but I remember telling my team and my immediates around me that, ‘This is it. This is the song.’ I felt like there was something special going on here.”
An inclination that a song will perform well doesn’t guarantee it will resonate with the wider public. The same is true for any creative endeavor or business opportunity.
Volpe debuted “SONG REQUEST” while ringing in the new year with Crankdat at Countdown NYE’s “midnight moment” before sharing a clip on social media in February. The response, he said, was overwhelming.
“Social media changed my career. It hands-down did,” Volpe said. “I started off making music in 2010. I started getting on people’s radar in 2016. That’s when I started playing shows. I was doing alright. I had a cool thing going and then things went very stagnant very quickly. I had nothing to really excel.”
Volpe’s knack for social media marketing and love for catchy tunes is serendipitous. There’s a misconception that producing viral moments requires insincerity. Sure, there are best practices and replicable formulas, but there is infinite room for creativity. It’s more cooking than baking.
Take professional wrestling, for example, something of which Volpe is a major fan. There’s a common belief that the most successful characters are extensions of the performers dialed to 11. Volpe encourages other musicians to accept that social media and music have intertwined, shed their stubbornness and figure out how to extenuate their real personalities.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been cringe in my social media approach,” Volpe said. “I think a lot of people look at doing social media with their music career as cringe. The thing is you don’t need to jump around with a funny face in front of the camera to do it. I’ve never done that. I’m not knocking people who have done that, it’s an approach. But a lot of people hate on that. I see a lot of my peers in EDM and very much specifically in bass.”
“You don’t have to. Think of another idea. They just don’t want to think of another idea. They just don’t want to think of another idea because a lot of people—this is kind of a rant—want to do this with a hobby amount of effort and get a full-time career result. It’s not gonna work.”
Watch the full interview below and find “SONG REQUEST” on streaming platforms here.
Follow Ray Volpe:
Facebook: facebook.com/rayvolpemusic
X: x.com/rayvolpe
Instagram: instagram.com/rayvolpe
Spotify: spoti.fi/3dqG1WH