Madeon on dubstep breakdowns in pop and the best BPM

We've been fans of Madeon since his 39-song Pop Culture mash-up went viral in 2011. Since then, the 18-year-old French producer's star has been very much on the rise, and he recently shared some of his thoughts on the current 'scene' in a wide-ranging interview with Popjustice.

On dubstep breakdowns in pop songs, Madeon says: "They [pop producers] don't get what's exciting about dubstep, they don't get that it's not the tempo that's exciting, it's the sound design.

"It's not about just having womp-womp-womps at 70bpm. They can't do it because it requires extreme skill. Instead it just sounds like random noises at a slow tempo. Most pop songs with dubstep breakdowns just aren't getting it."

As for the all-important question of the 'best' BPM, Madeon is a 126 man. "It's my favourite," he says. "125 is quite good too. But basically when I want to write a song, if it's more of a pop song it's 125, and if it's more electro it's 126.

"The City is a pop song so it's 125. Icarus was more electro so it's 126. I've been experimenting with more tempos recently though. The minimix was 115! But it ended at 128. At 130 there's no groove, there's no funkiness at 130. And at 120 it's not dance enough for me."

Check out Popjustice for the full interview. Madeon's The City EP is on sale from your favourite digital music outlet now.

Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.