The Dare Wants You to Have a Good Time

Sex, drugs, and...suicidal ideation? Huh.

Is The Dare spearheading an electroclash revival or is he just loud? Harrison Patrick Smith, formerly of Turtlenecked, now goes by The Dare: a one-man show whose songs lean heavy on sex, drugs, and the usual ironic posturing. If you’ve heard his breakout hit “Girls,” you get the picture. The Dare’s lo-fi synths, throbbing bass beats, and blunt, raunchy lyrics circle through anxiety, sexuality, and hedonism. To be as blunt? This is nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s been 23 years since we learned The Teaches of Peaches. Do we really need The Dare asking us to “make a baby in the Mercedes”? It’s hard not to laugh. Another Merrill Nisker he is decidedly not. Still, there is something undeniably seductive about his vapid, boisterous reinterpretations of 2000s electroclash. Dystopia! But make this funeral a bacchanal! In an era where you’re more likely to see a DJ at the coffee shop than the club, output by The Dare, Charli xcx, and Snow Strippers feels strangely fresh. Could it be that we are yearning to turn our brains off? That we are pining for…fun? Desperately seeking dopamine, I decided it was time to see if the guy behind the raucously feral earworm “Girls” lived up to the hype.