{"id":355141,"date":"2026-03-19T23:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/355141\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T23:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:05:13","slug":"chris-lake-talks-about-remixing-taylor-swifts-opalite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/355141\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Lake Talks About Remixing Taylor Swift’s “Opalite”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cTravis! How\u2019s it going? Just heard you and Taylor were listening to my tracks. Great to hear,\u201d Chris Lake<\/a> wrote to Travis Kelce in a mid-January Instagram DM<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m going to take a crack at remixing this track for her. No idea how I\u2019ll get on, but I\u2019ll do my best!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe NFL superstar and famous fianc\u00e9 responded a few hours later: \u201cChris! You\u2019re a legend, bro love everything you\u2019ve come out with, and Chemistry is one of my favorite albums I listen to right now,\u201d Kelce wrote, referring to Lake\u2019s 2025 debut LP. \u201cCan\u2019t wait to see how you put it together man.\u201d A true fan, Kelce added that he\u2019d loved Lake and Fisher\u2019s set at Coachella 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\tLake replied that he was \u201cOn it\u201d then two days later sent an update: \u201cF\u2013k I\u2019ve got something really cool with this. I\u2019ll send soon.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDawg I\u2019m f\u2013king pumped!!!! LFG!!!! Can\u2019t wait to hear what you cooked up,\u201d Kelce replied.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis conversation revolved around Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2018s \u201cOpalite,\u201d the ebullient second single from her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl. Released on January 12, \u201cOpalite\u201d is currently in its 23rd week on the Hot 100, where it spent a week in the top spot. Lake\u2019s mission was to reimagine it for his natural habitat, the dancefloor.<\/p>\n

\n\tWorking from a London studio for two days in January, Lake reworked the bright pop confection into the club-ready version released on Feb. 19. This remix came out as part of a drop that also included \u201cOpalite\u201d edits by Skream, Bunt. and Ely Oaks. Lake\u2019s remix now has 3.4 million global on demand streams, according to Luminate.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI do think that sometimes the downside of remixing some of the most popular artists is that there\u2019s a belief you\u2019re doing things for money,\u201d says Lake. \u201cI can\u2019t press enough that I couldn\u2019t give a f\u2013k about that. If I hadn\u2019t made something that I felt worked well, I wouldn\u2019t have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo make something he, and then subsequently the world, would love, Lake first had to figure out how to pair, he says, the \u201cvibe and the sentiment of the song with the beats from my world, and make [the remix] make sense as something that would fit amongst other songs from my world without it standing out like a sore thumb.\u201d To do so, he started with a bouncy, thumping beat, over which he laid the vocals, then creating a feel of anticipatory joy with Swift\u2019s pre-chorus and loads of building percussion, before the drop breaks the song open into a slick amalgamation of guitar, chimes and vocal samples all played at a galloping pace.<\/p>\n

\n\tA major element of this process was making \u201cOpalite\u201ds major chords work with the minor chords that characterize Lake\u2019s oeuvre. \u201cPretty much 99.9% of all the music I\u2019ve ever played or made in my life is with minor chords,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo meld these styles, Lake first found a chord progression that could play for the duration of the song that melded with the vocals. \u201cTo work with a vocal that wasn\u2019t written to be used that way was really challenging,\u201d Lake says. \u201cThat\u2019s the bit I\u2019m actually the most happy with\u2026 If you listen to the original and to the feel of how her chorus comes in, it\u2019s very happy and uplifting, whereas in the remix, I don\u2019t know what emotion you\u2019d call it, but maybe it\u2019s sort of hauntingly emotive. It makes you feel a completely different way. Then the way it launches into the drop, I haven\u2019t done that on a remix before. I\u2019m really proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis final result was a product of fine tuning. After two days in the studio, Lake FaceTimed a friend to get his take on it. \u201cHe was like, \u2018It\u2019s overcomplicated. You kind of overcooked this,’\u201d recalls Lake. \u201cI was like, \u2018S\u2013t. This is really inconvenient, but he\u2019s absolutely right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs such, he spent another hour remixing his own remix, at which point he had the finished product. Passing it over to Kelce\u2019s side, Lake was soon informed that they were \u201cover the moon\u201d about what he\u2019d made. So too have been the fans who\u2019ve heard Lake play it in recent sets, with the producer sharing that the edit has been sounding \u201creally great and really warm\u201d in his live shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tLake is of course a longtime star of the dance<\/a> world who\u2019s still riding the wave of his celebrated Chemistry release and who has major headlining and festival shows booked through this fall. But in remixing \u201cOpalite,\u201d he now knows the kind of attention that comes with a Swift-level collaboration.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s quite mind blowing, to be honest,\u201d he says. \u201cThe thing that\u2019s been really funny are some of the messages I\u2019ve gotten from people who I haven\u2019t spoken to for a very long time who thought this was genuinely the coolest thing on the planet. There are daughters of people who\u2019ve worked for my father who found out I\u2019d done it and just thought it was the craziest thing. Like, they knew someone that was kind of doing something close to Taylor Swift. Her gravity is powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project has also opened up a conversation between Lake and Kelce: \u201cI have only spoken to him on Instagram and text, but that guy\u2019s energy is infectious,\u201d says Lake. \u201cSpeaking to him has been really uplifting and energizing, so shout out to him for helping make it all happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a turn of events as sweet as \u201cOpalite\u201d itself, making the remix has also helped people in Lake\u2019s life who are less familiar with the dance scene better understand his world and his work.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s given me the ability to have a conversation with people that very often don\u2019t understand what I do or the world I live in,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s something where I\u2019m able to say, \u2018I\u2019ve done this\u2019 and it\u2019s understandable, because everyone knows about Taylor Swift. My 90-year old grandfather knows who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n