The Chainsmokers should be on top of the world.
In the past year, the Manhattan-based duo of Alex Pall and Andrew Taggart have strung together five Top 10 singles, including "Closer" with Halsey, which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 and recently became only the second song to top 1 billion streams on Spotify. (Drake's "One Dance" was the first.) The group's debut album, "Memories ... Do Not Open" (Columbia), entered Billboard's album charts at No. 1 in April. And they are on a North American tour of mostly arenas and amphitheaters.
So what's the problem? Well, they've stoked the anger of a growing segment of the population, just as they are being discovered by the mainstream. "Get Used to Hating The Chainsmokers" reads the headline of the A.V. Club review. "The Chainsmokers Are the Nickelback of EDM," says Esquire. Even USA Today wonders, "Is this the worst album of 2017?"
"Whether by laziness, stupidity, or through market research, the duo has managed to create beer pong tournament background music that offers nothing but repackaged EDM tropes for Spotify plays," writes Matt Miller in Esquire. "And that's totally fine if all you care about is making Billboard lists ... . The problem is, like Nickelback, The Chainsmokers sell their lowest-common-denominator sound using shameless sexism."
The Chainsmokers responded by tweeting a video where they mash up their single "Paris" with Nickelback's "How You Remind Me."
However, they haven't always handled themselves so well. They've dissed Lady Gaga, bragged about the collective size of their manhood and said their dodgy performance on the MTV Video Music Awards was due to a bad sound mix. "I was set up to fail," Taggart told Billboard. "Now I know why you lip sync."
It's not clear how they explain their equally lackluster performance on "Saturday Night Live," but they have noticed the growing rage against their skyrocketing careers. "I promise you," Taggart recently told NME, "we're not ."
Pall told NME that they are reconsidering some of the things they say. "It's not about apologizing and backpedaling," he said. "It's about ... just keeping it real, and understanding that not everyone's on your team. Move forward. Make responsible decisions. Think about what it might look like to a kid who's 10 years old, seeing what we do _ how that might impact on the way they listen to our music and enjoy our antics."
