Watch Deadmau5’s Reaction to Hardwell’s New Track “Sally”

Hardwell has certainly taken a new direction with his new rock infused track ‘Sally’. Perhaps he is following in the steps of Avicii, trying to fuse dance music with a more mainstream vibe. Some dance fans are even saying the track sounds a lot like the throwback hit ‘Scotty Doesn’t Know’.

For context, ‘Sally’ dropped as the fifth single off Hardwell’s debut album ‘United We Are,’ and it’s about as far from his big room roots as he’s ever gone, leaning hard into rock guitars and a pop-punk sing-along hook instead of the festival-ready drops that made him one of the biggest names in dance music. At the time this track came out, Hardwell had just wrapped back-to-back years at the top of the DJ Mag Top 100, so anything he put out was going to get picked apart by the internet. ‘Sally’ picked up chart placements across a handful of European countries, but the internet reaction was split down the middle between fans who liked the risk and dance purists who thought he’d sold out the sound that got him there.

One thing’s for sure though, Deadmau5 was quick to comment on the controversial track.

if youre "gunna do something different" just name the rest of your tracks sally from here on out, coz fuck them too.

— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) January 20, 2015

on the bright side… at least it wasnt nickleback. i guess.

— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) January 20, 2015

…or creed.

— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) January 20, 2015

We all knew Joel wouldn’t miss a chance to knock the mainstream EDM industry. Deadmau5 has never been shy about calling out what he sees as lazy, formulaic dance music, and going after a track called ‘Sally’ by the guy who was basically the face of the mainstream festival circuit at the time was right in his wheelhouse. It’s the same energy that’s made him one of the most quoted (and re-tweeted) guys in the genre for years, even when it ruffles feathers.

A video of his “reaction” as he listens to ‘Sally’ for the first time has been circulating the internet. Although it appears the video was edited by a fan and isn’t 100% real, we’re sure Deadmau5 would have had a similar, if not same, reaction. Hardwell, for his part, didn’t let the internet pile-on rattle him too much, later brushing off the criticism in interviews and standing by the experiment as a deliberate creative choice rather than a mistake. Watch below.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=785334958169217