Tropical house, also known as trop house, is a subgenre of house music, and a derivation of

tropical music Tropical music ( es, música tropical) is a term in the Latin music, Latin music industry that refers to music genres deriving from or influenced by the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean. It includes the islands of Music of Cuba, Cuba, Music ...

, with elements of

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

and

Balearic house Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, Balearic, Ibiza house or Ibizan chillout, is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance music that wa ...

. Artists of the genre are often featured at various summer festivals such as

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

. The genre was popularized by artists including

Thomas Jack Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Kygo Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 201 ...

Matoma Tom Stræte Lagergren (born 29 May 1991), professionally known as Matoma, is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. Early life Lagergren was born in Åsnes, Norway. He started playing the piano as a child. During that period, he won a contest t ...

Lost Frequencies Felix De Laet (born 30 November 1993), known by his stage name Lost Frequencies, is a Belgian DJ and record producer. He is best known for his singles "Are You with Me" in 2014, "Reality" in 2015, and " Where Are You Now" with Calum Scott in ...

Seeb Al-Seeb, As Seeb or As Sib ( ar, السيب) is a coastal fishing city, located several kilometres northwest of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 470,878. Landmarks include the Naseem Garden, the Royal ...

and

Gryffin Dan Griffith (born September 29, 1987), known by his stage name Gryffin (often stylized in all caps), is an American musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer. He gained recognition for remixing some well-known songs such as Tove Lo's " Ta ...

. The term "Tropical House" began as a joke by Australian producer Thomas Jack, but has since gone on to gain popularity among listeners. The term "trouse" should not be confused with tropical house, as "trouse" is a genre that instead combines the feeling of

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

and the beats of

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...

, using electro synths.

History

In the mid and late 2000s,

Bob Sinclar Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began DJ ...

and

Yves Larock Yves Cheminade (; born 18 July 1977 in Neuchâtel), better known by the stage name Yves Larock (), is a Swiss DJ and record producer. He is a member of Africanism All Stars. Biography His single " Rise Up", featuring vocals by Jaba, was a popul ...

created international hits which had many characteristics of tropical house, drawing inspiration from 1980's

Hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

music and in contrast with other sub-types of Electronic ("

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

") music of the time. The style was further popularized by

Stereo Love "Stereo Love" is a song recorded by Romanian DJ Edward Maya with Moldovan-Romanian musician Vika Jigulina, released as their debut single in 2009 from Maya's album, ''The Stereo Love Show''. The refrain is from " Bayatılar", composed by Azerba ...

, an international hit by

Edward Maya Eduard Marian Ilie (; born 29 June 1986), better known by his stage name Edward Maya, is a Romanian DJ, musician, composer, record producer, performer, singer and songwriter, most famous for his 2009 smash hit single "Stereo Love". Career In and ...

, a music producer from the Romanian house scene. In 2012,

Unicorn Kid Oliver Sabin (born 5 November 1991), formerly known as Unicorn Kid, is a Scottish electronic music/chip music composer and musician from Edinburgh, educated at Leith Academy. When asked about the name of the act, Sabin stated, "There’s no re ...

had created tropical rave, a faster form of the genre which would become known as tropical house. However, it was not until 2013 with

Klangkarussell Klangkarussell (German: Sound Carousel) is an Austrian electronic music duo formed in 2011. The two members of the group are Tobias Rieser and Adrian Held. Their biggest hit to date is "Sonnentanz", which reached the top 10 in six countries (Aust ...

's "Sun Don't Shine" and the emergence of producers such as

and

Robin Schulz Robin Alexander Schulz (; born 28 April 1987) is a German musician, DJ and record producer. On 4 February 2014, he released the first single from his debut album, a remix of "Waves" by Dutch hip hop artist Mr. Probz. This remix later received ...

that tropical house became a dance music trend. During 2014 and 2015, producers such as

Felix Jaehn Felix Kurt Jähn (born 28 August 1994), known professionally as Felix Jaehn (), is a German DJ and music producer specializing in tropical house. He achieved international success with his remix of Omi's song "Cheerleader", which topped the char ...

, Alex Adair,

Sam Feldt Sammy Boeddha Renders (born 1 August 1993), better known by his stage name Sam Feldt, is a Dutch DJ, record producer and entrepreneur. Career Musical career In 2015, he released a remake of Robin S.' " Show Me Love". The track was released b ...

Bakermat Lodewijk Fluttert (born 8 October 1991), best known by his stage name Bakermat, is a Dutch people, Dutch Disc jockey, DJ and music production, music producer from Markelo, Overijssel. His music is characterized by a mix of Electronic music, elec ...

Klingande Cédric Steinmyller (born 14 May 1990), better known by his stage name Klingande (, literally: ''chiming''), is a French DJ and tropical house producer with a prominent use of the piano and the saxophone. Klingande was originally a duo, until 20 ...

Jonas Blue Guy James Robin (born 2 August 1989), known professionally as Jonas Blue, is an English DJ, record producer, songwriter, and remixer based in London. He is known for recruiting young artists for his dance-pop and tropical house productions, wh ...

and Faul & Wad Ad would join them with big tropical house hits. During the mid-2010s, certain tropical house producers would team up with artists such as

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

and

Little Mix Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...

. This helped the genre achieve massive commercial success and gave rise to the playlist term of 'tropical pop'.

Characteristics

Tropical house is a derivation of

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

, and a subgenre of

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

. Thus, it possesses typical house music characteristics, including

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

instrumentation, and a 4/4

kick drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

pattern. Tropical house differentiates itself from deep house, which can often have a very dark sound, whereas tropical house can be described as having a more uplifting and relaxing sound. The

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of tropical house songs is a little slower than deep house (100-115 bpm). Tropical house does not use the pumping compression effect of "big room"

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aoki ...

. It usually includes tropical instruments such as

steel drums The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

or even

pan flute A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

, and can sometimes use

dembow Dembow is a Dominican musical genre that can be traced to a riddim that originated in Jamaican dancehall. When Shabba Ranks released "Dem Bow" in 1990, it did not take long for the dembow genre to form. Riddims were built from the song and th ...

rhythm patterns often attributed to genres such as

and

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...

References

{{Reggae House music genres 2010s in music 21st-century music genres Australian inventions Reggae fusion

History

Characteristics

See also

References