@Pat Mission

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

In 2007, 23-year-old Calvin Harris released <i>I Created Disco</i>, a cheeky shot across dance music’s bow that presented him as Scotland’s brow-arched answer to LCD Soundsystem. Fast forward a few years, and Harris (born Adam Richard Wiles in 1984) had developed some of the best studio chops in the business with deep-house rollers like 2013’s “Thinking About You”, and helped spark EDM’s pop crossover with hits for Rihanna, Florence Welch and others. Along the way, he became one of the 2010s’ first DJ/producer/songwriter polymaths to earn top billing even on the songs in which he didn’t sing. On 2017’s <i>Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1</i>, he lays down a set of slinky R&B jams such as “Slide”, with Frank Ocean and Migos, and “Feels” with Katy Perry and Pharrell, while 2018’s “Promises”, with Sam Smith, and “One Kiss”, with Dua Lipa, proved just how versatile his vision of pop can be. And for anyone needing more proof, look no further than Harris’ 2023 and 2024 Ellie Goulding collabs—“Miracle” and “Free”—which revel in ’90s trance and breakbeat hardcore vibes.

Melodies that gleam like festival lights, floor-shaking drops, sublime vocal hooks—Avicii was a master of hands-in-the-air EDM anthems. His music cuts between arena-scale house epics, hypnotic trance bangers and crossover dance-pop smashes with the crowd-pumping skill of a killer DJ. Despite his undeniable club credentials, there's way more to the Swedish DJ-producer's sound than thumping beats and rumbling basslines. Blending sparkling synth riffs with pulsing rhythms, Avicii classics like “Levels” deliver an instant, ecstatic hit of pure pleasure, and helped set off the EDM explosion of the early '10s. But his genre-smashing tracks like “Wake Me Up”, which mashed up EDM with bluegrass and soul, go beyond mere body-moving thrills—they're bold experiments that helped introduce genuine songwriting and a spectrum of new sounds to dance music.

Pitbull (born Armando Christian Pérez) rose from the Miami bass scene to bring his dance-floor grind worldwide. His ferocious, tropical-tinged EDM paired with his slick ladies-man lyrics made him both one of the biggest Latino stars in the country and a serial chart-topper. He navigates the pop, rap and dance scenes like a pro, often joining forces with superstars like Pharrell Williams, Christina Aguilera and Rick Ross to create boundary-busting music. But Mr. Worldwide's finest talent may be making you feel the moment, whatever your mood.

Taio Cruz's honey-sweet voice and ear for crafting danceable yet winsome R&B helped him become a sensation almost immediately after he released his self-produced debut in 2008. His peppy sing-along “Dynamite” charmed global audiences a few years later. Cruz seamlessly updates the pop-funk that ruled ‘80s radio by adding booming beats to taut, buoyant tracks, leading to collaborations with superstar DJs and chart royalty.

Jason Derulo's ascent to pop's upper echelons has been at least partially fuelled by his combination of boyish charm and grown-up sexiness. Whether he's offering up Auto-Tuned apologies on the agitated “Whatcha Say” or getting playfully seductive on the jubilant “Want to Want Me”, Derulo's approach to writing and performing pop-R&B is simple yet effective: He combines big hooks, plainspoken lyrics and his soaring falsetto—not to mention the occasional shout-out to himself—in enticing tracks that work as well in the bedroom as they do on the dance floor.