Lee Safar Sells Single With Peanut Butter, Hits Back At EDM Snobbery

AAustralian singer/songwriter Lee Safar released her new single “Fallen” on December 10 through the purchase of Peanut Butter by Pic. Over a week since the release, the peanut butter jars have sold out, but not without backlash for being too commercial. In response to this criticism Safar addresses the EDM industry in an Open Letter entitled “An Open Letter to the Dance Music Scene or EDM Scene, or Whatever the Least Offensive Term is Today!”

Photo credit: @jonkrete on Twitter

Safar’s single “Fallen” (listen to it on Soundcloud) has a distinct ‘EDM’ sound, and features the production work from Adelaide-based trance producer Shane Cross, mixing work from Grammy-award winning engineer Jason Schweitzer (Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Macy Gray, Mayer Hawthorne) and mastering from Bob Lanzner (Stevie Wonder, Snoop, Chaka Khan).

Despite selling out all of the Pic’s Peanut Butter jars and the warm reception from fans and various members of the music industry, Safar has been met with criticism of her music due to its commercial nature. In response, Lee has addressed the heated topic of mainstream success in EDM in an open letter on her blog.

In a genre whose roots are deeply embedded in the PLUR (Peace Love Unity Respect) idealism, why is it that when an artist creates a track that makes our music accessible to a wider community, we outcast that artist rather than support them for pushing the boundaries? Why aren’t we as a genre, advocating that the music that invokes such emotional and euphoric responses from out current audiences, have the wings to fly as far and wide as it can without being criticized by our peers for seeking such success? As a scene, why are we so scared of commercial success outside of our clique, as though being recognized by a greater audience would mean we’re not making real music?’

You can read the whole post at this location, pretty interesting points. Leave your thoughts in the comments to this post!