Chris Lake is having the kind of year most producers would kill for, and he still isn’t sure the genre he helped shape is heading in the right direction. In a new cover story with NYLON, the house music veteran gets unusually blunt about where he thinks dance music is going wrong, even as he rides the highest-profile stretch of his career.
According to the interview, Lake spent 2025 collecting career milestones most artists chase for decades. He landed his first Grammy nomination, released his long-in-the-works debut album Chemistry, and — in one of the year’s stranger dance music crossovers — got a personal remix request from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for Swift’s track ‘Opalite.’ The ask reportedly came directly from the couple after they’d been playing his music off the clock, and it ended up introducing Lake to a chunk of the Swiftie fanbase that had probably never heard of Black Book Records before.
What makes this profile stand out from the usual victory-lap press run is how openly Lake criticizes the current state of house music. He tells NYLON that he believes the genre — and much of the wider dance scene — is drifting toward a formula built on nostalgia, algorithm-chasing, and instant gratification rather than genuine innovation. His estimate: 90% or more of house music right now is recycling old ideas instead of pushing anything forward. It’s a striking thing to hear from someone whose new single, ‘Long Jacket’ with Chris Lorenzo and Kenny Beats, is itself a four-to-the-floor flip of Cake’s 2001 rock cut ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket.’
Lake doesn’t let himself off the hook either, admitting he’s aware he sometimes contributes to the very trend he’s calling out. He compares the fatigue of hearing the same production tricks over and over to watching AI-generated video content — impressive at first, then increasingly hollow the more you notice the pattern repeating. His counterpoint, though, is that live performance is where dance music is still delivering something real, arguing that shows right now feel more ambitious and impactful than they have in years, even as recorded output leans safer.
The rest of the conversation traces Lake’s evolution since his 2000s breakout single ‘Changes,’ through club staples like ‘Operator (Ring Ring)’ and ‘Turn Off the Lights,’ and into his current role running Black Book Records, where he’s spent recent years developing newer talent rather than just chasing his own releases.
On Chemistry, Lake says the album consumed his entire mental bandwidth for roughly three years between writing and rollout, which explains why 2026 has felt comparatively low-key by his standards. Guests on the record included Amber Mark, MPH, and Yael Watchman, while recent singles like ‘Party Time’ with Tiga and Aatig show he’s still leaning into collaboration even during what he calls his slower period.
Despite the introspection, Lake isn’t disappearing. He’s still working a packed fall festival run alongside the new music, just without the pressure of assembling another full album campaign right away. The full conversation, including more on the Grammy nomination and his approach to collaboration, is available now on NYLON’s site.
