Ten days out, and Calvin Harris is one of three names holding down the Mainstage for opening weekend. Somewhere along the way the skinny Scottish kid who made “Acceptable in the 80s” became the highest-paid DJ alive and started writing pop songs for anyone with a pulse. His Tomorrowland set is basically a greatest-hits victory lap. Three that’ll show up:
1. Calvin Harris, Rihanna - This Is What You Came For
Built on about four notes and unbeatable because of it. The restraint is the trick. The whole track is tension waiting for a chorus that barely arrives, and Rihanna floating over that plucky synth is peak festival-at-dusk. He knew exactly what he was doing.
2. Calvin Harris - Feel So Close
Before the pop-collab era, this was Calvin singing his own hook through a wall of compression. The drop is a wide-open supersaw that sounds like the exact year 2011, and somehow it hasn’t dated. Play it now and a field full of people who were twelve when it came out still go up.
3. Calvin Harris - Summer
The one that soundtracked every car advert and beach clip for a solid two years. That descending synth line at the drop was engineered in a lab to make you feel fine about your life for four minutes. It’s not deep and it never claimed to be.
The man prints money in a field. Respect the hustle.