San Francisco Bay Area producer T-Mass returns to Dim Mak Records after 6 years with his cover of “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, featuring singer Staarz. While the original is downtempo and focuses primarily on Eilish‘s voice, T-Mass and Staarz‘s remake incorporates a multitude of genres and a unique but still haunting vocal style. T-Mass starts with a muted house bassline that builds into a dubby, trap-style drop that cascades emotive melodies upon the listener, all with a little bit of jazz phonk influence. “Bad Guy” was created rather serendipitously after T-Mass remixed one of Staarz‘s songs, and the two of them realized their sonic compatibility. It marks his return to Dim Mak after 2017’s “Falling Down” with Bianca and Jaxxtone. Read on to hear from the artists on their exciting collaboration:
“I’m blessed to have met the vocalist, Staarz. We connected after I unknowingly remixed one of her songs and I happened to read my messages that day. Rare. She is the other half my music career always needed. Together, this song is the first of many we will bring you to make you all move. This Bad Guy cover is house, trap, and a sprinkle of phonk. Of all the songs that have been made, this is definitely one of them.” – T-Mass
“So, ‘Bad Guy‘ by Billie Eilish has always been one of my top favorite songs by her. Honestly, I never imagined myself singing the song because, I mean, c’mon, it’s Billie Eilish. Like I always thought to myself, even if I tried, I could never resonate the same ‘bad guy‘ energy. Well, that thought took 180 now, haha. I have always also been a huge fan of T-Mass, and always adored his songs, but one that stood out to me the most is his bootleg remix of ‘Bad Guy‘ ever since he released it years ago. I went crazy over it and played it nonstop as a teen. One day, I messaged T-Mass regarding music and told him unconfidently, ‘Hey! If you ever need vocals, let me know! I would be more than happy to work with you.’ I then received a message back from him saying, ‘Absolutely.’ I then remembered he had that remix of ‘Bad Guy,’ so I decided to take a leap of faith and risk to ask him if I could do the vocals for this ‘Bad Guy (T-Mass Remix)’ with me knowing darn well I couldn’t sing that song even if my life depended on it, and I’m stoked about it finally getting an official release.” – Staarz
T-Mass
Bay area-based T-Mass is a rising dance music producer and DJ who has made a name for himself with his melodic dubstep sound. His free online releases garnered attention from fans and tastemakers alike, eventually blossoming into tracks like his 2016 remix of ILLENIUM‘s “It’s All on U,” which has amassed over 70M streams on Spotify alone. Not one to take the “mysterious DJ” approach, T-Mass lets his personality shine by constantly interacting with and getting to know his fans.
Staarz
Music has always been a huge part of Staarz‘s life. She was given her first microphone at the age of three and fell in love with it immediately. She always dreamed of becoming a vocalist for electronic dance music and strove each day, no matter the setbacks, to make that dream a reality. There have been many times when she cried herself to sleep, yelled, pushed people away, and overall destroyed herself for the love of music. But she never gave up. There were even times when she felt like giving up and doubted every decision she made, but she still pushed herself to her limits to not give up. Staarz still keeps a photo of her three-year-old self with the microphone as a reminder not to give up until her dreams come true.
