Madonna Brought Electronic Music Into Pop Before It Was Cool

Ever wonder what the common link is between Tame Impala, Drake, Charli XCX and even Harry Styles' recent music? All of them are well established mainstream artists who have recently experimented with a house sound.

But did you know that, well before the streaming era, Madonna was the first pop artist to do so, all the way back in the 80s?

Whenever an artist makes a major musical departure, they are taking a risk. In Madonna's case, that risk paid off. Her album "Ray of Light" introduced her new sound to a generation deep in the 90s. The album is also credited with bringing electronic music into global pop culture.

The songs were built on drum machines and synthesizers, the same DNA as early house and EDM, a sound literally born in NYC clubs. She kept the beats, the sequencers and the electronic textures, dragging dance music production from the underground into the mainstream for the very first time.

Before all this, she had a crowd of 160,000 people singing along to "Holiday" at Live Aid in 1985. Now that is motion. She gave visibility to the spaces where electronic music was born. Her artistic control, electronic production, unapologetic sexuality and constant reinvention became a template for women in dance music that we still see across pop today.

She might not have created EDM, but she was present at nearly every major turning point in its rise, lending it credibility, visibility and emotional depth. In the end, when the dancefloor and the stadium became the same place, it is all because of her.