VANCOUVER – The video already has more than 1.5 million views and counting.
Vancouver-based DJ Daniel Kim, is no stranger to the world of viral videos. He has been making mashups since 2010 and his 2012 version received almost 60 million views. His 2013 video has received more than 28 million views.
“2010 was the first year I made a mega mashup using only samples of the original artist,” said Kim in an email interview. “Before that, I used to make mashups out of the instrumentals of the original songs and then I would sing over those mashups as a way to differentiate myself from all the amazing cover artists on YouTube.”
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This year’s version of the “Pop Danthology” features 66 of the year’s biggest hits. Kim started to collect the songs in January. “I will choose mostly instrumentals with good funky bass lines and a driving, danceable beat,” he said. “So even though “Chandelier” was a big song this year, I did not choose to feature its instrumental because it lacks the funk and drive that I love. For vocals, I like to feature vocal lines with dynamic, catchy melodies. But because of my high standards, I will discard low quality vocal audio parts no matter how much of a hit the song was in the year.”
The entire process takes him 180 hours.
Kim started DJing in high school, but drifted away from the profession in his first year of university. However, after picking it up again, he is enjoying relearning the skill and travelling and giving speeches at conferences.
Some have criticized Kim’s 2014 video as not being as good as previous years, but Kim is not concerned about that. “When I make my art, my motivation is not to satisfy people’s taste and match up to what they want,” he said. “My motivation is to have fun and do what I do because I want to do it that way.”
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