Paul Supreme is a somewhat avant-garde house, pop and hip-hop artist who began releasing 2020 with his first album, The golden hour. His first releases in 2020 and 2021 were more conventional pop/EDM crossover, but recently it’s been his more indie-infused songs that have been well received on Spotify. Possibly surprising to some fans of traditional EDM, the addition of more raw, rock-inspired vocals seems to have made all the difference. His latest single, “Ninja Sword” was released in early June, is already up to almost 65k streams and climbing while his most popular track, “In a Robe” is about to hit 300k. What helped the rising star quickly gain such notoriety? It seems the key ingredient is authenticity.
Supreme began his own musical journey with experimental trip hop groups. He also had a pretty heavy influence growing up as the son of the late Dennis Flemion, a founding member of the infamous ’90s alt rock act, The Frogs. The Frogs were deep into the 80s and 90s grunge scene, meaning a young Paul Supreme grew up around the likes of Nirvana, Beck, The Breeders and Smashing Pumpkins, with whom Dennis Flemion toured after the death of the band’s keyboard player, Johnathon Melvoin, after that he’s gone. It’s clear that The Frogs had a lasting influence on Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, as Flemion and Corgan had a very similar vocal style. A style which, it seems, has now been used with great success by Paul Supreme.
In EDM, vocal styles tend to focus on tight control of the vox, both in vocal technique and production. Even in the rougher areas of bass music like drum & bass and dubstep, the vocals, while they can be very emotional, are also very stylized. With his recent releases like the ‘Ninja Sword’ single and the wildly popular ‘In a Robe’, Supreme’s vocals are unflinching, raw and determined without a ton of engineering. As in the grunge and indie bands of his father’s era, this lack of styling adds an extra dissonant layer to the work, made even more apparent by the highly stylized production.
Supreme’s latest track, “First Team All G,” which was just released this week on July 3rd, reminds fans that he’s also an accomplished rapper. With the same intense, Corgan-esque vocal timbre, Supreme weaves his way through the trap/house combo production with a mix of grime-style melodic rap and traditional vocals, “First Team All G” shows that Paul Supreme still plays with style. From all of his releases and such a diverse pool of style and influence to draw from, it seems like Supreme will never run out of ideas for new tracks and new ways to make EDM and pop interesting and different. Meanwhile, his unconventional pairing of indie-style vocals and well-produced electronics is clearly working for him.
“Ninja Sword” and “First Team All G” are both available alongside the rest of Paul Supreme’s discography on Spotify.
