Fire's Chill Pick - August 2026

 Hey guys, it’s time for the monthly Chill Pick article!! It’s almost the end of summer, but I’ve got a nice end-of-summer banger for y’all!!

Hoang & Stefan PVDS - Distance

Release: June 5, 2026

Genres: Dancefloor Drum and Bass, Melodic Bass

So I didn’t really do an anniversary post this year (I was just too busy this summer), but this past July 4 marked the 5th-year anniversary of my blog. And that got me reflecting on my evolution and journey as a blogger. When I started, I was just an angsty teenager trying to channel his energy into something he loves. And I’ve kinda been reading my old articles for nostalgia’s sake. Like from my very first post...

“My music taste definitely doesn’t always align with the popular opinion, and I’m not one to bow down to it, there will be a few wild takes on these lists.” I see you, 16-year-old Fire, trying to mask your insecurity about your own music taste by pretending to be above the critical consensus, how adorable. And from my worst list for the 2000s...

...Holy shit, I really was so angry at Uncle Kracker, wasn’t I? And Jesus fuck, I wrote tons of run-ons.

This reflection made me notice unintentional narrative arcs I've built. And by far my favorite one is with Hoang. In one of my first ever Friday’s Chill Pick articles, which I called “Friday's Chill Pick - 9/3/21...but it's on Saturday instead”, I had covered Hoang and Daye’s “Not Over You”. And I just wanna pat myself on the back, because while there are tons of things I said in my early articles that I no longer stand by, that article in particular had a point that only grew all the more true with time—“It doesn't mean it's bad by any means, because it is a nice song, but Hoang really needs to change up his style at least a little bit, because he is slowly starting to underwhelm me a lot.” And yeah, indeed, in the years since 2021, Hoang fell off my radar due to his artistic stagnation. I had completely forgotten about that article for years. But then in November of last year, I reviewed his song “Are You Still There?”, which knocked me off my feet with how bold of an evolution in sound it was for Hoang. I had unintentionally written a redemption arc narrative for Hoang just through that.

But the real question was gonna be if Hoang would be able to continue his artistic evolution or if that song was just a fluke. And thus, in June, he dropped “Distance” with Stefan PVDS, which I’ve revisited a ton already, and I admittedly was a bit stumped on why this song of all songs had captivated me so much. Then, I noticed something that remained the same from “Are You Still There?”—it’s that dancefloor drum and bass percussion. It makes the song feel built for a festival. Now, I think keeping that same percussion palette is actually a really smart idea for Hoang. When you listen to any music, especially EDM, you tend to focus more on the melodic progressions rather than how the percussion sounds. So the dynamic flexibility of the dancefloor drum and bass percussion helps Hoang introduce new instrumental textures while ensuring the song feels familiar. I went back to his debut single, “Don’t Say” with Nevve, to check whether he really did introduce new textures on “Distance”—and that it wasn't just me not having heard “Don't Say” in a while. And yeah, “Don’t Say” had a very melodic guitar line in the drop. But “Distance”’s drop is predominantly built on a chipmunked and vocoded piano line. The melody also sounds really joyous and major-key—which made me listen closely to the lyrics, and I discovered that Hoang even went a different direction for his songwriting with this track!! Most of Hoang’s songwriting treads the “longing for something that’s now lost” mold that’s all too familiar for EDM in this vein. But “Distance” is actually a love song!! Stefan PVDS declares that he’ll remain by his partner’s side through thick and thin, and that matches the happy major-key melody perfectly. Melodically, the song sounds like you’re reflecting at the end of summer, which is absolutely perfect for August. It’s like you’ve finished a great summer adventure with your friends and it’s time for you all to head to separate schools and be away from each other, and you’re reflecting together on the time you spent. I also like Stefan PVDS’s vocals a lot—they sound earnest in the right way.

In other words, Hoang pulled it off—he proved that “Are You Still There?” was not a fluke. I hope he channels that same ride-or-die commitment in the songwriting into his actual artistic evolution too! This means expectations have gone up, buddy. In the meantime, this song is incredible—I give it a 9/10, highly recommended if you want an end-of-summer song!