Nathan Chen demonstrates new era of music in figure skating

BEIJING – First there was the explosive hip-hop beat drop, then a daring rap verse proclaiming, “The best of all time!”

It couldn’t have described Nathan Chen any higher.

On the barren sheet of ice, matching the fierceness of that vitality on the Beijing Olympics, was the usually reserved U.S. determine skater, wrapping up a near-perfect, gold-winning free skate to cap his historic run on the Winter Video games.

As he flaunted by means of the final minute of his Thursday program at Capital Indoor Stadium with such pleasure and persona, it was clear the 22-year-old American’s numerous musical alternatives — on this case, a remixed, Elton John-heavy “Rocketman” medley of traditional rock, pop, hip-hop and rap — marked a brand new, edgier daybreak for profitable performances.

“I’ve traditionally skated to fairly slower tempo, extra classical items, and so bringing on this sooner tempo (was) very thrilling,” stated Chen, a classically skilled pianist who’s been spending his free time in Beijing strumming his Stratocaster. “It was like, one thing that absolutely simply made sense, and it was simply a lot enjoyable to skate to and follow.”

Advert

Conventional determine skating music is usually classical or instrumental — Boléro, Swan Lake, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 — or expansive film scores from movies like “Gladiator,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Moulin Rouge.”

However the Beijing Olympics has witnessed the rise of extra present, mainstream and offbeat music that first took maintain 4 years in the past in Pyeongchang, the primary Winter Video games during which lyrics had been allowed. The eclectic mixture of genres seen up to now have produced a brand new tone in probably the most trendy of performances, that are being closely rewarded by the judges.

Adam Rippon, a member of the American bronze medal workforce on the 2018 Olympics, known as Chen’s efficiency a watershed second for the game and predicts that his soundtrack will encourage a brand new and totally different era of athletes.

“It’s edgy, it’s enjoyable, it’s younger,” stated Rippon, who helps to educate determine skater Mariah Bell, one among Chen’s closest buddies on the American workforce. “When that hip-hop beat drops, he’s gotten by means of all of the technical parts and he can simply exhibit his persona and that modifications your view of what you assume skating is.”

Advert

Chen’s not the one skater taking a progressive method to musical choice.

Elsewhere on the U.S. workforce, ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue’s rhythm program options Janet Jackson’s socially-conscious “Rhythm Nation.” Madison Chock and Evan Bates’ free dance is ready to French duo Daft Punk’s digital beats and is supposed for instance an avant-garde intergalactic love story.

“It was at all times music that I bear in mind, and naturally, my mother and father performed it in our home and I grew up listening to it on the radio, however I believe our love for Janet Jackson got here as a result of we fell in love with dancing to this music,” Hubbell stated. “It took us abruptly. It wasn’t essentially a mode we thought we might actually vibe with.”

Each dance duos gained their occasions within the workforce competitors this previous week with career-best scores, serving to the Individuals to a silver medal that might ultimately flip to gold relying on the result of a Russian doping case.

Advert

“Choosing a style that’s nontraditional – you realize, we skated to digital music on the Olympic Video games in ice dance. I don’t assume that, in my reminiscence, it’s been performed earlier than, and we’re proud to be a workforce that’s prepared to take dangers,” stated Bates, who together with the remainder of the dancers will start particular person competitors Saturday.

French skater Adam Siao Him Fa and Czech ice dancers Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler additionally tapped into the pattern.

For his brief program, Fa used a “Star Wars” medley additionally infused with hip hop, and for his free skate he sampled Daft Punk’s well-known “More durable, Sooner, Stronger” chorus made iconic by rapper Kanye West.

The Czech duo’s rhythm dance used Madonna songs that additionally featured the rappers M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj.

“We wished to carry one thing iconic. Like, when individuals hear it, everybody will begin to dance,” Taschler stated. “We love this music. It’s tremendous dance music and we try to share this sense with the viewers and judges.”

Advert

It will likely be laborious to prime Chen’s spectacular show to music by Elton John on Thursday.

It began with an understated, haunting snippet of “Yellow Brick Street” backed by extra conventional instrumentals. Then, his 4-minute coronation veered to the traditional rock and pop hit “Rocket Man,” then lastly turned to an electrifying “Bennie and the Jets” remix by the singer Pink and rapper Logic, who declared “Momma, I made it/True story, I’ve upgraded.”

For Chen, that meant upgraded all the best way to the gold medal.

“This program, it doesn’t matter what, is at all times enjoyable for me to skate,” he stated, “And I liked it.”

It definitely produced higher recollections than 4 years in the past in Pyeongchang, when his brief program to music from British poet and lyricist Benjamin Clementine fell flat. Not even an unimaginable free skate two days later to an orchestral piece by Igor Stravinsky might salvage a medal for Chen.

He has come a good distance previously 4 years, placing in untold hours to excellent his craft. And it got here by means of on the ice in Beijing, the place the rap lyrics “I been runnin’ and gunnin’/Been fightin’ for one thing in due time” had been by no means more true.

Advert

“If you watch a sport,” Rippon stated after marveling at Chen’s efficiency, “you need to see a bit of little bit of your self in there. And once you open it to be totally different sorts of music … it’s going to make individuals really feel extra concerned, extra included. It makes it much more accessible to all people.”

___

Seattle-based AP journalist Sally Ho is on project on the Beijing Olympics, masking determine skating. Observe her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_sallyho

___

Extra AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports.