The best songs of What So Not trace the evolution of one of electronic music’s most thoughtful and emotionally driven producers. Chris Emerson, the Australian artist behind What So Not, has built a catalog that moves fluidly between festival-ready trap, intimate alt-electronic, future bass, and experimental club music — all while maintaining a singular voice that distinguishes every release. These twenty tracks capture that journey in full.
High You Are
Released on The Quacker EP in 2013, High You Are was the track that introduced What So Not to a global audience beyond Australia and remains one of the most iconic future bass records ever made. The vocal chops float above a lush, cascading synth arrangement with a weightlessness that genuinely earns the title, creating one of those rare productions that feels both technically sophisticated and emotionally direct. The mid-section drop lands with physical force while the melodic elements stay present throughout, preventing the track from feeling like pure impact-seeking. Listening through quality headphones reveals just how carefully the stereo field is crafted — the width and depth of the mix remain extraordinary more than a decade after release.
Jaguar
The 2013 Jaguar EP gave What So Not another defining early statement, this time leaning into a more primal, percussive energy that contrasted with the floating euphoria of High You Are. The track drives forward with an insistent rhythm and layers of chopped vocal textures that create genuine tension and momentum, making it a natural festival weapon. The production demonstrates Emerson’s understanding of dynamics at an early stage — the way tension accumulates before the arrangement shifts rewards attentive listening. Jaguar remains a touchstone for producers who study how to build effective drops without sacrificing musical identity.
Every Time You See Me
From The Quack EP in 2013, Every Time You See Me shows a different dimension of What So Not’s early sound, incorporating more melodic weight alongside the percussive energy. The vocal treatment sits somewhere between processed and recognizable, creating an emotional pull that makes the track feel personal despite its electronic construction. The arrangement builds in ways that feel genuinely compositional rather than formulaic, with each section earning its place in the overall structure. This track rewards the kind of deep listening that becomes possible with good quality earbuds designed to render mid-range frequencies with clarity.
Lone
From the 2016 Divide and Conquer EP, Lone strips What So Not’s sound back toward something more atmospheric and introspective. The track creates space rather than filling it, with synth textures that breathe and evolve throughout the runtime in ways that reward patient listening. The emotional register here sits closer to melancholy than euphoria, demonstrating that Emerson’s creative range extended well beyond festival-optimized productions from his earliest breakthrough period. Lone remains one of the most purely musical tracks in his catalog, valued by listeners who want to hear the producer operating outside the expectations of his commercial peak.
Divide and Conquer
The title track of the 2016 EP delivered What So Not’s most assertive and aggressive production to that point, driven by a relentless rhythm and layered synth stabs that create genuine menace. The mixing on this track is particularly impressive — bass frequencies that hit hard without obscuring the mid-range elements that give the track its harmonic identity. The structure resists easy categorization, moving through sections that feel purposeful rather than predictable, maintaining listener engagement across the full runtime. Divide and Conquer demonstrated that What So Not could operate effectively in darker sonic territory without losing the precision that characterized his more melodic work.
Waiting (with Skrillex)
Released in 2016, Waiting brought two of electronic music’s most distinctive voices together in a collaboration that genuinely justified the pairing. The production combines Skrillex’s tendency toward aggressive sound design with What So Not’s melodic sensibility, creating something that sits between both artists’ solo aesthetics without simply averaging them out. The vocal performance floats above an arrangement that shifts between moments of tension and release with exceptional control, never staying in one emotional register long enough to become predictable. Waiting became a landmark in the conversation about how electronic music collaborations can produce genuinely original results rather than simply combining audiences.
Trust
From Divide and Conquer in 2016, Trust demonstrates What So Not’s ability to build emotional content into productions that could easily function as pure club tools. The vocal layers carry genuine vulnerability that transforms what might have been a straightforward drop track into something with actual stakes. The arrangement develops methodically, each element introduced with clear purpose and maintained throughout rather than appearing and disappearing arbitrarily. Trust rewards the kind of sustained attention that reveals how much craft underlies productions that initially seem accessible.
Montreal
Also from Divide and Conquer in 2016, Montreal brings a distinctly cinematic quality to What So Not’s sound, with synth sequences that reference film score techniques as much as electronic music production. The track creates a sense of place that goes beyond simple atmosphere, building an environment that feels genuinely transportive on headphones in a quiet room. The mix is exceptionally transparent, allowing individual elements to move through the stereo field with clarity that rewards technical listening alongside emotional engagement. Montreal stands as one of the most purely evocative productions in What So Not’s catalog.
Feel It
From Good Times Ahead in 2016, Feel It brought What So Not into collaboration with a vocalist whose performance elevates the production rather than simply accompanying it. The track balances the kind of emotional directness suggested by its title with production sophistication that prevents it from becoming generic. The arrangement builds with natural momentum toward a payoff that lands because the buildup earns it rather than simply following template, and the mixing allows the vocal to sit forward in the mix without losing the textural depth of the instrumental layers. Feel It remains one of the most accessible entry points to What So Not’s catalog for listeners coming from pop rather than electronic music backgrounds.
Be OK Again
From Not All the Beautiful Things in 2018, Be OK Again marked a significant moment in What So Not’s artistic development, embracing vulnerability and emotional directness more explicitly than earlier work. The vocal performance carries genuine weight, and the production supports rather than overwhelms it, with restraint that demonstrates creative confidence. The arrangement creates space for the lyrical content to land without constant instrumental competition, and the overall production reflects a maturing approach to balancing emotional impact with sonic sophistication. Be OK Again connected with listeners who appreciated seeing the artist operating outside the euphoric energy associated with his festival profile.
Stuck in Orbit
From Not All the Beautiful Things in 2018, Stuck in Orbit demonstrated What So Not’s ability to create genuinely hypnotic groove-based productions alongside his more melodically driven work. The rhythmic foundation feels simultaneously mechanical and organic, creating a forward momentum that maintains listener engagement across an extended runtime without relying on dramatic dynamic shifts. The production layers build and recede with careful control, creating texture that rewards close listening while functioning equally well as background music for focused work. This track influences how producers think about building density gradually rather than introducing all elements simultaneously.
Beautiful
From Not All the Beautiful Things in 2018, Beautiful lives up to its title through production choices that prioritize warmth and tonal richness over impact. The track demonstrates What So Not’s ability to create genuinely affecting music without relying on drop-based structures, sustaining emotional engagement through melodic development and timbral variety. The production is among the most sophisticated in his catalog, with mixing that reveals new details across multiple listens as the ear begins to hear past the most prominent elements to the supporting textures beneath. Beautiful represents the album’s most explicitly emotional statement and rewards the investment of sustained attention.
Same Mistakes
From Not All the Beautiful Things in 2018, Same Mistakes explores the particular pain of recognizing patterns while feeling unable to break them, with lyrical content that matches the introspective quality of the production. The arrangement creates sonic space that mirrors the reflective emotional register of the track, with restraint in the mixing that prevents the production from overwhelming the thematic content. What So Not demonstrates here that his creative interests extend well beyond producing purely functional electronic music, engaging with subject matter that requires both musical and emotional sophistication. Same Mistakes rewards repeated listening as the production details become clearer and the thematic coherence becomes more apparent.
We Can Be Friends
Released as a standalone single in 2019, We Can Be Friends captures the particular awkwardness of post-relationship navigation with a lightness in the production that contrasts productively with the emotional complexity of the subject matter. The track moves with a bounce that makes it immediately engaging while the lyrical content operates at a more nuanced level, creating a productive tension between sonic surface and thematic depth. The production demonstrates What So Not’s pop sensibility without sacrificing the attention to sound design that makes even his most accessible tracks worth careful listening. We Can Be Friends performed well commercially while representing genuine artistic intent rather than calculated compromise.
OOGAHDAM!
Released in 2019, OOGAHDAM! returned What So Not to unambiguously club-oriented territory with a production that demonstrates how much his technical approach had developed since the Divide and Conquer era. The track manages to be simultaneously aggressive and musical, with bass frequencies that hit with physical force while harmonic elements prevent the production from feeling purely functional. The mixing maintains clarity across the full frequency spectrum even at levels where many productions become muddy, which demonstrates the kind of technical mastery that comes from years of professional experience. OOGAHDAM! reminded audiences who valued What So Not’s harder productions that this dimension of his creativity remained fully developed alongside his more melodic work.
Messin’ Me Up
From the Anomaly album in 2022, Messin’ Me Up represents What So Not embracing a more pop-adjacent sound while maintaining the production quality that distinguishes his work across all contexts. The vocal performance sits naturally within the arrangement rather than feeling grafted onto an existing instrumental, suggesting a more integrated approach to song construction than some earlier collaborative recordings. The production balance between synthetic and organic elements creates a warmth that suits the emotional register of the track, which navigates romantic frustration with honesty rather than performance. Messin’ Me Up demonstrates that the pop instincts evident in What So Not’s earlier melodic work had developed into genuine songwriting sophistication.
Mr Regular (with Oliver Tree)
From Anomaly in 2022, the collaboration with Oliver Tree brought together two artists with genuinely distinctive identities and produced something that sounds like neither artist compromised their vision. Tree’s vocal character creates an unexpected dimension within What So Not’s sonic world, and the production adapts to his delivery style while maintaining the textural sophistication that characterizes the album. The arrangement is one of the most unusual in What So Not’s catalog, resisting predictable electronic music structures in favor of something genuinely strange and compelling. Mr Regular rewards listeners who approach What So Not’s work with curiosity about how collaborations can expand rather than simply confirm an artist’s established identity.
The Change
From Anomaly in 2022, The Change engages with themes of personal transformation with a production approach that mirrors the subject matter through its own structural evolution across the runtime. The arrangement genuinely changes as the track progresses rather than simply repeating its initial setup, with later sections revealing production elements that were hinted at but not fully deployed earlier. The mixing is transparent enough to hear these developments clearly, rewarding focused listening while functioning equally well as background music that reveals more detail on repeated exposure. The Change represents Anomaly’s most explicitly thematic track and benefits from being heard in the context of the full album. Exploring the complete What So Not catalog through their broader collection of songs makes the artistic development across each album period more legible.
Cyanide
Released in 2023, Cyanide represents What So Not’s most recent creative direction, incorporating elements that reflect developments in electronic music production since Anomaly while maintaining a distinctive voice. The production demonstrates continuing technical development, with sound design choices that feel contemporary without being trend-chasing. The track’s emotional content is characteristically direct, with production that supports rather than obscures the thematic material. Cyanide suggests that What So Not’s evolution as an artist continues with genuine creative curiosity rather than simply refining an established formula.
Lights Go Out
From Motions in 2024, Lights Go Out represents What So Not’s most recent album work and demonstrates how far his production approach has developed from the early future bass recordings that first brought him international attention. The track creates atmosphere with exceptional economy, using fewer elements than earlier productions but deploying each with greater intentionality and skill. The emotional register is among his most affecting, with a sense of weight and consequence that rewards the kind of sustained listening engagement that his earlier festival-oriented work didn’t necessarily require. Lights Go Out suggests that What So Not’s most artistically significant work may still be ahead, with the technical mastery and emotional depth of his mature production style fully aligned.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is What So Not’s real name?
What So Not is the solo project of Australian electronic music producer Chris Emerson. The project originally began as a collaborative duo between Emerson and Flume before Flume departed to focus on his solo career, leaving Emerson to continue under the What So Not name. Emerson has continued developing the project’s artistic identity through multiple album cycles since then.
What genre is What So Not?
What So Not’s music spans several electronic music genres including future bass, trap, progressive house, and experimental electronic. His catalog resists easy categorization because his production approach evolves significantly across releases, moving between club-oriented productions and more introspective, song-focused recordings. This genre fluidity is one of the defining characteristics of his artistic identity.
When did What So Not release his debut album?
What So Not’s debut album Not All the Beautiful Things was released in 2018 on Sweat It Out Records. The album represented a significant artistic statement beyond his earlier EP releases, incorporating more song-based structures and emotional directness alongside the production sophistication established in his club-focused work. His second album Anomaly followed in 2022.
Who has What So Not collaborated with?
What So Not has collaborated with a wide range of artists across different musical contexts. Notable collaborations include Skrillex on Waiting, Oliver Tree on Mr Regular, San Holo on If You Only Knew, Herizen Guardiola on As One, and a remix of Run The Jewels’ JU$T. These collaborations demonstrate his ability to work effectively across genre boundaries and with artists at different points in their careers.
What is What So Not’s most popular song?
High You Are from the 2013 Quacker EP remains What So Not’s most widely recognized and influential track, having helped establish the future bass genre as a significant electronic music movement. The track’s combination of melodic sophistication and emotional impact made it a defining reference point for an entire generation of producers. It continues to appear on streaming charts years after its release.
Has What So Not performed at major festivals?
Yes, What So Not has performed at numerous major international festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and various Australian festivals throughout his career. His live performances have evolved significantly alongside his recorded work, with more recent shows incorporating a broader range of production styles that reflect his artistic development beyond the future bass sound associated with his early breakthrough period.
What label is What So Not signed to?
What So Not has released music through Sweat It Out Records, an Australian independent label that has supported the project across multiple release cycles. The label has been an important part of the Australian electronic music ecosystem and has helped foster What So Not’s development as an artist with creative freedom to pursue genuinely experimental directions alongside commercially accessible releases.
How did What So Not get started in music production?
Chris Emerson began producing electronic music as a teenager in Australia, developing skills through self-teaching and engagement with online production communities. The early collaboration with Flume that established the What So Not project emerged from mutual artistic interests between two young Australian producers at a pivotal moment in electronic music’s development. The partnership produced influential early releases before Flume’s departure led Emerson to define the project’s identity on his own terms.