Euro-trance

A commercial, pop-oriented style of trance that blends the genre’s euphoric synth leads and build-and-release structure with the catchy hooks, sung vocals and shorter song formats of Eurodance. It emerged in Germany and the Netherlands in the late 1990s and dominated European charts and clubs into the early 2000s. It typically runs at around 135–145 BPM and features bright supersaw synths, simple memorable melodies and radio-friendly vocal choruses. Hits such as ATB’s “9 PM (Till I Come)” (1998), Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone” (1999), DJ Sammy’s “Heaven” and tracks by Sash! defined the sound. It later fed into “hands up” dance music and the big-room EDM of the 2010s, though trance purists often treated it as a lighter, mainstream offshoot.