POWERS is Mike Del Rio and Crista Ru. After a writing session in 2013, the duo had a song called “Birthday.” Afterward, they knew they had something special on their hands, and this was confirmed when Selena Gomez’s team called and said they wanted the song for her upcoming album. During the sessions with Gomez, Mike and Crista were refining their own sound, and when their work was done, they retreated to the mountains of Lake Arrowhead to work on what would become POWERS.
The duo have found their own lane—if you’re hoping for some Selena Gomez-type sounds, you’ll be disappointed—but their top notch songwriting talent is what makes POWERS such a force. They still write with big names like Kylie Minogue and Icona Pop, but to hear their writing funneled through smart, more forward-thinking electronic pop is even more exciting.
“Money” feels like the ambitious kind of pop music that so many new electronic acts want to make but can’t. The drums vibrate deep in your chest, the drums pop like they’re coming from the inside of your brain, and the vocals dance with synths in perfect harmony. There are a lot of electronic pop acts coming around right now, and it sucks for them, because a couple of professionals just stepped in.
