The double handclap – most powerfully deployed in Patrice Rushen’s Forget Me Nots – is now a staple of pop thanks to Dua Lipa and more. Its practitioners explain why it’s still so catchy
The trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie begins with the doll (played by Margot Robbie) describing her modest plans for that evening: “A giant blowout party with all the Barbies and planned choreography and a bespoke song.” Sure enough, there’s a big, pink, extremely sequined party, soundtracked by Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night. The song provides the Barbies’ slick choreography with a gesture that’s very familiar to pop music fans: the disco double clap.
Like the disco string sound, gated reverb or the orchestra stab, it is traceable through generations of pop.
