# Remix Albums Are Helping Pop Acts Live in the Moment Longer — And Feel Less Alone

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/remix-albums-are-helping-pop-acts-live-in-the-moment-longer-and-feel-less-alone/
- Published: 2026-11-06T17:01:39+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T17:25:28+00:00
- Original publisher: Rolling Stone
- Original article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/pop-remix-album-revival-porter-robinson-zara-larsson-charli-1235648903/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Remix albums are giving pop songs new lives.
- Smile! :D Plus+ features 16 artists.
- Frost Children’s rework runs for seven minutes.

## Summary

Pop artists are using remix albums to give existing songs new creative lives and bring musicians together around shared enthusiasm for the music. Porter Robinson’s 16-artist project Smile! :D Plus+ reworks his 2024 album, extending its ideas and offering listeners another way into songs he feels may not have connected the first time.

Robinson let contributors choose tracks freely, resulting in four new versions of “Cheerleader” and three of “Is There Really No Happiness?”. Frost Children’s take on the latter turns the original’s melancholy into a seven-minute progressive trance journey, nearly twice its length. The article places the project alongside recent remix releases by PinkPantheress, Zara Larsson and Charli XCX, describing a wider turn towards collaboration that feels personal and creatively engaged.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.