Darren Styles and Toneshifterz Drop New Version of Zedd’s “Clarity”

Zedd’s 2012 single “Clarity” has long occupied a unique position in the EDM landscape—one of the few tracks to combine emotional immediacy with pop accessibility while maintaining credibility within club culture. Now, over a decade later, hard dance veterans Darren Styles and Toneshifterz have introduced a new interpretation: a high-BPM rework released via Be Yourself Music, which aims to reposition “Clarity” for the hardstyle and festival circuit.

This version does not attempt to reinvent the song’s core. The original vocals remain unaltered, preserving the lyricism and melodic structure that made “Clarity” resonate with a wide audience. Instead, the production reshapes the surrounding energy. The piano build and soaring chorus are followed by a drop structured with hardstyle’s signature triplet kicks and aggressive percussive layering, creating a version intended for live settings rather than quiet listening.

Both artists bring relevant histories to this reinterpretation. Darren Styles has spent decades shaping the UK’s harder dance sounds, from early UK Hardcore through to Electric Fox and recent collaborations with acts like W&W and Da Tweekaz. Toneshifterz, meanwhile, has maintained international visibility through performances at events such as Defqon.1 and Tomorrowland, and is known for incorporating melodic and psy-inflected elements into traditional hardstyle forms.

The choice to rework “Clarity” is not incidental. According to the artists, the song has long featured in their live sets, serving as a touchstone for audience connection. They describe the track as one that “transcended genres” and see their version as a way of giving hard dance “its own moment of beauty, vulnerability, and pure energy.”

What emerges is a functional remix with a clear purpose: translating the emotional resonance of the original into a structure built for communal, high-intensity environments.