Everyone’s got something to say about THE DARE.

Words: Abigail Firth.
Photos: Jennifer McCord.

When asked what is wrong with New York, The Dare answers: "Nothing." Really? "No."

In the few months since we last spoke, things have changed quite a bit for Harrison Patrick Smith, once a New York micro-celeb, now reaching the dizzying heights of, erm, the PopCrave X (formerly Twitter) feed.

'Guess', the Charli xcx 'BRAT' bonus track that Harrison produced, and its subsequent Billie Eilish remix, took a raunchy sledgehammer to the top of the UK chart with its name-dropping pre-chorus lyric, making any casual Radio 1 listener go, "Who's The Dare?" The rest of the world wasn't far behind, and before long, his debut single 'Girls' was having its TikTok moment and making its way up the Spotify viral charts.

Like kismet, it's all kicked off just in time for The Dare's debut album rollout. 'What's Wrong With New York?' was revealed with the similarly cocky 'Perfume' in May and later the hedonistic 'You're Invited'.

"It's been a bit crazy," he says. "Super exciting that people are finding out about me and enjoying the music. It's all happening at once, which is fun."

Fun is practically all Harrison has been having lately. Between doing his own tour around Europe and carrying on his club night Freakquencies, then popping up at various events beside Charli xcx (DJing at her Boiler Room Ibiza set) and her other half George Daniel (at his dh2 label launch rave), his nocturnal lifestyle makes itself known today when we ambush him with an interview at 10am New York time, which he crawls out of bed to do.

But it's this lifestyle that's almost wholly inspired 'What's Wrong With New York?', a record that loosely follows a guy on a night out, going through the motions and working his way through various clubs, drinks, and more. It's similar in its structure to (the original 'BRAT' For Men) 'A Grand Don't Come For Free' by The Streets, although Harrison says it was never intended to be quite the concept album.