Electronic artists have the innate ability to hype people up with their music. Just ask American beach volleyball player April Ross, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist and 2016 bronze medalist listening to EDM to fuel her quest for gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ross recently shared the artists and tracks which pump her up to compete—and it's not for the faint of heart. Some of her go-to artists include Kill the Noise, Skrillex, Flux Pavilion, Excision, NGHTMRE, Kygo, and Avicii, As a true testament to her level of EDM fandom, she has curated her own Olympic playlists for the last five years, incorporating songs like "Wake Me Up" by Avicii, "The Drop" by Bro Safari, and "Birdz" by Wuki and Smokepurpp.
"Something about the right kind of electronic music just speaks to my inner core," Ross told Rolling Stone. "It matches my vibration when I’m working out or getting ready to compete. There is a definite correlation for me between performance and good warm-up music."
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Olympic Beach Volleyball Star April Ross Listens to Excision, Avicii, More on Quest for Gold
“Something about the right kind of electronic music just speaks to my inner core."
"I listen to a lot of playlists on Spotify and when something speaks to me, I add it to my Tokyo playlist," Ross continued. "It’s really few and far between that I find a song worthy—it has to have a good drop! I’m pretty laid-back in general, and when I go out on the court I want to be ready to battle, I want to be aggressive and fierce, so I listen to music with that same vibe.”
April Ross diving for a ball at the AVP Austin Open professional beach volleyball tournament in Austin, Texas on May 19th, 2017.
Ralph Arvesen
As of this publication, Ross and Alix Klineman—affectionately dubbed the American "A-Team"—have advanced to the gold medal match of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament after beating Switzerland 21-12, 21-11.
