Romanian Popcorn

Popcorn is a Romanian dance music style that emerged in the late 2000s and became the country's dominant pop export of the following decade. It combines Europop and house production with a bouncing, syncopated synthesizer figure — staccato notes that seem to pop in and out of the mix — supported by brass hits and, later, accordion lines drawn from Romanian folk dance music. Songs are mostly sung in English, built around simple romantic hooks and a bright, compressed club sound. Associated above all with the production team *Play & Win* and singers such as *Inna* and *Alexandra Stan*, the style placed Romanian acts at the top of charts across Europe.