History Music / GirlTalk

Gregg Michael Gillis (born October 26, 1981), better known under the stage name Girl Talk, is a Pittsburgh-based musician responsible for some of the most popular work with mashups and digital {{sampling}} of the late [=2000s=] and early [=2010s=].

The name has also grown fairly attached to the unique brand of live shows Gillis is known for, with staples including a large group of fans being pulled from the crowd to dance behind him onstage, showers of confetti, toilet paper and/or balloons, and his [[GenkiGuy insane levels of animation]] tying everything together with levels of energy that make a guy behind a laptop seriously rival an arena concert.

The style Girl Talk is now synonymous with consists of taking an enormous amount of samples and sequencing them into one continuous dance mix, usually through the program [=AudioMulch=]. Gillis has described this as an extensive process with ample trial and error, but the end result produces mashups that are known for being equal parts [[RefugeInAudacity hilariously audacious]] and [[SugarWiki/BetterThanItSounds surprisingly fitting]], and consisting of multiple vastly different genres at the same time (ex: the vocals of [[Music/TheNotoriousBIG "Juicy"]] over [[Music/EltonJohn "Tiny Dancer"]], or the vocals of [[Music/{{Ludacris}} "Move Bitch"]] over [[Music/BlackSabbath "War Pigs"]]).

To boot, the name has also grown fairly attached to the unique brand of live shows Gillis is known for, with staples including a large group of fans routinely being pulled from the crowd to dance behind him onstage, showers of confetti and/or toilet paper, and his [[GenkiGuy insane levels of animation]] tying everything together with levels of energy that make a guy behind a laptop seriously rival an arena concert.

** When the first two albums were leaked into Napster and Limewire, Gillis said it was exciting.

** "Cleveland, Shake" opens with a skit where Gillis gets a call from Frank Musarra (a long-time collaborator of his better known as Hearts of Darknesses, which is what he introduces himself as), who tells him that the prominent "Shake That Ass Bitch" sample the track uses was already used by [=Kid606=] on his last record. Gillis admits he didn't buy his last record, and Musarra concurs that he didn't either.

* SubduedSection: As noted by Pitchfork, ''All Day'' relies on these a bit more compared to the consistent energy of his previous albums; a notable example is the relaxed Music/JohnLennon[=/=]Music/{{UGK}} mashup that ends the album.

** "All Eyes On Me" opens the album with a sound collage of various news reporters speaking about the Girl Talk project with varying levels of snark. [[StupidStatementDanceMix The reporters' voices are then chopped up and worked into the beat]] towards the end.

For over a decade, plans for another Girl Talk album never grew beyond murmurs and tidbits of info from interviews, but Gillis addressed the matter for the first time at length when several fans asked about it in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads/comments/u2yy8a/im_the_music_producer_known_as_girl_talk_im/ a 2022 Reddit AMA]]. He said that while he is always working on new mashup material for his shows, he is currently unsure about issuing another official release.

For over a decade, plans for another Girl Talk album never grew beyond murmurs and tidbits of info from interviews, but Gillis addressed the matter for the first time at length when several fans asked about it in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/hiphopheads/comments/u2yy8a/im_the_music_producer_known_as_girl_talk_im/ a 2022 Reddit AMA]]. He said that while he is always working on new mashup material for his shows, context (both personally and culturally) is the decisive factor in whether he'd issue an official release again. To this end, he stated that he is currently unsure about doing so, as he is reportedly not in a place where he believes doing so would be important.

The style Girl Talk is now synonymous with consists of taking an enormous amount of samples and sequencing them into one continuous dance mix, usually through the program [=AudioMulch=]. Gillis has described this as an extensive process with ample trial and error, but the resulting pairings he comes up with are known for being equal parts [[RefugeInAudacity hilariously audacious]] and [[SugarWiki/BetterThanItSounds surprisingly fitting]], and consisting of multiple vastly different genres at the same time (ex: the vocals of [[Music/TheNotoriousBIG "Juicy"]] over [[Music/EltonJohn "Tiny Dancer"]], or the vocals of [[Music/{{Ludacris}} "Move Bitch"]] over [[Music/BlackSabbath "War Pigs"]]).

The style Girl Talk is now synonymous with consists of taking an enormous amount of samples and sequencing them into one continuous dance mix, usually courtesy of the program [=AudioMulch=], with pairings usually being equal parts [[RefugeInAudacity hilariously audacious]] and [[SugarWiki/BetterThanItSounds surprisingly fitting]], and often consisting of multiple vastly different genres at the same time (one of his most famous takes the vocals of [[Music/TheNotoriousBIG "Juicy"]] and layers them over [[Music/EltonJohn "Tiny Dancer"]]).

!!!Hip-hop work

* ''Full Court Press'' (album with Music/WizKhalifa and Music/BigKrit; 2022)

Quitting his engineering job the next year to do music full-time, Gillis found continued success with his next works, but following both the release of 2010's ''All Day'' and his long-time record label Illegal Art going on an indefinite hiatus, he started using the Girl Talk name to do original hip-hop production work for various rappers. While plans for another album have never grown beyond murmurs and tidbits of info from interviews, Gillis still tours to this day under the name, incorporating samples from newer music into his mashups.

To boot, the name has also grown fairly attached to the unique brand of live shows Gillis has become known for, with staples including a large group of fans routinely being pulled from the crowd to dance behind him onstage, showers of confetti and/or toilet paper, and his [[GenkiGuy insane levels of animation]] tying everything together with levels of energy that make a guy behind a laptop seriously rival an arena concert.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His first two albums were firmly rooted in an extremely technical, glitch-based sound. ''Secret Diary'' in particular pushed it to avant-garde extents, usually eschewing beats entirely for stretches of distorted samples so off-the-wall and bizarre that the whole experience has been likened to what a [=YouTube=] Poop album would sound like.

To boot, the name has also grown fairly attached to the unique brand of live shows Gillis has become known for, with staples including a large group of fans routinely being pulled from the crowd to dance behind him onstage, showers of confetti and/or toilet paper, and his [[GenkiGuy insane levels of animation]] tying everything together with levels of energy that make a guy behind a laptop seriously rival an arena rock concert.

Quitting his engineering job the next year to do music full-time, Gillis found continued success with his next works, but following both the release of 2010's ''All Day'' and his long-time record label Illegal Art going on an indefinite hiatus, he started using the Girl Talk name to do original hip-hop production work for various rappers. While he still tours to this day under the name, incorporating samples from newer music, plans for another album have never grown beyond murmurs and tidbits of info from interviews.

Girl Talk began as a side gig in the early 2000s while Gillis studied biomedical engineering in college, and the project's sound initially [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness highlighted glitch and noise]] with more erratically-paced mashups.

As playing for live audiences made a demand for party-oriented music apparent, [[GrowingTheBeard Gillis' sound evolved to both reflect that and garner much more success]], with his first post-glitch work ''Night Ripper'' (released in 2006) being his first album to receive widespread attention from both the public and big-name artists.

Gregg Michael Gillis (born October 26, 1981), better known under the stage name Girl Talk, is a Pittsburgh-based musician responsible for some of the most popular work with mashups and digital {{sampling}} to come out of his time.