DARQ DAGR, whose real name is James, is a Nashville-based vocalist and voice artist who spent eight years in a country band before turning to dubstep. Through his wife's interest in BookTok, he discovered the romantasy genre and noticed that many BookTok creators were, in his view, doing the signature growl wrong. His attempt to correct that, using a growl from his metal days, went viral and built an audience that wanted more.
The subgenre that followed is explicitly community-driven. The name "smutstep" came from a comment on one of his videos, and he acknowledges that another creator, Michael Ayok, was doing the BookTok growl long before him. James simply started putting growls over dubstep drops because his followers asked for it, inadvertently creating a niche that blends two communities not usually exposed to general culture.
Social media reactions have been harsh, with some calling the music the worst thing they have ever heard, but demand is real. James compares the strong reactions to how Marilyn Manson was received in the 1990s, though he stresses that smutstep is not serious social commentary. For him, it is about fun, escapism, and letting people embrace what they enjoy in a safe and healthy space.