A dubstep musician and voice artist named James has gone viral under the name DARQ DAGR for a genre he calls 'smutstep': explicit, flirtatious spoken lines delivered over heavy dubstep beats. The videos, such as one where he snarls 'On your knees' before the drop, have found an audience in the dark romance corner of BookTok — and a much larger crowd of people who find them absurd.
Smutstep is a direct response to BookTok's romantasy boom, where series like The Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses have built massive readerships. The source notes that romantasy is not a niche fandom but a billion-dollar industry, and that romance readers often face scrutiny from outsiders. James, who says he reads the books too, saw a way to connect two communities that both celebrate being unapologetic about niche interests.
His rise has been fueled in part by haters. Reposts on X drew replies calling the music 'the worst thing I have ever heard' and questioning who asked for it. But James told 404 Media that the culture around BookTok and dubstep is about 'letting your freak flag fly' — accepting and embracing what you enjoy within a safe, healthy space. Whether the wider internet is laughing with him or at him, the attention has made smutstep impossible to ignore.