Let’s face it, when you hear the phrase ‘figure skating’, your mind doesn’t instantly drift off to the world of club bangers, does it? No, most of the time, you’re more than likely going to be thinking of classical tunes such as ‘Boléro’, or maybe even The Black Eyed Peas’ ‘My Humps’ if Blades Of Glory has taught you anything. However, one recent figure skating performance may change all that.

Traditionally, the sport of figure-skating has only allowed musical pieces that don’t include vocals, effectively meaning that unless you can find a pretty sweet electronic instrumental from Deadmau5, the odds of you having a non-classical tune as the soundtrack to your routine were slim.

However, as Billboard reports, the sport has recently made a rule change which now allows skaters to choose songs that include vocals. So what does this mean for the future of the sport? Well, take a look at Jimmy Ma.

Yes, figure skater Jimmy Ma chose DJ Snake & Lil Jon’s ‘Turn Down For What’ to soundtrack his recent routine at the 2018 National Championships, meaning that the sport that was once known for its rather refined nature has suddenly been kicked up a notch.

Speaking to USA Today after his eleventh place-winning performance, Ma spoke about what went into his decision to choose the song: “Figure skating is an extreme sport,” he explained. “I want the most amount of people to see that it is both an awesome art form and also an awesome sport. The whole point was to get people hyped. Get older people hyped and for younger people to think it is cool.”

So you’re probably pretty excited for the Winter Olympics, right? Well, good news! There’s only one month to go until they hit your screens, so here’s hoping we’ll be seeing a lot more of this sort of performance in the future.

Check out Jimmy Ma’s figure skating routine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eoEctPNGNw

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine