As any fan can attest, dance music is a broad church spanning myriad micro-genres, fan communities and city-specific scenes. The genre’s reach was as wide as ever in 2023, stretching from the biggest festival stages to the most intimate clubs, with variations in moods and beats-per-minute to suit all tastes. 

Nostalgia for rave’s ‘90s heyday was everywhere, fueling big-name releases and underground club sets alike. [Surprise supergroups](https://www.grammy.com/news/coachella-2023-weekend-2-recap-skrillex-four-tet-fred-again-gorillaz-bad-bunny-eric-pyrdz-performances-surprises-video) and [long-time collaborators](https://www.grammy.com/news/skrillex-fred-again-friendship-timeline-collaborations-videos) hit big in 2023, while albums from [James Blake](https://www.grammy.com/artists/james-blake/17760), [the Chemical Brothers](https://www.grammy.com/artists/chemical-brothers/7746), Disclosure and Everything But The Girl showed there’s still power in the electronic LP format. 

With festivals and DJ touring schedules back to a pre-COVID pace, dance music also enjoyed a busy year on the road. Across North America, [ILLENIUM](https://www.grammy.com/artists/Illenium/38165), G Jones, ZHU and ODESZA (not to mention Beyoncé’s house music-indebted Renaissance tour) sold out venues across the country. In a genre that can feel impossible to get your arms around, these five trends were undeniable in 2023. 

Everything Old Was New Again

Wherever you looked this year, DJ-producers were reaching back to the racing sounds of trance, rave and Eurodance that dominated dancefloors in the ‘90s and early 2000s. David Guetta and Calvin Harris spent 2023 memorably mining this past — the latter’s "Desire," featuring Sam Smith, could be ripped straight from a decades-old pop-trance compilation. 

Meanwhile, South Korean DJ-producer Peggy Gou released "(It Goes Like) Nanana," a dance-pop earworm with shades of ATB’s late ‘90s hit, "9PM (Till I Come)." Already a hugely popular draw as a DJ, Gou’s time-warping groover became her first Billboard chart entry and ignited buzz for her debut artist album, expected in 2024. 

On the less commercial spectrum, European producers like DJ Heartstring, Narciss and Marlon Hoffstadt continued to contextualize vintage sounds for a new audience. Meanwhile, a cluster of Dutch DJs, most notably Job Jobse, Young Marco and KI/KI, played throwback anthem-fuelled sets on festival stages usually reserved for steely techno, including at Dekmantel and Time Warp. 

For some DJs, looking back to the past meant embracing the fast and furious tempos of hardstyle and hard dance, two subgenres with passionate niche followings but little mainstream crossover. Continuing a trend from 2022, speedier BPMs were very much in vogue, as DJs kept pace with fans demanding a harder, faster workout. 

Women Danced To The Front 

Many of the year’s most invigorating and genre-blurring releases were made by women. Having built a steady career as a producer and singer, Kenya Grace broke out in 2023 with "Strangers," which caught fire on TikTok and converted new fans via a sleek mix of pop, drum & bass and Grace’s hushed vocals. Peggy Gou’s aforementioned "(It Goes Like) Nanana," also captured the TikTok zeitgeist with a widely-viewed video of Gou teasing the single for a dancefloor in Morocco. 

Electronic chameleon [Charli XCX](https://www.grammy.com/artists/charli-xcx/18360) stayed squarely in the limelight, following 2022’s stellar *Crash* with the one-two punch of "In The City" featuring Sam Smith and "Speed Drive"(from *Barbie the Album*, which is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media alongside *AURORA*, *Weird: The Al Yankovic Story*, *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever- Music From And Inspired By*, and *Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix*). Meanwhile, two of the year’s standout albums came from women coloring outside the lines of their best-known projects: the xx vocalist Romy’s *Mid Air* embraced her queerness through euphoric dance-pop, while Aluna (of electronic duo AlunaGeorge) blossomed as a solo artist and activist on her second album, *MYCELiUM*. 

While dance music’s ranks remained largely white and male in 2023, undeniable albums from the likes of Jayda G, PinkPanthress and Róisín Murphy were a welcome counterbalance. 

UK Bass Got Bombastic

Following the runaway success of Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal’s 2022 UK garage-tinged house anthem "B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)" the previous year, British bass music continued to shine in 2023. 

While still relatively niche in the U.S., the UK garage (UKG) and bassline subgenres that thrived in the Y2K era found a new generation of British converts, thanks to releases like Interplanetary Criminal’s *All Thru The Night* and Conducta’s *In Transit* EP. Elsewhere, acclaimed British singer/songwriter Jorja Smith tapped her UKG roots on the irresistible single "Little Things." 

Welsh duo Overmono weaved garage textures into their accomplished debut album, *Good Lies*, and rounded out the year with a powerful Boiler Room live set from Manchester’s Warehouse Project. The set and album cemented their bona fides as the UK’s next dance festival headliner. 

The many mutations of UK bass music shone bright all year in DJ sets from the likes of Anz, Nia Archives, Jyoty and Joy Anonymous. (The latter’s near-three-hour set with Austrian producer salute and New Jersey-born garage godfather Todd Edwards at Amsterdam Dance Event captured the jubilant mix of house and UKG that was dominant this year.) 

Bringing it full circle, Eliza Rose parlayed the success of "B.O.T.A." into a collaboration with Calvin Harris on this year’s housey "Body Moving," which started with the pair exchanging Instagram DMs. 

Technology Upped The Ante

In a year where artificial intelligence and rapid technological advancement were burning topics, a wave of dance music artists found new ways to embrace the future. 

The possibilities of technology to enhance live performance were on full display in two raved-about Coachella sets. Swedish veteran [Eric Prydz](https://www.grammy.com/artists/eric-prydz/5679) brought his HOLO show to the California festival, deploying cutting-edge tech to create giant holographic images that extend over the crowd. Meanwhile, inside the festival's Sahara Tent, melodic techno duo Tale Of Us completed their transition to EDM crowd-pleasers with a full-scale audiovisual spectacle that explored themes of robot-human connection. (One half of the duo, Matteo Milleri, is also all-in on NFTs.) 

Meanwhile, techno favorite Nicole Moudaber debuted an AV show in which her own movements control a towering digital avatar. The year also saw big-name DJs embracing the metaverse — from Carl Cox playing a set in the Sensorium Galaxy to Swedish House Mafia joining the Roblox platform — in a trend that’s sure to carry into 2024. 

Techno & Techno-House Go Center Stage

Continuing a trend from 2022, big room techno and tech-house muscled onto U.S. festival stages usually reserved for EDM anthems. In particular, tech-house — which in 2023 sounds a world away from the raw UK club records that birthed the subgenre — cemented its place in the mainstream with Fisher and Chris Lake’s back-to-back set at Coachella’s Outdoor Theatre. (Later in the year, the pair shut down Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles for an epic street party.) 

Both coming off a star-making 2022, tech-house mischief-makers John Summit and Dom Dolla leveled up with bigger shows and feverish fan followings. Meanwhile, Belgian sensation Charlotte de Witte became the techno artist booked on the Ultra Miami main stage, scheduled incongruously alongside the likes of Zedd and Afrojack, while in Europe, techno specialists Amelie Lens and Nina Kraviz were given the same honor (and challenge) for a sprawling crowd at Tomorrowland. 

Whether mining the past or accelerating into the future, the dance/electronic genre never stood still this year, setting the stage for a thrilling 2024.  

[2023 In Review: 5 Trends That Defined Pop Music](https://www.grammy.com/news/pop-music-trends-2023-year-in-review-taylor-swift-sza)

July has graced us with a diverse array of new music from all genres, lighting up dance floors and speakers everywhere.

The last weekend of the month brings exciting new collaborations, including another iconic track from Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, as well as a fierce team-up from Paris Hilton and Meghan Trainor. Halsey and Muni Long offered a taste of their forthcoming projects, while Jordan Davis and Miranda Lambert each delivered fun new country tunes. 

In addition to fresh collabs and singles, there's a treasure trove of new albums to uncover. Highlights include Ice Spice's Y2K!, Rakim's G.O.D., Sam Tompkins' hi, my name is insecure, Wild Rivers' Never Better, Tigirlily Gold's Blonde, and kenzie's biting my tongue.

As you check out all the new music that dropped today, be sure you don't miss these 10 tracks and albums.

Although fans anticipated Machine Gun Kelly's next release to mark his return to hip-hop, no one seems to be complaining about "KellyRoll." Embracing the trend of venturing into the country genre, mgk teams up with fellow GRAMMY-nominated artist Jelly Roll on their newest track, "Lonely Road."

The genre-blending track interpolates John Denver's classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads." However, unlike Denver's sentimental ode to the simplicity of rural life, mgk and Jelly Roll reinterpret the track through the lens of romantic relationships that have come to a, well, lonely end.

As mgk revealed in an Instagram post, "Lonely Road" was a labor of love for both him and Jelly Roll. "We worked on 'Lonely Road' for 2 years, 8 different studios, 4 different countries, changed the key 4 times," he wrote. "We finally got it right."

In another interpolation special, Halsey samples not one but two classics in their latest single, "Lucky." The song's production features elements of Monica's 1999 hit "Angel of Mine," while the chorus flips Britney Spears' fan-favorite "Lucky" into a first-person narrative.

While Halsey has always been a transparent star, their next project is seemingly going to be even more honest than their previous releases. After first revealing their journey with lupus with the super-personal "The End" in June, "Lucky" further details their struggles: "And I told everybody I was fine for a whole damn year/ And that's the biggest lie of my career."

Though they haven't revealed a release date for their next project, Halsey referred to her next era as a "monumental moment in my life" in an Instagram post about the "Lucky" music video — hinting that it may just be their most powerful project yet.

Read More: Everything We Know About Halsey's New Album

Ahead of Paris Hilton's forthcoming album, Infinite Icon — her first in nearly 20 years — the multihyphenate unveiled another female-powered collaboration, this time with Meghan Trainor. Co-produced by Sia, "Chasin'" is a lively pop anthem about discovering self-worth in romantic relationships and finding the strength to walk away from toxicity.

"She is the sister I always needed and when she calls me sis, I die of happiness inside," Trainor told Rolling Stone about her relationship with Hilton. Coincidentally, Trainor first wrote the track with her brother, Ryan, but the pop star was waiting for the right collaborator to hop on the track — and Hilton was just that.

"We made something truly iconic together," Trainor added. "It was a bucket list dream come true for me."

A highly awaited return to music after eight years, Australian electro-pop duo Empire Of The Sun are back with their fourth studio album, Ask That God.

"This body of work represents the greatest shift in consciousness our world has ever seen and that's reflected in the music," says member Lord Littlemore in a press statement.

Like their previous work that transports listeners to a different universe, this album continues that tradition with trancey tracks like lead single "Changes" and the thumping title track. Ask That God offers a chance to reflect on the blend of reality and imagination, while also evoking the radiant energy of their past songs.

Dance music's collaborative powerhouse, Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, are back with another summer hit. Their latest track, "Free," marks the fourth collaboration between the duo — and like their past trilogy of hits, the two have another banger on their hands.

The track debuted earlier this month at Harris' show in Ibiza, where Goulding made a surprise appearance to perform "Free" live. With Harris delivering an infectious uptempo house beat and Goulding's silky vocals elevating the track, "Free" proves that the pair still have plenty of musical chemistry left.

Post Malone's transition into country music has been anything but slow; in fact, the artist went full-throttle into the genre. The  New York-born, Texas-raised star embraced his new country era with collaborations alongside some of the genre's biggest superstars, like Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton. Continuing this momentum as he gets closer to releasing F-1 Trillion, Post Malone teams up with Luke Combs for the new track "Guy For That."

The catchy collaboration tells the story of a relationship that has faded, where the protagonist knows someone who can fix almost anything, except for a broken heart. It's an upbeat breakup song that, like Post's previous F-1 Trillion releases, can get any party going — especially one in Nashville, as Malone and Combs did in the track's music video.

Just one month after Surfaces released their latest album, good morning, the duo's Forrest Frank unveiled his own project, CHILD OF GOD — his debut full-length Christian album. Among several features on the LP, one of the standouts is with GRAMMY-winning artist Tori Kelly on the track "Miracle Worker."

Over a plucky electric guitar and lo-fi beats, Frank and Kelly trade verses before joining for the second chorus. Their impassioned vocals elevate the song's hopeful prayer, "Miracle Worker make me new."

Their collaboration arrives just before both artists hit the road for their respective tours. Frank kicks his U.S. trek off in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 31, and Kelly starts her world tour in Taipei, Taiwan on Aug. 17.

Since their debut in 2022 with "Tippy Toes," Japanese girl group XG has been making waves and showing no signs of slowing down. With their first mini album released in 2023 and now their latest single, "SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT," the group continues to rise with their distinctive visuals and infectious hits.

The track features a nostalgic rhythm reminiscent of early 90s R&B, showcasing the unique personalities of each member. As an uptempo dance track, it's designed to resonate with listeners from all across the globe.

"SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT" also serves as the lead single for XG's upcoming second mini album, set to release later this year.

For nearly 15 years, Mustard has been a go-to producer for some of rap's biggest names, from Gucci Mane to Travis Scott. On the heels of earning his first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper as a producer with Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," he's back with his own collaboration-filled project.

Faith of a Mustard Seed features a robust 14-song track list with contributions from Vince Staples, Lil Yachty, Charlie Wilson, and more. The LP marks Mustard's fourth studio album, and first since 2019's Perfect Ten.

In an interview with Billboard, Mustard shared that the album's title is an ode to late rapper Nipsey Hussle, who suggested the title during one of their final conversations before his untimely death in 2019. And once "Not Like Us" hit No. 1, Mustard knew it was time to release the long-in-the-making album.

The title of his ninth studio album is an apt description of Steve Aoki himself.

The cake-throwing DJ/producer — best known commercially for his 2012 remix of Kid Cudi, MGMT, and Ratatat’s "Pursuit Of Happiness" — can very well be called a paragon of longevity in dance and electronic music. And like his stature as one of the world’s highest-paid DJs (Forbes regularly cites him on its annual list), this status is hard-won.

"[The dance music industry] is…not forgiving," he tells GRAMMY.com on a Zoom call from his home in Las Vegas. He appears in quintessential Aoki fashion: shirtless, his long, dark hair cascading down his shoulders. "Yes, I have a safety level where I can continue to play shows based on old tracks, but that doesn't last very long. You have to constantly stay ahead." 

 Akin to HiRO — the protagonist of the HiROQUEST graphic novel series that he created to pair with his last two studio albums, HiROQUEST: Genesis and HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix — Aoki is on a quest of his own. HiRO (a genetically augmented meta-human) is tasked with traveling into the multiverse 400 years into the future to save Earth from an unavoidable disaster. Aoki’s charge — continuous innovation of his craft to sustain his longevity in dance music’s ever-saturated and rapidly-moving market — is no less dire nor significant to the Dim Mak Records founder.  

"I've always had this starvation complex where I have to keep doing my s—, or else I'm going to die," he muses casually, phone in hand as he paces around his house, as he’s done since he joined our call. Judging by the deadpan manner in which he delivers this line and the laugh that caps it off, this is not a revelation for Aoki. As the Greek maxim goes, "know thyself." Assuredly, he does, and well enough to know he has to keep doing his thing, hence Paragon.

Read more: Steve Aoki Connects Music & The Card-Game Metaverse On 'Hiroquest': "It's About Telling The Story Of The Future Cryptid World"

The 18-track project, out June 28, harkens back to Aoki’s dance floor roots following 2023’s Latin-influenced HiROQUEST 2: Double Helix and 2022’s alternative- and punk-guided HiROQUEST. It teems with high-profile crossover collaborations, like "Heavenly Hell" (Ne-Yo), "Electrowavebaby 2.0" (Kid Cudi), and "Get Lower" (Lil Jon). Most importantly, though, it reflects "a newer sound of Steve Aoki" — a compelling and contemporary means of extending his "safety level" in the dance space.

Ahead of Paragon’s release via his own imprint and an international tour, Steve Aoki spoke with GRAMMY.com about the album’s relationality to his artistic identity and HiROQUEST and why, even after nine albums, he’s still "very excited and very hungry to get back in the studio and continue to write music that matters." 

 This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

Why was now the right time for you to go back to your true dance roots?  

An album is always about where I am at that moment. I look at each album in a way where I don't want to think too deeply about it. I want it to be more of a timestamp that, in 10 years’ time, reflects that moment in time for me.   

This time, a lot of the collaborations I was doing just fluidly became more of the same synergy. It’s a flow, and Paragon is also directly reflective of the kind of music I'm playing at my shows.  

Dance music is certainly on a rise, especially the newer sounds of dance music. Sonically, the climate's changing a lot, which challenges me as a producer who was more dominant in the 2010s. I was putting out a lot of music then, and those songs were more prolific in the electronic dance music community.  

Now, I'm challenged to stay ahead of my own production. The DNA of your sound stays with you, but you’ve got to always innovate, and this is by far the most innovative dance album I've ever done.

What, in your opinion, makes 'Paragon' so innovative?

When I go back into Paragon and I listen to each song, it's a newer sound of Steve Aoki; it's very dynamic and diverse. There’s house records, there's techno records, there's different beats-per-minute ranges — it's not just hard-hitting festival records.   

I think it's forward-thinking for me as a producer, and I'm already working on the "Part B." I distinctively made it shorter than my previous three albums, which were over 20 songs each. This is more of a traditional album length because I look at it as a two-part story musically. 

I have a bigger story that I've been attaching to my albums, like HiROQUEST and HiROQUEST 2. I wrote a book that joins those two albums into a full-length science fiction fantasy anime storyline with art and cards and collectability factor, all that fun stuff outside of music. 

Paragon is going to be an Easter egg or precursor to what's to come — the continuation of HiROQUEST. I just wanted to not use the name HiROQUEST because I wanted to do something different.

How does the album’s title fit into this larger narrative?

The Paragon Aura is a huge theme of Book 2 of HiROQUEST — it's what brings HiRO back from the "lost world" where he's been stuck. He essentially dies at the end of Book 1 and gets stuck in this lost world. This aura brings him back.

The HiROQUEST is a quest of 10 rings and HiRO is trying to obtain all 10, so he gets this power that’s going to be discussed in Book 2.  In order to forge the 10 rings to this omnipotent god ring, he has to use the Paragon Aura. The Paragon Aura is an extremely powerful tool and it's a big theme of the second book. 

You’re certainly a paragon of longevity in the dance space, which is rare. How have you maintained such an enduring and continuously expanding presence? 

The hunger needs to be there. It doesn't matter how successful you might be to the world. Yes, I have a safety level where I can continue to play shows based on old tracks, but that doesn't last very long. You have to constantly stay ahead. 

I think dance music is a bit different from rock or other genres where you can tour off your old catalog. Blink-182 never has to make another new song if they don't want to; they're going to sell out stadiums based on their catalog. Radiohead, Coldplay, they never have to make another new song — they're going to sell out.  

There's certain artists in the dance world that are veterans in the space. They’re household names. Like Tiësto or David Guetta…they don't have to release any more music, but they do. When they drop new music, it's still consistently part of culture, which is so exciting. I think that's exciting about the dance world; we still have a strong fingerprint. 

Do you count yourself among the veteran dance acts who don’t have to release more music if they don’t want to?  

There are definitely people who might think I'm in this category, but I don't personally think about myself like that. Not doing so keeps me fighting for it. I'm still very excited and very hungry to get back in the studio and continue to write music that matters.  

The baseline has to be that you're giving all of yourself to this. I still remember touring in a band with four sweaty dudes, showering once a week, and staying at people's houses. Not once in those 14 tours did we ever stay in a hotel. All the money went to gas and feeding ourselves.

We’d be broke by the end of the tour, and I’d be ready for the next one. I still remember the feeling of okay, we’re broke, we’re stinky, and we’re back in our town. Now we gotta write more music to get back on the road again, and I loved it. I did like 14 full tours by the time I was 21. It's a lot more luxurious these days but doing what you love has to be the foundation or else you can't survive the hard. 

I've been doing my record label, Dim Mak, for almost 30 years now. The people who have worked for Dim Mak…it's a lifestyle. Yes, they're working to get a paycheck, but they're working first and foremost because they believe in the culture. You have to be down with the culture first and the paycheck second. 

What can fellow DJ/producers take from the example you’ve set?

I think the most important thing is to never stop making music and leveling up your shows because those are the two most important things as an artist in any space. The live experience is really important. Your music is number one, though, because if your music's not good, no one's even going to go to your live show. You need to build your sound to a point where people know your music as you, and then you better show up and make your show really good. And not even just good — you’ve got to make it your own show.     

A Steve Aoki show is a unique show, and in some cases, it's outperforming my music. People will talk more about my cakes than my new album. I'll take it though, because I just want people to have a great experience. 

There are a lot of artists who find their sound, develop it, people latch onto them, and then they just fizzle out for whatever reason. When it fizzles out, that's when the real test comes and it’s to go back to it. If you really care about the long game, you’ve got to keep putting more cakes in the oven. 

Nine albums is a tall tally, especially for the dance genre, where the album is not the dominant format. Why is it important to you to continue making albums despite this dynamic?

I've always been an album guy because I was a band guy. When you're in a band, the most important thing is to make an album, not a song. You have to make a collection of music that defines you. 

When I was in bands, I listened to albums, and I’d listen to every single song. I know people don't do that anymore, but I still like to follow that, I can't help it. I collect vinyl; I do certain things in the old-school sense that you can't kick out of me.

Read more: 8 Times Dance Stars Channeled Their Inner Punk Kid, From Deadmau5 & Gerard Way To Rezz & Silverstein 

I know people aren't listening to the full album. I know they're listening to the song that's probably the main song of the whole album. And even if one one-hundredth of my fans listen to the full album, I don't actually care. I'm still going to make the album. It goes back to the most important thing: I'm doing it for myself first. 

I love telling a story. All the attention to detail and my intention to create this moment in time means so much to me. I know one one-hundredth of the people are going to be there for it, and I'm totally fine with that. I've grown a community of fans because I care so much about the detail; I go so deep into the story. I do it for them too. And the people who are in and out and come just for the quick hit, that's fine. They're absolutely welcome and invited to be part of it. 

That one one-hundredth appreciates the concept-driven approach to album-making, especially because this genre isn’t exactly known for that compared to other genres.

Yeah, and I think a lot of stuff that I'm doing, especially with HiROQUEST, has not been done before, like bringing in anime culture, card culture, comic books, and manga. No one's doing that in [dance music]. The Weeknd did a comic book and so did Kid Cudi. I'm following the same practice of combining these worlds.

And I went deep in HiROQUEST: Book 1. It's 50,000 words. I spent like 16 months writing this book; it’s 250 pages. That’s a big ordeal, but what's great is we’ve already sold out two printings. We're already in our third printing now, which is incredible for a story that had never been heard before.

I love my fans for that. It allows me to have the courage to keep going. To step out like this is a lot of work and a lot of time, and you don't want to fall on deaf eyes and ears. I'm already writing Book 2.  

Tove Lo & SG Lewis Crafted Sweaty New EP 'HEAT' In Celebration Of Their Queer Fans 

Kylie Minogue has taken home the golden gramophone for Best Pop Dance Recording — an all-new category — at the 2024 GRAMMYs, for "Padam Padam."

Minogue came ahead of of David Guetta, Anne-Marie and Coi Leray ("Baby Don’t Hurt Me"); Calvin Harris featuring Ellie Goulding ("Miracle"); Bebe Rexha and David Guetta ("One in a Million"); and Troye Sivan ("Rush").

The win marks Minogue’s second GRAMMY win after six career nominations. She had previously won Best Dance Recording for "Come Into My World."

The Australian pop star — along with producer Peter "Lostboy" Rycroft and mixing engineer Guy Massey — are the first-ever winners of the Best Pop/Dance Performance category. It was one of three new categories introduced at the 66th GRAMMYs; the other two are Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Best African Music Performance. 

Lostboy took the stage to accept the award on behalf of himself, Minogue, and Massey. 

"Padam Padam" charted at No. 7 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic chart; it was a much bigger hit in the UK, where it was a No. 1 hit. The song was embraced by the LGBTQ+ community on both sides of the Atlantic. 

"It's hugely important to me and so touching," said Minogue of her popularity with LGBTQ+ fans in an interview with GRAMMY.com earlier this year. "I hope that for that community and beyond, I just want to say I am open-minded and I want people to be happy in themselves. That community needed support and still needs support. I'm here. And they padamed for me."

Keep checking this space for more updates from Music’s Biggest Night!

2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Winners & Nominees List

By any measure, 2023 was a remarkable year for electronic wunderkind Fred again.. Over 12 whirlwind months, the South Londoner born Fred Gibson accelerated himself from hyped producer to top-line artist, packing festival stages and selling out an eight-night Los Angeles residency.

While this explosive success seemed like it happened overnight, the Fred again.. phenomenon began building in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As dance music continued its evolution away from the more-is-more EDM era, Fred again..'s earnest, deeply personal, yet still danceable productions struck a chord with fans craving connection in lockdown.

In contrast to big-name DJs up high on faraway festival stages, the producer felt endearingly grounded, from the intimacy of his music to the enthusiasm of his social media posts. His polished, wide-ranging sound — which blends influences from pop, UK garage, house, trance, and the post-dubstep of his key influence, Burial — is also deeply rooted in online culture, incorporating snippets and samples taken from FaceTime, YouTube and voice notes.

Fred again..'s reputation as a dance music star for the internet era set the stage for his Boiler Room performance in the summer of 2022, which has racked up 29 million views and climbing. The Boiler Room takeoff was buoyed by his Swedish House Mafia and Future collab, "Turn on the Lights again..," and a host of unreleased heat that materialized on his third album, Actual Life 3.

Building on this powerful momentum, Fred again.. evolved from internet sensation to full-on superstardom in 2023. His year of highs peaked with four nominations at the 2024 GRAMMYs, including the coveted Best New Artist Category — where he's the only dance act.

As Music's Biggest Night draws closer, here are six feats that made Fred again.. dance music's indisputable rookie of the year.

He Found GRAMMYs Glory On His Own Terms

Before breaking out as a solo artist, Fred again.. earned his stripes as a sought-after producer, working alongside everyone from grime luminaries Stormzy and Headie One to pop superstar Ed Sheeran. Fittingly, his first GRAMMY nominations were for work behind-the-scenes on Jayda G's luminescent house anthem "Both Of Us" (Best Dance/Electronic Recording in 2021) and Sheeran's global hit "Bad Habits" (Song Of The Year in 2022).

The 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards mark the first time he's been recognized for his own music. In addition to Best New Artist, the producer is nominated in Best Dance/Electronic Music Album, Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022), and twice in Best Dance/Electronic Recordings for the '90s trance-channeling Romy collab, "Strong" and the bass-heavy "Rumble" with longtime collaborator Skrillex and Flowdan. 

The four nods are a crowning achievement for Fred again.. as a solo artist that recognizes his individual achievements while also celebrating his evergreen talents as a collaborator. 

He Built On Prior Success  

On his first solo album, 2021's Actual Life (April 14 – December 17 2020), Fred again.. reflected the isolation and strangeness of a COVID-19 lockdown by lacing audio clips of his "actual life" into a collage of electronic production. He followed it later that year with Actual Life 2, which used the same format to explore themes of grief and new beginnings with samples collected from his social feeds. 

"Social media is obviously capable of being a really negative thing," he later told NPR. "But it was also very clear to me that it is capable of being a very beautiful thing." 

That year, Fred again.. also released "Marea (We've Lost Dancing)," featuring musings via FaceTime from DJ-producer the Blessed Madonna on the loss of the dance floor community during the pandemic. Distilling the signature Fred again.. joy-meets-melancholy equation into a cathartic house package, the track became an unlikely lockdown anthem. In 2022, Fred again.. made his Coachella debut with a full live show, soundtracking sunset in the Mojave tent for a tightly packed crowd. 

Coming a few months after Coachella, Fred again..'s Boiler Room set — from his hometown of London, no less — was perfectly timed to send him stratospheric. Over a tight hour, his hybrid DJ-live set showcased his next-level skills on the Maschine+ drum machine/sampler and previews of new music that fans cut into clips and dissected online. Throughout it all, the producer projected a beaming, can't-quite-believe-it elation that was hard to resist. 

When Actual Life 3 arrived that October, complete with those Boiler Room highlights, its crowd-pleasing mix of emotion and jump-up energy already had a captive audience who were now desperate to catch Fred again.. live in 2023. 

He Formed An Instantly Iconic DJ Trio

Fred again..'s banner year was turbo-charged by his DJ bromance with brothers-in-bass Skrillex and Four Tet. Cheekily self-coined "the Pangbourne Mafia," a reference to the sleepy English village where they convened to make music, the trio kicked off 2023 with a surprise back-to-back-to-back set in London, and the fun snowballed from there. (As Fred again.. put it in 2022, "Other human beings are infinitely more inspiring than anything else in the world.") 

Following a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden in February 2023, the DJs were called in last-minute to close weekend two of Coachella. For fans who fell in love with Fred again..'s Boiler Room, it was a surreal thrill to hear "Danielle (smile on my face)" and "Delilah (pull me out of this)" ring out across an expansive sea of festival goers. 

He Ticked Major Goals Off His Bucket List

Instead of coasting on the goodwill of his breakout 2022, Fred again.. spent 2023 searching out new challenges and shades to his sound. In March, he teamed up with Irish singer/songwriter Dermot Kennedy (whose soulful croon appeared on the first Actual Life) and legendary lyricist The Streets on the track "Mike (desert island duvet)". 

Fred again.. appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series in April, which he approached with his customary wide-eyed zeal. The performance of Actual Life cuts featured Fred again.. as a one-man band, jumping between keyboard, vibraphone, marimba, and microphone, while looping his vocals and beats to dazzling effect. 

In May, hot on the heels of that adrenalized Coachella closer, he switched up the pace and released an ambient album, Secret Life, with his musical mentor Brian Eno, who he first met at just 16 years old in Eno's a capella choir group.

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He Played His Biggest Live Shows To Date 

Closing Coachella with your best DJ buddies is hard to top, but Fred again.. kept leveling up. In June, he and his onstage partner Tony Friend played to an expanse of revelers on shoulders and waving colorful flags at Glastonbury, which he later called "my favorite show we've ever played". 

From there, he took his well-honed live show across the U.S. and Europe, complete with precisely-cued visuals across a multi-screen setup with LED panels. Instead of jumping from city to city, the producer set up record-breaking residencies in Los Angeles and New York that allowed him to deliver the same highs over multiple nights. 

This summer, he's set to headline Sunday night at Bonnaroo — reportedly his only U.S. festival appearance scheduled for 2024 — followed by select festival dates across Europe and the UK, including the famed Reading and Leeds double-header. 

He Kicked Off A New Musical Era 

In August, Fred again.. released "adore u" with Nigerian artist Obongjayar, describing it on his Soundcloud as "the first song of a whole new world to me". Inspired by the pair's respective siblings, "adore u" arrived as the perfect synthesis of Fred again..'s earnest, open-hearted world view and club-ready instincts. The producer followed "adore u" with the aching house shuffle ''ten," featuring US rapper Jozzy, and the rowdier drum & bass-filled "leavemealone" alongside previous Best New Artist nominee Baby Keem. 

This trio of 2023 songs reflects a broadening of Fred again..'s sound and influences ahead of his next album project. Whatever highs are yet to come, 2023 will stand as the year that Fred again.. made his own. 

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