Taio Cruz

Taio Cruz is a British pop singer/songwriter whose second album, Rokstarr, catapulted him to international chart-topping success in 2010 with its smash hit singles "Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite." Born Jacob Taio Cruz on April 23, 1985, in London, England, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother, he went to school in Rugby, Warwickshire, West Midlands. His songwriting career got off to a quick start when he was signed to a publishing deal at age 19 and credited with co-writing Pop Idol winner Will Young's 2004 Top Five hit single "Your Game," the recipient of the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Single.In the wake of this success, Cruz made his debut as a solo artist in 2006 with the Top 30 single "I Just Wanna Know." Initially released by his own label, Rokstarr Music London (later renamed Rokstarr Entertainment Division), the song earned him a major-label recording contract with Island Records. Following a few more singles, "Moving On" and "Come on Girl," the latter of which hit the Top Five, Cruz made his full-length album debut in 2008 with Departure.

Entirely written and produced by the singer/songwriter himself, Departure spawned another two singles, "I Can Be" and "She's Like a Star," and earned favorable reviews. Prior to releasing his second album, Cruz furthered his reputation as a hitmaking songwriter. In addition to co-writing songs for British pop superstars Cheryl Cole ("Stand Up") and JLS ("Keep You"), he penned material for grime rapper Tinchy Stryder's second album, 2009's Catch 22, in particular the Top Five hit "Take Me Back" and the chart-topping smash "Never Leave You.""Break Your Heart," the lead single from Cruz's second solo album, Rokstarr, topped the U.K. singles chart in September 2009, a month after "Never Leave You" vacated the spot, and third single "Dirty Picture" was another major hit, reaching the Top Ten. Produced and written in collaboration with fellow U.K. hitmaker Fraser T. Smith, Rokstarr was re-released internationally in 2010 with the addition of "Dynamite," a Dr. Luke production that topped the charts in a half-dozen different countries. (It also earned him three Billboard awards, and a pair of ASCAP awards.) "Break Your Heart" was likewise re-released internationally and hit number one in several different countries, including the United States, where it achieved a record-breaking jump in Billboard from number 53 to the top spot in one week.

TY.O, Cruz's third album, was released in 2011. The party-anthem singles "Hangover" (featuring Flo Rida), "Troublemaker," and "There She Goes" (featuring Pitbull) were particularly successful across Europe; the second of the trio reached the Top 10 in four territories, including the U.K. The same year, Cruz co-wrote David Guetta and Usher's "Without You," another major hit. It wasn't until April 2015 that he released the lead single for his fourth album. The easygoing "Do What You Like," featuring throwback elements that recalled early- to mid-'80s R&B, preceded Roses Collection.

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Anastacia

Raised in New York City, Anastacia came from an entertainment-oriented family: her father was a singer; her mother an actress in musical theater on Broadway. Despite being diagnosed with the chronic intestinal illness Crohn's disease at age 13, she developed a career as a dancer, appearing on Club MTV and in such music videos as Salt-N-Pepa's "Everybody Get Up" and "Twist and Shout." In 1999, she was a finalist on the MTV talent contest show The Cut, which attracted the interest of record labels. She signed to the Daylight custom label of Sony Music's Epic Records and recorded her debut album, Not That Kind, which was released internationally in 2000.

The result was massive success: the album reached the Top Ten in eight European and Far East countries, selling over two million copies. At home, the single "I'm Outta Love" became a dance hit, paving the way for the release of a revised version of Not That Kind in the U.S. in March 2001. A year later, she was creating a buzz in America. She joined Mary J. Blige, Cher, Shakira, and others for VH1's fifth annual Divas Live showcase in May 2002. She made her proper American debut with Freak of Nature in June. A self-titled album followed in 2004, with the compilation Pieces of a Dream: Best Of arriving a year later. After making a successful foray into fashion with her own clothing line in 2006, Anastacia returned to music in 2007 and a year later released her fourth album, Heavy Rotation. Another break preceded 2012’s It’s a Man’s World where she spent time in 2009 touring with LuLu for the Here Come the Girls tour and then her own headline shows in 2010. The album saw Anastacia go back to basics with her powerful voice mixed with rock-influenced, pop tracks, which included a cover of Foo Fighters “Best of You.”

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Ellie Goulding

Having caught the public's attention in 2010 with her singles "Starry Eyed" and "Guns and Horses," British vocalist Ellie Goulding quickly rose to the top of the charts with her infectious electronic pop sound. Although she started out writing songs in a folk-inflected style, she eventually grew into a more electronic-influenced artist, touching upon dance music and ambient synth pop. With her unique soprano warble and knack for writing catchy yet emotionally earnest songs, Goulding, much like her predecessors Kate Bush and Imogen Heap, stands at the forefront of contemporary mainstream music and arty, independent-minded pop. Born in Hereford, England, she later moved to the country's east coast to study drama at the University of Kent. Goulding had developed a love for folk music as a teenager, and her time at university also exposed her to electronica. After two years, she took a break from her studies and moved to West London, where she pursued a career as an alternative singer/songwriter and befriended producers like Starsmith and Frankmusik, who gave her songs an electro-pop twist. In 2009, Goulding began building an audience via the Internet, where early tracks like "Starry Eyed" and a cover of Sam Sparro's "Black & Gold" were posted on tastemaking MP3 blogs such as Discodust. Goulding soon graduated from the blogosphere to print media, gaining praise from mainstream publications like The Guardian and fielding offers from record labels. She ultimately signed a major-label deal with Polydor Records and began making preparations to release her debut album. In the meantime, she penned songs for Diana Vickers, Gabriella Climi, and others.

During the final weeks of 2009, Goulding topped the BBC's Sound of 2010, a poll conducted by British music critics and industry insiders to identify new talent. Building on that momentum, she released Lights -- a sparkling debut album that splashed Goulding's vocal flutter across a landscape of acoustic and synthesized instruments -- in March 2010. Lights topped the U.K. charts during its first week and spun off "Starry Eyed" as a Top Five single (it also charted well in Ireland and New Zealand). Later that year, the album was re-released as Bright Lights, featuring seven new recordings (including a cover of Elton John's "Your Song," which peaked at number two). In 2012, Goulding returned with her sophomore album, Halcyon, which showcased an even more sonically adventurous, electro-pop-infused sound. In 2013, a deluxe reissue featuring ten extra songs was released; entitled Halcyon Days, it acted as a supplement to the original release. Two of its new songs, "Burn" and "How Long Will I Love You," were among her biggest hits. The following year, she was featured on Calvin Harris' Top Ten U.K. hit "Outside," participated in Band Aid 30's update of "Do They Know It's Christmas?," and entered the U.K. Top Ten once more with "Beating Heart," a song released on the soundtrack for Divergent. Another soundtrack single, "Love Me Like You Do," added to the success of Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015. Also in 2015, Goulding released her third studio album, Delirium, which featured collaborations with Max Martin, Greg Kurstin, and others. Included on Delirium was the leadoff single "On My Mind."

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Eva Simons

Eva Simons is a Dutch electro-pop singer who made her solo recording debut in 2009 with the international hit "Silly Boy" after rising to fame on the reality show Popstars several years earlier as part of the chart-topping girl group Raffish. Born on March 17, 1984, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, she grew up in a musical family where both of her parents were musicians, and as a teenager she studied music at the Conservatorium von Amsterdam. She appeared as a member of the girl group Raffish on the 2004 season of Popstars. Following Raffish's appearance, the group topped the Dutch singles chart with its debut single, "Plaything." The full-length album How Raffish Are You? followed in 2005 and was a Top 20 hit. There were also two follow-up singles, "Thursday's Child" and "Let Go," both of which were Top 30 hits. After Raffish dissolved in 2006, Simons embarked on a solo career. In association with EMI, she made her solo recording debut in 2009 with "Silly Boy," an electro-pop song produced by Tearce "Kizzo" Keaz that is reminiscent of Rihanna and Lady Gaga. The song was released internationally, not only in Europe but also in North America and Australia, and it was a hit in many countries. Several more single appearances helped keep her in the spotlight, including "Take Over Control," with DJ Afrojack in 2010, LMFAO's "Best Night," in 2011, and will.i.am's "This Is Love" in 2012. Also in 2012, Simons released her own single, the Zedd-produced "I Don't Like You," which became a number dance hit in the U.S. In 2013, Simons supported Beyonce on her tour of the Netherlands and released the single, "Chemistry." The following year, she made her acting debut in the Dutch feature film, Heksen Bestaan Niet. In 2015, Simons delivered the dancehall-infused single, "Policeman," featuring Jamaican vocalist Konshens.

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Lady Gaga

Glamorously gaudy, a self-made post-modern diva stitched together from elements of Madonna, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga was the first true millennial superstar. Mastering the constant connection of the internet era, Gaga generated countless mini-sensations through her style, her videos, and her music, cultivating a devoted audience she dubbed "Little Monsters." But it wasn't just a cult that turned her 2008 manifesto The Fame into a self-fulfilling prophecy: Gaga crossed over into the mainstream, ushering out one pop epoch and kick-starting a new one, quickly making such turn-of-the-century stars as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears seem old-fashioned, quite a trick for any artist to pull off, but especially impressive for an artist who specialized in repurposing the past -- particularly the '80s -- for present use, creating sustainable pop for a digital world.Perhaps unsurprisingly given her flair for grand gestures, Lady Gaga has deep roots in drama. Born Stefani Germanotta on March 28, 1986, the future Gaga played piano as a child and pursued musical theater in high school, regularly auditioning for New York-based television shows, notably landing a background role for a 2001 episode of The Sopranos. At the age of 17 she enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in their Collaborative Arts Project 21. As she studied, she continued to eke her way into show biz, winding up with an appearance on MTV's short-lived post-Punk'd reality show Boiling Points in 2005. Not long afterward, she left school so she could concentrate on her music, fronting a band called SGBand, which released two EPs prior to splitting. Germanotta then teamed with producer Rob Fusari, a collaboration that produced not only her stage name Lady Gaga, but recordings that led to her signing with Def Jam in the fall of 2006. Her association with Def Jam was short-lived: the label dropped her early in 2007. Gaga rebounded by working with performance artist Lady Starlight, the two developing the Lady Gaga & the Starlight Revue, a tongue-in-cheek neo-burlesque act that gained positive press and proved to be her last stop before signing with Interscope later in 2007. While at Interscope she created a bond with Akon, who convinced Interscope head Jimmy Iovine to have her co-sign with his Kon Live imprint, and Gaga began working with producer/songwriter RedOne, a union that led to the songs that would bring her fame: "Just Dance," "LoveGame," and "Poker Face." These songs formed the foundation of The Fame, the debut album that appeared in August 2008.

Initially, Lady Gaga had greater success in Europe, thanks in large part to the "Just Dance" single, which earned club play in the U.S. and chart placement in other territories. Gaga's march toward the top of the American chart was slow but "Just Dance" reached the peak position in January 2009, followed swiftly by "Poker Face," the single that firmly pushed her into the mainstream, its popularity growing so large it often functioned as a punch line on TV in addition to winning a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. "LoveGame" and "Paparazzi" also appeared as singles before Gaga released The Fame Monster in time for the holiday season of 2009. The mini-LP, available separately and as a package with The Fame, contained the single "Bad Romance," whose popularity soon rivaled "Poker Face" and helped kickstart a stellar year for Gaga in 2010. That year, the hit singles "Bad Romance," "Alejandro," and the Beyoncé duet "Telephone," along with the successful Monster Ball Tour, put Lady Gaga front and center with the public as she worked on her sophomore album, announcing its May release on New Year's Day 2011.The steady march to the summer unveiling of Born This Way was preceded by the release of three singles: "Born This Way," "Judas," and "The Edge of Glory." All of them reached the Top Ten, and the empowerment anthem "Born This Way" hit number one soon after its release in February 2011. The accompanying album arrived to mixed reviews, but it eventually reached double-platinum status and produced subsequent hits with the Top Ten "You and I" as well as a Top 40 entry for "Marry the Night." A full remix of the album, naturally called Born This Way: The Remix, appeared at the end of the year, as did a holiday television special called A Very Gaga Thanksgiving and an accompanying EP, A Very Gaga Holiday.

Gaga continued to promote Born This Way throughout 2012, appearing at various star-studded events and on television programs while continuing her international tour. The tour came to a halt in February of 2013, when she announced that she needed hip surgery to repair a labral tear. As she was healing, she worked on her third album, Artpop. Preceded by the Top Ten single "Applause" and the Top 15 follow-up "Do What U Want" (the latter a duet with R. Kelly), Artpop was released in early November 2013. The album explored familiar themes of fame, love, and empowerment. It became a number one hit in several countries, including the U.S., although sales lagged behind Born This Way and The Fame. The release of Artpop coincided with an announcement that Gaga had parted company with Troy Carter, her manager of five years. Then, shortly after she embarked on the ArtRave tour in May 2014, it was revealed that Bobby Campbell -- her new manager -- had signed them both up to Artist Nation, the artist management division of Live Nation Entertainment. That same year, Gaga worked in collaboration with fellow New Yorker Tony Bennett on an album of jazz standards titled Cheek to Cheek, which was issued in the September. Cheek to Cheek provided a jolt to Gaga's career. The album debuted at number one on Billboard's Top 200 and earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Album, its success opening the door to other snazzy show biz gigs. First, she sang a tribute to The Sound of Music at the 2015 Academy Awards and, a year later, she was nominated for Best Original Song Oscar for "Until It Happens to You," the tune she co-wrote with Diane Warren for the documentary The Hunting Ground. Gaga was also cast as a lead in the 2015-2016 season of American Horror Story, winning a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Elizabeth. She returned with new music in 2016 with Joanne, which was inspired by her late aunt of the same name. Drawing on glam rock, disco, and folk, as well as dance-pop, the album featured an impressive list of collaborators, including Giorgio Moroder, Mark Ronson, Nile Rodgers, Father John Misty, Josh Homme, Florence Welsh, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, and Beck.

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Filous

Austrian electronic music producer Filous (born Matthias Oldofredi in Vienna in 1997) took his stage name from the French word meaning "rascal." However, his music is anything but mischievous. Bright, melodic, and transportive, Filous' breezy musical style was honed with sun-bathed remixes of tracks from artists like Kodaline, José González, Selena Gomez, Milky Chance, Troye Sivan, Tove Lo, and Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. A self-taught multi-instrumentalist -- counting mandolin, guitar, piano, accordion, flute, bass, and drums as a few of his many skills -- Filous began uploading his remix tracks online in 2014, starting with Damien Jurado's "Ohio." The following year he released his first original tune, "How Hard I Try," featuring James Hersey on vocals. Just as Filous graduated from high school, that track went on to notch over ten million streams and was included on his debut EP, Dawn. Released in the summer of 2015, Dawn included contributions from R.O.B.B., Josh Roa, Bishøp, and Jordan Leser, who sang on "Shaded In," which got its own remix single. The EP went on to peak in the Top 25 of both the Dance and Heatseekers charts. He capped his big year on tour with RAC and Big Data. In 2016, Filous released a cover of the Gorillaz/De La Soul hit "Feel Good Inc." featuring vocalist LissA.

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Avicii

Cleverly using dance music blogs as the platform to launch his career, Tim Bergling, aka Avicii, has since become one of the most prominent producers on the burgeoning Swedish house scene. Born in Stockholm in 1989, Bergling only started making music at the age of 18, writing and remixing tracks in his bedroom and then leaking them onto various blogs. Influenced by Daft Punk and Steve Angello, his melodic house sound gained a huge following, and led to support from Tiësto, who invited him to perform a weekly residency at Privilege in Ibiza, and Pete Tong, who released first single "Manman" through his Bedroom Bedlam label. After he remixed tracks for Little Boots, Robyn, and Dizzee Rascal, Bergling's first mainstream release, the Ministry of Sound instrumental "Seek Bromance," became a huge hit across Europe and later in the U.K., thanks to a vocal version featuring Amanda Wilson. In 2012 he released the song "2 Million" after reaching that number of followers on Facebook, while his single "Levels" and its accompanying video were nominated at that year's MTV Video Music Awards.Toward the end of 2012 he released his highly anticipated collaborative single with Nicky Romero. "I Could Be the One" was a smash hit and was featured heavily on reality TV shows and radio play across Europe. In 2013, Avicii teamed up with Ericsson and created the first "crowdsourced" track, which enabled the producer to connect to fans and promote his brand. The single "3 Million" was released to celebrate the three-millionth fan on his Facebook page. "Levels" was nominated for the Best Dance Recording at the 2013 Grammys but lost out to Skrillex & Sirah's "Bangarang." Ahead of his debut album True, he released the single "Wake Me Up" in June 2013. Featuring Aloe Blacc, it reached the top of the U.K. charts and confidently showed off his new musical direction, which was a more traditional style of pop. A remixed version of the album, True: Avicii by Avicii, arrived in 2014 and featured club-aimed versions of the same tracks. A year later his album Stories continued to explore the mixing of EDM and pop, this time with guests like Zac Brown, Wyclef Jean, Matisyahu, and Martin Garrix in support.

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Zedd

Born Anton Zaslavski, German producer Zedd broke onto the European electronic scene in 2010 with a remix of Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites." Though known for his glitch, pulsing production, Zedd's musical journey began in the acoustic realm. Born into a musical family, the future producer cut his teeth on the piano at four years old and eventually moved on to drums and played in a rock band before being drawn into the digital world in 2009. Zedd built a name for himself with his remixes of artists like Lady Gaga, B.o.B, and Armand Van Helden while also releasing his own singles and EPs. In 2012, the young producer delivered his first full-length, the club-worthy Clarity, whose lead single, "Spectrum," shot to the top of the U.S. dance chart. One of the follow-ups, "Stay the Night," featuring Hayley Williams, reached number two on the British pop charts.More diverse with genres like rock and rap as influences, the album True Colors followed in 2015 and featured Selena Gomez, Troye Sivan, and Logic among its guests.

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Zara Larsson

A talented Swedish vocalist and songwriter with a penchant for crafting soulful electro-pop that falls somewhere between Rihanna, Lorde, and Robyn, Zara Maria Larsson first caught the public's eyes and ears in 2008 as the winner of the popular Swedish talent show Talang Sverige (the regional version of Got Talent). Born on December 16, 1997 in Stockholm, Larsson inked a deal with Ten Music Group after winning Talang, and issued her debut EP, Introducing, which featured the hit single "Uncover," in 2013. The song was certified triple-platinum in her home country, and after another EP, Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself, Larsson began work on her official debut long-player. The resulting 1 arrived in 2014 via Record Company Ten and Universal Music. Three additional singles reached the Swedish Top Ten: "She's Not Me," "Carry You Home," and "Rooftop." A pair of new singles for 2015 proved to be her international breakthrough. First, "Lush Life" reached the Top Ten across Europe, then "Never Forget You" (featuring MNEK) hit the Top Ten in Great Britain and went gold in the United States.

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Felix Jaehn

Germany's Felix Jaehn is a successful DJ, producer, and remixer with a bent toward atmospheric yet still pop-oriented deep house. Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1994, Jaehn studied classical violin in his youth before turning his attention to DJ'ing in his teens. Around 2011, he briefly attended London's Point Blank Music College before returning to Hamburg. After reestablishing himself in Hamburg, Jaehn released several well-received singles, including 2014's "Dance with Me" featuring Thallie Ann Seenyen and 2014's "Shine" with Freddy Verano and Linying. However, it was his 2015 remix of OMI's "Cheerleader" that grabbed the public's attention. A catchy reggae-infused dance hit, "Cheerleader" topped the charts across Europe and reached the number three spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Also in 2015, Jaehn earned yet another European hit with his remix of vocalist Jasmine Thompson's song "Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better)," a cover of Rufus & Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody."

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M People

The visionary behind the hit-making British house team M People is Mike Pickering (b. March 1958; Manchester), a respected DJ who played in Quando Quango, booked several early shows by the Smiths, and signed Happy Mondays and James to Factory Records while working A&R during the mid-'80s. Pickering later moved from Factory to the dance label Deconstruction, where he signed acts in addition to recording material with his own band, T-Coy. He formed M People in 1990 with Heather Small (b. Jan. 20, 1965; London) and former Orange Juice member Paul Heard (b. Oct. 5, 1960; London).The group signed to DeConstruction in 1991, and released the single "Colour My Life" that May. Second single "How Can I Love You More," propelled by Small's deep soul vocals, became a U.K. hit and spawned the 1992 album Northern Soul. Later that year M People issued the remix work Northern Soul Extended, and then began a blockbuster 1993 with "Movin' on Up." The album Elegant Slumming was also a hit, earning the group a BRIT award as Best UK Dance Act. The following year, Bizarre Fruit continued M People's success, and was followed in 1997 by Fresco. During the next two years, a pair of collections appeared: Classic M People and Testify.

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Alan Walker

British-Norwegian EDM producer Alan Walker was a mere 18 years old when his track "Faded" became a massive European hit, topping the charts in ten countries and entering the Top Five in six more. Born August 24, 1997 in Northampton, England to a Norwegian mother and British father, Walker moved with his family to Bergen, Norway at the age of two. A true post-millennial child, Walker grew up surrounded by technology and became fascinated by computers. In 2012, inspired by EDM producers K-391 and Ahrix, whom he'd discovered on YouTube, and film composers Steve Jablonsky and Hans Zimmer, he began to create his own music on his laptop. Working in the genre of "drumstep," a kind of slowed-down drum'n'bass, he eventually uploaded the instrumental track "Fade," which was soon picked up and re-released via the No Copyright Sounds (NCS) YouTube channel and free net label that promoted the two aforementioned EDM artists. "Fade" was a huge success, eventually garnering a staggering 65 million hits, and was followed by two more equally cinematic (if somewhat less popular) songs, "Spectre" and "Force." The majors soon sat up and took notice, and in 2015, Walker signed to Sony Music. His first single for the label was "Faded," a reworked version of "Fade" featuring uncredited lead vocals by fey Oslo pop singer Iselin Solheim, who had herself burst onto the scene only a couple of years previously with her song "The Wizard of Us." Driven by Solheim's angelic, ethereal vocal, a melancholy yet catchy melody, and punchy, high-quality production -- as well as a dark, dystopian music video shot in a number of crumbling post-industrial locations in Estonia -- the song topped the charts in Sweden (where it went nine-times platinum), Germany, France, Italy, his native Norway, and elsewhere around the world. He later released a stripped-back acoustic "restrung" version with all the EDM elements taken out. Walker made his live debut at the X Games in Oslo in February 2016, and followed this up with a series of high-profile festival appearances.

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Kygo

Kygo (born Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll in Bergen, Norway) broke through with a sound, termed tropical house, that tended to be brighter and more relaxed than that of his commercial dance music contemporaries. In 2013, the Avicii-inspired producer and DJ reached number one on Norway's VG-lista chart with his slow-galloping remix of Seinabo Sey's "Younger." He gained additional attention through remixes of Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" and Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire." Signed to an international deal with Sony that placed him on RCA in the U.S. and on Syco in the U.K., he released his first proper single, "Firestone," in 2014. Featuring a lead vocal from Conrad Sewell, the song not only went to number one in Norway but reached the Top Ten in several other territories. The following year, the Parson James collaboration "Stole the Show" was Kygo's second consecutive solo number one hit in Norway. Later that year, "Nothing Left," featuring Will Heard, became his third Norwegian chart-topper. These hits, along with additional singles that featured Labrinth, Kodaline, and James Vincent McMorrow, preceded the debut full-length LP Cloud Nine, which was released in May 2016 and quickly went to number one in Norway. That month, two tracks he produced with Stargate appeared on Fifth Harmony's 7/27.

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Major Lazer

A conceptual EDM act based around a fictional character, Major Lazer launched in 2008 as the digital reggae/dancehall project of Diplo, the globetrotting, taste-making DJ/producer whose previous collaborations included work for M.I.A. and Santigold. Recorded at Jamaica's Tuff Gong studios, Major Lazer's debut album, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, featured producer Switch as a member. Vocal contributions came from noted dancehall stars including Vybz Kartel, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas, and Turbulence, as well as Santigold, Nina Sky, and rapper Amanda Blank. Much anticipation and online chatter were fueled in part by the novelty video/song "Zumbi," featuring the comedian Andy Milonakis, the frenetic, legitimate lead single "Hold the Line," and a goofy, invented back-story about a renegade Jamaican commando with prosthetic laser arms who was allegedly a Zombie War veteran and vampire-fighting C.I.A. operative (but was demonstrably a rampant Twitter user). The album was released in June of 2009 as a joint venture between Downtown Records and Diplo's Mad Decent label. Lazers Never Die, an EP with two new songs and three remixes, followed in 2010, along with Lazerproof, a collaborative mixtape with the English electropop duo La Roux.

In 2012, Snoop Dogg joined Diplo for the digital reggae single "La La La," released under the name Snoop Lion, while Switch announced he was leaving the project. Likewise, hype man Skerrit Bwoy left in order to pursue religion. Diplo carried on with producer Jillionaire, joining the group for Free the Universe, the group's sophomore album. The 2013 release featured Wyclef, Bruno Mars, Vybz Kartel, and Shaggy on its long guest list. Sean Paul and Pharrell Williams joined the party for the 2014 EP Apocalypse Soon, which was also the first Major Lazer release to include Walshy Fire, who had replaced Skerrit Bwoy as the group's live MC. The 2015 album Peace Is the Mission featured the massive hit "Lean On," plus chart-topping guests like Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding, and 2 Chainz. It was also supported by an animated series that aired on the FXX cable television network. An extended edition of Peace Is the Mission appeared in November of 2015, sporting five bonus songs. In 2016, Major Lazer scored their biggest pop hit yet with "Cold Water" (featuring Justin Bieber and MØ), which topped the charts in over a dozen countries.

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Lost Frequencies

Belgian house producer Felix de Laet began creating homemade remixes as soon as he got his first laptop, and started using the moniker Lost Frequencies in 2014. His original productions ranged from jazzy deep house to downtempo and trap beats. Lost Frequencies signed to Armada Music, the Dutch trance label co-founded by Armin van Buuren, and his first release was "Are You with Me," a dance-pop song built around a sample from the identically titled song by American country singer Easton Corbin. The track was an immediate hit, spending several months on dance charts throughout Europe. Lost Frequencies remixed singles by Armin van Buuren and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, and prepared for the release of his second single, "Reality," in 2015.

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