If you have been following dance music even slightly, Marshmello is a name that is bound to come across. No, that’s not Marshmallow spelt incorrectly. Marshmello is an anonymous producer and DJ who puts out fluffy future bass and soft trap music. Inspired by masked heroes of dance music like Daft Punk and Deadmau5, Marshmello wears a Marshmallow-shaped helmet with an all-white attire. Let’s look into the quick rise of Marshmello in just over a year.
Marshmello released his first original titled “WaVeZ” in March of 2015. This future bass track made waves and soon the question started popping out ,”who is Marshmello?”. To his response, he has remained firm to his statement that people should enjoy the music and not care about who he/she is.
Marshmello carried on with dishing out quality originals like ‘PrO‘, ‘BLocKs‘ and ‘WroNg‘, which did quite well for his growing fanbase. It is safe to say that a defining moment in his career was when Skrillex reposted his original “FinD Me” ( which revolves around the theme of people wanting to find out who he is) as a part of his weekly “Skrillex Secrets”. Marshmello also unveiled quality remixes for Zedd and Calvin Harris. His quick pace in putting out new music strategically helped to build the Marshmello hype.
Soon, Diplo shared the same enthusiasm as Skrillex and Marshmello landed an official remix in June of 2016 for Grammy award winning Jack Ü and Justin Bieber track, Where Are Ü now. The remix was very well received that Justin Bieber even uses it rather than the original one to perform live. Skrillex also gave his own flip to the remix later. Not only that, suddenly he started appearing on high profile showcases such as Mad Decent Block Party and boat parties. In only a couple of months, this act had achieved what only an up and coming producer can dream of.
After landing a guest mix on Diplo and Friends, new Marshmello music kept on flowing. While originals like BoUnCE and HoMe kept his signature Marshmello sound evolving, he also remixed Avicii‘s super hit track Waiting for Love. After many requests from fans, Jauz and Marshmello collaborated on an unofficial remix for Duke Dumont ‘s “Need U (100%)” and combined the Mellogang and Sharksquad. Ending the year with a bang, Marshmello delivered a stunning remix for Adele‘s newly released single, Hello which was widely supported by the big names but was removed from SoundCloud due to copyright claims. You can download it from here.
Came 2016 and Marshmello released his debut album Joytime in January via his own label Joytime collective. Both the singles “Keep it Mello” featuring rapper Omar LinX and “Want U 2” quickly topped the playlist all over the world. The album peaked at number 5 on Billboard’s electronic/dance chart.
In 2016, Marshmello takes the things up a notch and remixes the likes of Alan Walker, Galantis and Martin Garrix. He debuted on Monstercat with his stellar single “Alone” and also held a remix contest for the same. Along with the contest winner future house duo MRVLZ, the remix pack included quality remixes from Slushii, Getter, Diskord, Streex and Luca Lush. The melodic and emotional aspects of Marshmello music have been one of the major factor contributing to his quick rise to the fame.
Marshmello has been playing big stages like EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Miami and more in 2016. He even took off his helmet revealing his true identity at EDC Las Vegas which turned out to be Tiesto. It was obviously a publicity stunt as Tiesto and Marshmello were spotted hanging out in same costume backstage, but for some time, Marshmello made the fans skip a heartbeat.
As a concept, Marshmello represents that people have grown overly attentive to the DJ rather than the music. He unites people with his motto of “Everybody is Marshmello”. His manager Moe Shalizi who is known for his creativity and dedication towards his artists also has a role in the early rise of Marshmello brand. He also manages the artists like Jauz, Dotcom, Sikdope, Slushii and more, and that artist group has always leveraged the support from the associated acts. Like if one of the artists put out a new track, all the other artists will quickly show support on the track. Same thing happened with Marshmello and recently with the relatively new act, Slushii.
Over the time, there have been suspects like Skrillex, Jauz and even Martin Garrix for being behind the white helmet. Even after keeping the secret tight, something is bound to fall apart. Internet spies worked out associations with the primary suspect of being Marshmello, Dotcom. It all happened when people traced back his start and speculated that it must be an already established artist behind the Marshmello project. Further details on booking agents and management pointed at one of the three artists under Moe Shalizi’s management (Kayliox, Sikdope, Dotcom at that time) has to be the one. The picture became clear when Skrillex mentioned Marshmello by “Chris” in an interview. Moreover, the information like Dotcom (Chris Comstock) and Marshmello sharing the same birthday and the image of Dotcom and Marshmello having the same tattoos on their thigh made the case quite clear, but the official identity of Marshmello still remains a secret.
Leveraging this mystery and his positive point of view for the world, Marshmello brand looks like a perfectly planned and rolled out project. It’s quite clear that without strong marketing and uniqueness, its hard to make into this saturated industry and I’m sure up and coming artist can learn a thing or two from Marshmello. So here I rest the mysterious case of Marshmello with a good news that he is currently on his Ritual Tour and Sunburn brings him to India on a 4 city tour. While he will be supporting Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike for Sunburn Arena at Mumbai and Hyderabad, he is also set to play at Bangalore and Delhi. Find the details below!
Get your tickets here:
- Mumbai
- Hyderabad
- Bangalore
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