Skrillex

During the early 2010s EDM surge, Skrillex rose among dance music’s leading figures and has sustained that position while also establishing himself as a prominent pop producer. Once the frontman of post-hardcore outfit From First to Last, Sonny Moore launched brash, high-impact dance tracks as Skrillex toward the close of the 2000s, drawing from electro-house and the more aggressive edges of dubstep while folding in elements of metal, hip-hop, dancehall, and additional styles. His rapid breakthrough brought dubstep to broad American listeners, albeit through a harder-edged strain often labeled brostep, and he secured multiple Grammy Awards for the early EPs Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites (2010) and Bangarang (2011). His work expanded into trap and moombahton, and he launched collaborative projects with Boys Noize (Dog Blood) and Diplo (Jack Ü); the latter issued a Grammy-winning full-length in 2015. Skrillex’s own debut album, Recess, arrived in 2014, after which he stayed active both independently and behind the scenes, accumulating production credits on releases by Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé, among numerous others. Two guest-laden Skrillex albums, the Grammy-nominated Quest for Fire and Don't Get Too Close, surfaced within days of each other in 2023.

Moore began creating and performing material on his own around the period he departed From First to Last in 2007. An EP called Gypsyhook came out under the Sonny name in 2009, and the independently issued digital download EP My Name Is Skrillex appeared in 2010, merging the Benny Benassi and Deadmau5 approaches to electro with the exaggerated samples and massive sonic impact of electronica acts such as the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.

Moore joined Deadmau5’s Mau5trap imprint in 2010, issuing his second EP, Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites, and the club single “Kill Everybody.” Beyond topping club charts, a set of three Grammy Awards in 2011 underscored his arrival, among them Best Dance/Electronica Album for Scary Monsters and Best Dance Recording for the title track. He also appeared on the revived Beavis & Butthead television program and worked with the surviving members of the Doors on a track titled “Breakn’ a Sweat.” Footage of that recording session featured in the documentary film RE:GENERATION, and the song itself appeared on Skrillex’s Bangarang EP, which surfaced in early 2012. The release earned him two further Grammy Awards, one for the title track as Best Dance Recording and one for the EP itself as Best Dance/Electronica Album. Dog Blood, Skrillex’s project with Boys Noize, debuted via the “Next Order”/“Middle Finger” single, followed by the 2013 EP Middle Finger, Pt. 2.

Although the majority of Skrillex’s recordings had to be scheduled around an intensive touring calendar that took him across every inhabited continent before hundreds of thousands of dance fans, he still joined Damian Marley for the single “Make It Bun Dem” and Alvin Risk for “Try It Out,” and he put out the 2012 EP Leaving. That same year he partnered with Cliff Martinez on the score for Harmony Korine’s film Spring Breakers. His first proper full-length, Recess, appeared in March 2014 and reached number four on the Billboard 200. In 2015 he teamed with Diplo for the album Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü. The Justin Bieber collaboration “Where Are Ü Now” became a global hit, and both the track and album captured Grammys. Moore supplied further productions to Bieber’s album Purpose. The next year Skrillex linked with rapper Rick Ross for the hit single “Purple Lamborghini,” featured on the Suicide Squad soundtrack.

In subsequent years Skrillex put out tracks such as “Would You Ever” with Poo Bear, “Saint Laurent” with DJ Sliink, Wale, and Austin Millz, and “Face My Fears” with Hikaru Utada, while also supplying production to projects by Incubus, M.I.A., the Weeknd, FKA twigs, and many additional artists. Dog Blood released the EP Turn Off the Lights in 2019, shortly before Skrillex issued Show Tracks. Composed of only two cuts, the expanded single contained “Fuji Opener” with Alvin Risk and “Mumbai Power” with BEAM, both of which he had road-tested extensively throughout the year. In 2021 Skrillex released the J Balvin collaboration “In da Getto” and “Don't Go” with Justin Bieber and Don Toliver, each of which charted on the Hot 100. Skrillex co-produced “Energy” on Beyoncé’s 2022 album Renaissance.

2023 brought further collaborations including “Rumble” with Fred again.. and Flowdan and “Way Back” with PinkPantheress and Trippie Redd. Quest for Fire, Skrillex’s second official album, arrived in February featuring Missy Elliott, Four Tet, and Porter Robinson among its contributors, along with tracks shaped by styles such as U.K. garage and Chicago juke. A day after the album’s release, Skrillex played a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden and simultaneously issued another album, Don't Get Too Close. While Quest for Fire leans more toward dance material, Don't Get Too Close presents a moodier collection of emo-rap and pop songs with guests such as Yung Lean, Bladee, Kid Cudi, and Chief Keef. By year’s end, Quest for Fire had earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album, and the song “Rumble” took the award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.