FROM BLAZING FESTIVAL SETS TO GROOVY TROPICAL BEATS, KYGO IS CONSTANTLY REMIXING A MOVEMENT HE HELPED DEFINE

BY MADELYN DAWSON

BORN: Norwegian DJ Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, known as Kygo, was born in 1991 in Singapore.

SOUND: Though a progenitor of the tropical house sub-genre, the 31-year-old DJ refuses to contain his sound within the style’s parameters. “If you do the same thing all the time it’s not very challenging,” he said of the slower, more melodic genre he helped pioneer. “There’s much more to me than that.”

BIG BREAK: Kygo grew up surrounded by music, forsaking his piano lessons at the age of 16 to begin experimenting in MIDI and Logic Studio production. In 2013, he finally shot ff into fame, following a remix he released of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire.” By 2015, and before even releasing a full studio album, he was headlining Lollapalooza. In March 2016, his debut album Cloud Nine was released, and later that year he launched his own lifestyle and clothing line called Kygo Life.

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Since taking off , the Norwegian DJ has collaborated with artists like Selena Gomez, Imagine Dragons, and Rita Ora. His 2019 career highlight was a remix of Whitney Houston’s cover of the Steve Winwood classic “Higher Love.” With over 600 million streams to date, the song became Houston’s highest charting posthumous release. The year before, Kygo was ranked number three on Billboard’s list of best dance musicians, and he made DJ Mag’s top 50 DJs in both 2018 and 2019. In 2020, he worked on a particularly touching project, remixing the posthumous Avicii track “Forever Yours” as a tribute to his lifelong inspiration.

LATEST WORK: Just last year, Kygo released his fourth full length studio album, Thrill of the Chase. Since then, he has been busy in the studio and on the stage, notably releasing a remix to the Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson classic “Say Say Say.” This summer, Kygo played at Stavernfestivalen, a popular Norwegian music festival, closing out the second day with an electrifying set.

FUN FACT: Kygo is a proud philanthropist and fi erce advocate for global LGBTQ+ rights, once donating over
$50,000 of his profi ts to Ugandan gay rights eff orts.

Kygo www.kygomusic.com