Afrojack
Afrojack (born September 9, 1987 in Spijkenisse ; actually Nick van de Wall ) is a Dutch DJ and producer who became famous for his single Take Over Control . In 2011 he reached top positions in numerous countries with the song Give Me Everything together with Pitbull , Ne-Yo and Nayer . Since 2011 he has also achieved a top 10 placement in the DJ-Mag -Top 100 six times . Until 2015 he covered the areas of electro house almost without exception , until he made his music more commercial from then on. For more electronic music he started the pseudonyms NLW and DJ Afrojack . Together with the German DJ duo Jewelz & Sparks , he occasionally forms the AJXJS project .
biography
Until 2006: childhood and musical beginnings
Nick van de Wall came into contact with music very early on. He started playing the piano at the age of five. As a schoolboy he listened to a lot of music. However, he soon switched sides and began making music himself. At the age of eleven he started working with the Fruity Loops program, which he continues to this day.
After graduating from school, he decided to pursue his music career further. Since he couldn't make a living from this at the beginning, he took a few part-time jobs in the restaurant business . So he had more than enough time to discover the club scene in Rotterdam . This resulted in many part-time jobs and first small DJ appearances.
In 2006 he stayed in Crete for five months to hang up in as many clubs as possible and to better learn the "craft". Here he also released his first single, F * ck Detroit . After he came back, he made some songs and was determined to put them out on a label. With the help of Sidney Samson and Laidback Luke , he managed to convince "Digidance". With the song In Your Face , which appeared shortly afterwards, he landed his first success. He reached number 60 in the Dutch Top 100 and number three in the Dutch Dance Top 30.
2007–2009: Establishment in the scene as Afrojack
In 2007 van de Wall started performing under the name Afrojack. In the same year he founded his own label , "Wall Recordings" as an imprint of " Spinnin 'Records ". In addition to its own productions, "Wall Recordings" also sells songs by numerous other musicians and has developed into one of the largest labels in the EDM sector. The record label also released his first EP Fruity EP , which was released on April 15, 2007.
With songs like Don't Be , Proper Introduction or Thief , Afrojack first made a name for himself in the EDM scene in the course of 2008. This went hand in hand with a number of EPs that were released on "Wall Recordings". Together with the DJ Benny Rodrigues there were also first collaborations. There was also a collaboration with the producer duo The Partysquad. This resulted in the song Drop Down (Do My Dance) , which was released on August 18, 2008 and could reach the Dutch top 20. It was also voted “Tune of the Week” by a number of Dutch radio stations.
At the same time, the French DJ and producer David Guetta became aware of the Dutchman and together with him produced the song Toyfriend , which was included on his studio album One Love . Vocals were included by the US singer Wynter Gordon .
2010: Musical breakthrough with Take Over Control
In addition to the release of a number of solo singles, which included Pacha on Acid and Bangduck , van de Wall focused on several collaborations in 2010. Together with Bobby Burns, three tracks and a song with Sidney Samson were created . He also took part in the song Pon de Floor by Major Lazer , which developed into a festival tool and brought him a lot of attention. The American musician Beyoncé used several samples of the song in her chart hit Run the World (Girls) .
On May 4th 2010 the follow-up of the The Partysquad collaboration from 2008 appeared. A Msterdamn was able to develop into a great club success. Commercially, the song could not connect to its predecessor. In the same month the second collaboration with David Guetta followed, in which the singer Niles Mason also took part. The track is entitled Louder than Words and brought the Dutchman to the German and Austrian single charts for the first time.
In October 2010 the major label "Spinnin 'Records" released the song Take Over Control , which was produced in collaboration with the Dutch singer Eva Simons . This was the first time he was able to achieve international success. Not only did the song advance to the singles charts in several European countries, it also achieved platinum status in the USA. The track spent six weeks at the top of the US dance charts.
In October 2010 he was placed in the top 100 DJ list for the first time at the DJ Mag voting. There he got in at number 19.
2011: Presence at festivals and worldwide success with Give Me Everything
In 2011 Afrojack became part of the growing festival scene. Together with Quintino, the club hit Selecta and the Steve Aoki collaboration No Beef , both of which made it possible for them to be in the Dutch charts. From a second collaboration with Aoki, in which the Australian twin duo Nervo also participated, the song We're All No One emerged. Afrojack also got together with the latter to produce the official Tomorrowland anthem The Way We See the World . The Belgian duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike also lent a hand here.
On March 22, 2011, the American rapper Pitbull released the second advance single of his upcoming album Planet Pit . This is titled Give Me Everything and also contains vocals by singer Ne-Yo and singer Nayer . The joint song moved to the top of the official singles charts in over 10 countries and sold over nine million times. Afrojack and David Guetta produced the song Something For The DJ’s on Planet Pit .
Through the songs Lunar , The Future and I Just Wanna F. he was part of three songs from David Guetta's number one studio album Nothing but the Beat , which was released on August 26, 2011. Afrojack also worked on the latter with producer Timbaland and singer Dev . Lunar was released as a digital promo single a week before the album was released. In several European countries, including Germany, Spain and Great Britain, the track placed in the singles charts.
In the DJ-Mag elections in autumn 2011, Afrojack moved up 12 places and ended up in seventh place.
2012: Can't Stop Me & Rock the House
On January 23, 2012 Afrojack achieved a top 10 solo position in the Netherlands for the first time with the song Can't Stop Me , which contains vocals by Shermanology. The track formed the basis for the single Rest of My Life by Ludacris , David Guetta and Usher , which was released in the same year and which was able to achieve a single chart placement in over 15 countries.
With the song Fatility Afrojack released another Dirty Dutch track on March 12, 2012. In July 2012, the song Rock the House followed , which brought the Dutchman into the Dutch single charts again. The song samples the track The Landing , part of the soundtrack of the video game Final Fantasy VIII , composed by Nobuo Uematsu .
In the votes of the DJ-Mag in October 2012, he slipped two places and found himself in ninth place.
2013: Album promotion and It's a Madder of ...
In January 2013 van de Wall released the first pre-release of his announced debut studio album with a remix of the song Sovereign Light Café by Keane from 2012. The reinterpretation was able to advance to 22nd place and thus surpass the success of the original.
On February 13, 2013 he released the song As Your Friend , created together with singer Chris Brown , as a single. For the first time since Take Over Control , the Dutchman also achieved a placement in the United States. In October 2013, the first official single from his upcoming studio album followed with the song The Spark . Singer and songwriter Spree Wilson contributed vocals. The Spark became a commercial success in numerous European countries.
In parallel with the commercial singles, Afrojack also released several club tracks. In the spring of 2013 he published the official anthem of the Ultra Music Festival with the song Air Guitar . With Peanuts , a progressive house-heavy production was released on his own record label in July 2013. On "Spinnin 'Records" he released the Dirty Dutch track Jack That Body on August 5, 2013 , which was intended to appeal to friends of his original style in particular. On November 13, 2013, the EP It's a Madder of ... was released , which included the tracks Ray Bomb , Rocker , Griever and Yubaba .
In November 2013, the Dutchman made negative comments about the rapper Eminem in an interview with “NU.nl” . The remarks sparked various discussions on the net, which led to Will Ferrell asking Eminem if he knew about this during the ceremony of the MTV Europe Music Awards 2013 , which took place in the Netherlands and which included an appearance by Afrojack and Snoop Dogg the DJ would have made derogatory comments. Eminem replied with the simple question "Who?" On numerous social media platforms, the “Who?” Developed into a real running gag .
On November 29, 2013, the American singer Britney Spears released her eighth studio album Britney Jean . This included the song It Should Be Easy , the demo version of which was produced by himself and David Guetta. Afrojack's role was eventually taken over by Nicky Romero . In Switzerland, the song advanced to the official singles charts due to high download numbers.
He was able to maintain his placement at number nine in the DJ-Mag Top 100 in 2013.
2014: Forget the World & Turn up the Speakers
Ten Feet Tall was released as the second official single of his upcoming studio album in February 2014. It was sung by Stephen Wrabel and followed the success of The Spark . In addition to high placements in Hungary, his homeland, Scotland and Great Britain, the song achieved gold status in the USA for half a million sales. A big room remix of the song by David Guetta also achieved several million clicks. Also in February 2014 he released the big room track Musician .
Together with the US comedian, actor and rapper Nick Cannon and the Jackie Boys, he produced the song Looking For a Dream as a featuring artist . This was released as a promo single in February 2014 and ultimately served as the lead single of Cannon's satirical studio album White People Party Music , which was released on April 1, 2014. The album track OJ was also produced by Afrojack .
After Afrojack released an official remix of the song Do or Die by the US rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars in March 2014 , the song Dynamite , which was created in collaboration with the US rapper Snoop Dogg , was released in April 2014 as the last pre-release single of his upcoming studio albums. On May 16, 2014 his debut album Forget the World was finally released on the label " Universal Music ". The collaboration with singer Sting on the track Catch Tomorrow attracted particular attention . The album itself was able to advance into the album charts in numerous European countries and also reached the US Billboard 200 .
On August 25, 2014 Afrojack released the song Turn up the Speakers together with the Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix . The track developed into a big festival hit and is considered one of the most famous songs from the big room scene. The official music video has several hundred million clicks and the streaming numbers are in the tens of millions. In addition, the song reached the single charts of several European countries.
The last release from his studio album, which was released in early summer, was the song Illuminate on November 28, 2014 . This was sung by Matthew Koma .
Afrojack was not in the top 10 for the first time in the 2014 DJ-Mag listing. So it fell to 12th place.
2015: Hey Mama & NLW
The track Crunk , published on February 9, 2015 by Karim Mika and Daniel Forster, appeared in the form of an edit by Afrojack. The song reached the top three on Beatport and became the most successful song in the electro house category of the entire year.
On March 16, 2015, the song Hey Mama was released as the fourth single from David Guetta's studio album lists from 2014. Afrojack participated in this song together with Nicki Minaj and Bebe Rexha . Part of the song samples the 1940s song Rosie by Alan Lomax . Hey Mama developed into a chart success and reached the top 10 in over 20 countries. It has also won several awards and has sold over 3.5 million times. He also appears in the official music video. On the Remix EP was a revised version that reflects the track in a turn-up-the-speakers- like style.
Last year, Afrojack premiered a collaboration with the Dutch Dirty Dutch and Big Room duo Bassjackers at one of his appearances . This was released as a single on April 27, 2015 under the title What We Live For .
Also in June 2015, the song Afroki was released as a single. This was created in collaboration with Steve Aoki, with whom he already worked in 2010 and was already included on his studio album Neon Future I last year . Furthermore, the singer Bonnie McKee took part in the song. The first commercial solo single of the year followed on June 21, 2015. This was created in collaboration with the American singer Mike Taylor and is called SummerThing! and reached several European charts.
The big room song Unstoppable followed in November 2015 . This serves as the soundtrack of the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops III and also supports it in the official music video. At the same time, the Trapstep trio WatchTheDuck released their second EP The Trojan Horse , in which Afrojack contributed to the song Lost Future .
Together with the Japanese vocal and dance group Sandaime J Soul Brothers, he produced the song Summer Madness . This was released on July 8, 2015 after the official music video had been presented a month earlier, in which he also played. Summer Madness put him at the top of the Japanese singles chart for the first time and was awarded several records.
On July 27, 2015 Afrojack released an EP with three titles for the first time under the pseudonym NLW . The music style is based on a bass-heavy structure. Other elements that were unusual for Afrojack's current style ensured that the extended play was also classified in the underground area. With Soundboy with Apster and Limit Break , two more releases followed in autumn 2015 under the pseudonym NLW.
| year | space |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 19th |
| 2011 | 7th |
| 2012 | 9 |
| 2013 | 9 |
| 2014 | 12 |
| 2015 | 8th |
| 2016 | 10 |
| 2017 | 8th |
In the 2015 DJ-Mag-Votings Afrojack was again among the top 10. He moved up four positions and ended up in 8th place.
2016: collaboration with Fais and other producers
On January 25, 2016, Afrojack released a song with DJ and producer Hardwell for the first time since 2008. This is called Hollywood and received a lot of attention in particular for its production in the Dirty Dutch style, which the two producers represented at the beginning of the decade. The track moved up to number one on Beatport.
Another single was released in March 2016 under the pseudonym NLW. This was created together with Apster and D-wayne. Afrojack worked with the latter back in 2014 on his studio album. The song is titled Alcohol and was released as a free download. Two more NLW publications followed between June and July 2016. It all started with the song Party , which was created in collaboration with Kiida. The solo production Home followed in July 2016 .
Also in March 2016, a recurring collaboration with the Dutch singer and songwriter Fais began with the release of the song Hey . Hey reached number two in the Dutch single charts and also reached a position in other Scandinavian countries.
On May 6, 2016 Afrojack released the song Move to the Sound together with the Dutch producer Laidback Luke . Hawkboy also took part in the track. At the same time, David Guetta released the official anthem for the 2016 European Football Championship, This One's For You, along with vocals by Zara Larsson . Afrojack took part in the production and reached number one in the singles charts in several countries. System followed in June 2016 . A collaboration with the new producer Ravitez on "Wall Recordings" and the rapper MC Ambush.
After it premiered at Tomorrowland 2014, the song Hands Up was released at the beginning of August 2016 , a collaboration with the Belgian DJ duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, with whom he worked together for the Tomorrowland anthem in 2011. Under the title Van Gogh , the song has been circulating on the Internet since its premiere. The publication takes place in the course of the "Summer of Madness" as a free release. Afrojack used his pseudonym NLW.
Also in August 2016, Afrojack released the song Gone . He worked with the American rapper Ty Dolla $ ign . The official music video followed in October 2016, in which Ty Dolla $ ign predominantly played a role. The track did not achieve commercial success. With the song To The World he contributed the official anthem to the Dance Earth Festival at the end of September 2016. He worked with Dance Earth Party, the music group that brought the festival to life.
The second collaboration with singer Fais was released on October 14, 2016. This is called Used to Have It All and moved up to number 18 in the Dutch single charts. He also appeared with Fais at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards . There they played Hey and Gone . At the same time, the results of the 2016 DJ-Mag elections were announced. There it fell to 10th place.
On November 11, 2016, Afrojack released the song The Great Escape with Ralvitez and Amba Shepherd . In a live stream in May 2016, he gave the first insight into the song, in which he told that he had sampled Shepherd's vocals for the first demo and Ralvitez had the task of converting his beginnings into a real song.
Together with Karim Mika he produced the song Tâm điểm ánh nhìn (All Eyes on Us) for the Vietnamese singers Tóc Tiên and Suboi . This was released as a single in December 2016. The official music video shows Afrojack and excerpts from a joint appearance with the musicians.
In December 2016, the Japanese management and entertainment company LDH (Love, Dream and Happiness), whose European managing director is Afrojack, published a promotional film introducing the company. The song contained therein was produced by him, Fais and Ne-Yo and is entitled Follow Your Dream . The song was not released as a single.
2017: Influences from the future bass
On January 6, 2017, Afrojack released the song Diamonds with Jay Karma . With this took a step into the field of trap music for the first time . Furthermore, strong influences from the bass house area can be heard. At the same time, the promotion for his next single, Wave Your Flag, started . This was created in collaboration with the Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi . In terms of style, the song is based on a mixture of Latin pop and electro house.
After it premiered at the Ultra Music Festival, Afrojack and David Guetta released the song Another Life on April 28, 2017 , which was influenced by the currently popular future bass. In addition to the American singer-songwriter Ester Dean , who sang the track, Jay Karma was also involved in the creation. In France, Austria and the Netherlands, among others, they reached a position in the official single charts.
Through his participation in David Guetta's track Light My Body Up , he worked for the second time with the rapper Nicki Minaj after Hey Mama and for the first time with the American rapper Lil Wayne . The dance hall trap song hit the charts in over 15 countries.
On September 8, 2017, the song No Tomorrow was released , in which Afrojack worked with the Palestinian-Canadian rapper Belly , the US rapper OT Genasis and the Dutch trap producer Ricky Breaker. All four musicians were involved in the music video. The bass house song Keep It Low followed on September 22, 2017 , a collaboration with the Dutch duo Mightyfools, who are known for that genre.
In October 2017 Afrojack released the Hollywood follow-up Hands Up with Hardwell and MC Ambush, in a style similar to its predecessor, and the title Lost , a collaboration with French singer Vassy and DJ and producer Oliver Rosa. The latter appeared on "Armada Music".
In the 2017 DJ-Mag-Votings he was able to move up two places and ended up in eighth place.
Another collaboration with David Guetta was released on November 3, 2017. This is the song Dirty Sexy Money . In addition to Guetta and van de Wall, singer Charli XCX , rapper French Montana and producers Skrillex and Cesqeaux were also involved in the creation. The song was able to advance into the singles charts in numerous countries, including Germany, Australia and Great Britain. All four performers played in the music video. The progressive house song New Memories , which was produced with DubVision, was released shortly afterwards . Fais contributed the vocals.
2018: Press Play
At the beginning of February 2018 Afrojack released a new version of the song Helium by the Australian singer Sia together with David Guetta . After Afrojack was already involved in the creation of the song Titanium , it is the second collaboration with the singer. In the same month the track Bed of Roses , which is sung by the American singer Stanaj, was released. Both songs were produced in the future bass style.
On March 19, 2018, he released the song 2012 under his pseudonym DJ Afrojack . This was created in cooperation with Ravitez and is based on the big room style, as it sounded in its beginnings between 2012 and 2013. Just two weeks later another single with the same project was released. It was called Started and was produced together with DOD and Tim-Ber.
After co-producing their single All I See Is You in the spring , his first official collaboration with the German DJ duo Jewelz & Sparks entitled One More Day was released on May 4, 2018 . The German producer team Hitimpulse as well as the Norwegian singer and songwriter Frida Amundsen also contributed to the song, who also contributed the vocals of the song at the same time. After a few weeks, a remix of the song by Dutch producer Nicky Romero was released , which developed into a commercial success and at the same time represented the first release of an upcoming EP Afrojacks. Shortly thereafter, another collaboration between Afrojack and Jewelz & Sparks appeared. This is called The Moment , which was published under the pseudonym AJXJS. The song was in a progressive house style.
After playing several electronic pieces at his concerts for a long time, he announced the release of the said EP in July 2018. It was supposed to have the title Press Play and was announced in the form of a mini mix that promised various productions in the Dirty Dutch area, in which Afrojack's roots are. Another song that served as a pre-release single was the song Step Back , which was characterized by aggressive beats and MC Ambushs vocals. The tracks Bassride and Bringing It Back followed in the same month . The latter was especially expected since the premiere at the Ultra Music Festival .
The EP Press Play was finally released on August 28, 2018 via "Wall Recordings" and "Armada Music". In this case, the term EP was dropped by magazines and fans in favor of the title as an album due to the size of 14 tracks. In contrast to Forget the World , which was designed very commercially, Press Play consists almost without exception of EDM productions. Collaborations for the EP took place with Martin Garrix , Jewelz & Sparks and Brohug, among others , while Ester Dean lent her voice to the song When You're Gone . By reviving its old style, the song received a lot of positive criticism.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
 NL
|
|||
| 2014 | Forget the World Universal Music |
DE46 (1 week) DE |
AT30 (1 week) AT |
CH21 (2 weeks) CH |
UK76 (1 week) UK |
US32 (1 week) US |
NL4th  (18 weeks)NL |
First published: May 16, 2014
|
Awards and nominations
| year | Awards | category | plant | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | IDMA | Best break-through DJ | Afrojack | Won |
| Best remixer | Won | |||
| Best break-through artist | Nominated | |||
| MTV EMA | Best Dutch Act | Nominated | ||
| 2012 | IDMA | Best Commercial / Pop Dance Track | Give me everything | Nominated |
| Best Electro / Tech House Track | No beef | Nominated | ||
| Best European DJ | Afrojack | Nominated | ||
| Best producer | Nominated | |||
| Best remixer | Nominated | |||
| MTV EMA | Best Dutch Act | Won | ||
| Best European Act | Nominated | |||
| European Border Breakers Award | Best Dutch album | Lost and Found | Won | |
| Billboard Music Awards 2012 | Top Hot 100 song | Give me everything | Nominated | |
| Top radio song | Won | |||
| Top rap song | Nominated | |||
| Grammy Awards | Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical | Madonna - Revolver (David Guetta's One Love Club Remix) | Won | |
| 2013 | IDMA | Best European DJ | Afrojack | Nominated |
| Best Global DJ | Nominated | |||
| Best producer | Nominated | |||
| Best remixer | Nominated | |||
| Best Artist (Solo) | Nominated | |||
| MTV EMA | Best Electronic | Nominated | ||
| Best Dutch Act | Nominated | |||
| Grammy Awards | Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical | Leona Lewis - Collide (Afrojack Remix) | Nominated | |
| 2014 | IDMA | Best Global DJ | Afrojack | Nominated |
| Best Progressive House / Electro DJ | Nominated | |||
| MTV EMA | Best Electronic | Nominated | ||
| Best World Stage Performance | WS Live in Amsterdam 2013 | Nominated | ||
| 2015 | IDMA | Best European DJ | Afrojack | Nominated |
| Best EDM / Pop DJ | Nominated | |||
| Best full length studio recording | Forget the world | Nominated | ||
| MTV EMA | Best World Stage Performance | WS Live in Amsterdam 2015 | Nominated | |
| 2016 | IDMA | Best R&B / Urban Dance Track | Hey mum | Nominated |
| Best rap / hip hop / trap dance track | Won | |||
| Best European DJ | Afrojack | Nominated | ||
| MTV EMA | Best Electronic | Nominated | ||
| 2018 | WDM Radio Awards | Best party DJ | Pending | |
| Best trending track | Dirty Sexy Money | Pending |
swell
- ↑ a b c d e f g Poll 2017 Afrojack on "DJ Mag"
- ↑ Afrojack wil own numbers inzingen on "NU.nl"
- ↑ Entertainment Tonight: Backstage: Nick Cannon is' Looking for a Dream on "YouTube"
- ↑ ldhofficial: Follow Your Dreams feat. Afrojack (LDH Official Company Trailer 2017) on "YouTube"
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US NL singles NL albums
Web links
- Official site (English)
- AFROJACK at Discogs (English)
- Article on The DJ List (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Afrojack |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wall, Nick van de (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch DJ |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 9, 1987 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Spijkenisse , South Holland Province , The Netherlands |