Illenium

Illenium in Las Vegas

Illenium (* 26 December 1990 in Chicago , Illinois as Nicholas D. Miller ) is an American DJ and producer in the field of futures bass and melodic dubstep . He gained first notoriety through his remix productions for the songs Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers and Say It by Flume . His collaboration with The Chainsmokers, which bears the title Takeaway , marks his first place in the US singles charts.

Early life and education

Miller was born in Chicago but grew up largely in San Francisco. In 2008 he started producing electronic music and decided to devote himself completely to it in the summer of 2012 after seeing a performance by the American DJ Bassnectar at the Red Rocks Amphitheater . Miller moved to Denver in 2013. He also enrolled in the music business program at the University of Colorado Denver , but never finished it. At the same time he trained lacrosse and made sushi .

Career

2013–2015: Early career, two EPs and collaborations

In May 2013 he released his first self-titled EP as Illenium on the US record label Prep School Recordings. In the same year he also released a remix for the Florence-and-the-machine song Over the Love . In January 2014, he released his second EP Risen , independently of the label , which included the song Drop Our Hearts recorded with singer Sirma . [6] Other remixes also appeared, including for Lana Del Rey's Flipside and Odesza's Always This Late .

On April 22, 2014 Illenium released a revised version of his song Drop Our Hearts as his first single. This was created in collaboration with the American dubstep DJ Said the Sky and was named Drop Our Hearts Part II . Sirma contributed the vocals once more. The song received a lot of attention and was shared by many magazines . A number of other singles followed in the same year, including the instrumental track The Phoenix or In Your Wake , another collaboration with Said the Sky .

In 2015 he released the song Painted White , the third collaboration with Said the Sky in the form of a remix EP. The American singer Christina Soto contributed the vocals. He also worked with various singers, including Mimi Page and King Deco, for the other releases that followed during the year . The song with King Deco was entitled Spirals and is the first harbinger of his debut studio album. With the tracks I'll Be Your Reason and Jester , two more songs were released in advance. He received remix commissions from Galantis and Kaskade .

2016–2017: Ashes - First album and tour

In February 2016 Illenium released his debut studio album Ashes as a free download on the record label "Seeking Blue Records" and his own label "Kasaya Records". The album was composed of 10 songs or 12 in the bonus version. At the same time as the release, the track Afterlife was released as the fourth single. The album reached number 6 on the US dance charts. A remix version was released in December 2016 parallel to the start of the Ashes tour through America.

On March 8, 2016, he released an unofficial remix for The Chainsmokers hit single Don't Let Me Down , which received support from the Trap Nation YouTube channel, among other things . The remix quickly reached the million mark and soon after became part of the song's official remix EP. By the end of the year, the song had been streamed over 60 million times on SoundCloud and, with over 101 million streams, still represented the most played remix on the platform in 2018. In September 2016, a remix for the song Say It by Flume and Tove Lo was released , which was awarded at the Electronic Music Awards in September 2017 in the Remix of the Year category.

In October 2016, Illenium released the song Rush Over Me in collaboration with Said the Sky and the American trance and dubstep DJ Seven Lions, which was sung by the American singer Kelly Sweet alias Haliene. The song reached number 50 on the US dance and electronic charts, making it its first place in them.

2017–2018: Awake and first commercial success

In February 2017 Illenium released the song Fractures , which was sung by the American singer Nevve. After this jumped into the upper half of the dance and electronic charts, Illenium moved up to number 17 with the song Feel Good . The track was recorded in collaboration with producer Gryffin and Don't Let Me Down singer Daya . Both songs are harbingers of his second studio album, Awake . In July 2017 Illenium produced the track Where The Wild Things Are together with the EDM duo Zeds Dead . In the following month, the single Crawl Outta Love with Annika Wells was released as the last advance single from his upcoming album.

In September 2017 Illenium released his second album Awake on Seeking Blue Records and Kasaya Records. The album contained 13 tracks, including collaborations with Max , Dia Frampton and Kerli . It became Illenium's first album to make the Billboard 200. It also reached number 3 on the dance and electronic albums. From November 2017 Illenium started the Awake Tour through the USA. Throughout the tour he was accompanied by his close collaboration partners Said the Sky, Dabin and Day on various instruments on stage. A piano cover was released in December 2017 and a remix EP was released in June 2018.

In October 2017 Illenium released a remix for Marshmello 's global hit Silence , which has around 13 million streams on Spotify.

In 2018 the singles Don't Give On Me , which arose together with Kill the Noise and Mako, Gold (Stupid Love) together with Excision and Shallows and God Damnit with Call Me Karizma, all of which are in the dance and electronic Charts were represented. He also released a remix for Halsey's song Without Me in November 2018 . Furthermore, the song Take Me Down was released as the first pre-release single of his third studio album.

2019: Ascend and collaboration with The Chainsmokers

In January 2019 Illenium worked with the EDM duo Bahari , which resulted in the track Crashing . This was followed by the song Pray in March 2019 , which was recorded together with Kameron Alexander. Later in March 2019 he premiered the collaboration Takeaway, which was indirectly announced in February 2018, at the Ultra Music Festival together with The Chainsmokers . In May 2019 Illenium released the song Good Things Fall Apart in collaboration with Jon Bellion , which climbed to number 8 on the dance and electronic charts by July 2019.

Later in May 2019, Illenium premiered the track Hard to Say Goodbye together with Ekali during a set at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas . In June 2019, Illenium announced that its upcoming album Ascend would be released on August 16, 2019 via Astralwerk. He also announced a 30-city tour in North America, with Said the Sky, Dabin and Day sponsoring one more time.

On July 24, 2019, after months of festival appearances, his collaboration with The Chainsmokers and Lennon Stella titled Takeaway was released along with the official music video. The video was viewed over 6 million times in the first three days. It is the first song by the American to reach single chart positions worldwide, including the charts of countries like Germany, Australia and Sweden.

After the last pre-release Blood with Foy Vance , which took place on August 2, 2019, his third studio album Ascend was released on August 16, 2019, including collaborations with X Ambassadors , Bipolar Sunshine and Georgia Ku.

Private

In 2018, he shared a message on various social networks in which he reported about his long-term drug addiction . He would have struggled with depression in his childhood and suffered a heroin overdose in 2012 , whereupon he got clean. He dealt with his personal insecurities and dependencies in his song Take You Down , released in 2018 .

Discography

→ Main article : Illenium / 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	Dance
2016	Ashes Kasaya / Seeking Blue	-	-	-	-	-	Dance6 (1 week) Dance	First published: February 15, 2016
2017	Awake Kasaya / Seeking Blue	-	-	-	-	US106 (1 week) US	Dance3 (92 weeks) Dance	First published: September 21, 2017
2019	Ascend Kasaya / Astral Works	-	-	CH76 (1 week) CH	-	US14 (12 weeks) US	Dance1 (... week) Dance	First published: August 16, 2019

Awards

year	Award	category	plant	Result	source
2017	Electronic Music Awards	Remix of the Year	Flume feat. Tove Lo - Say It (Illenium Remix)	Won
2018	International Songwriting Competition	Grand Prize	Illenium and Annika Wells for Crawl Outta Love	Won
2019	International Dance Music Awards	Best remix	Halsey - Without Me (Illenium Remix)	Won
		Best Male Artist (Bass)	Illenium	Won

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Paula Gaita: EDM Star Illenium Pens Message About Heroin Addiction Struggles on "The Fix"
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Terissa Coobs: Denver Bass Producer Illenium's Rise to 1STBANK Center Headliner on "Westworld"
3. ↑ Graham Porter: Florence + The Machine - Over The Love (Illenium Remix) on "Your Music Radar"
4. ↑ Matthew Meadow: Lana Del Rey - Flipside (Illenium Remix) on "Your EDM"
5. ↑ Matthew Meadow: Odesza - Always This Late (Illenium Remix) on "Your EDM"
6. ↑ Brea Bone: Illenium Releases 'Ashes Remixes,' Announces Tour Dates on "" Noiseporn
7. ↑ Christina Hernandez: Illenium's highly-anticipated Flume remix drops next week on "Dancing Astronaut"
8. ↑ ^{a b} Karlie Powell: EMA 2017: Remix of the Year - Flume “Say It” Illenium Remix on “Your EDM”
9. ↑ Alexa Shouneyia: Gryffin Talks New Track 'Feel Good' With Illenium & Daya, Dream Collabs & What's Next on " Billboard "
10. ↑ Matthew Meadow: Illenium Suggests Ascend Tour May Be the Last with Said the Sky, Dabin and Day on "Your EDM"
11. ↑ Karlie Powell: WATCH: Ekali & Illenium Debut Beautiful Unreleased Collab at EDC Las Vegas on "Your EDM"
12. ↑ Kat Bein: Illenium Announces 'Ascend' Album & North American Tour on "Billboard"
13. ↑ Kat Bein: The Chainsmokers, Illenium and Lennon Stella Unite For 'Takeaway': Watc on "Billboard"
14. ↑ Brian Cantor: Why Don't We's “I Still Do,” Chainsmokers, Illenium & Lennon Stella's “Takeaway” Reach Top 10 On US iTunes Sales Chart on “Headline Planet”
15. ↑ DE AT CH UK US US dance & electronic albums US dance / electronic singles
16. ↑ Aric M. Manthey: Illenium Takes Top Prize in Global Songwriting Competition on "edm.com"
17. ↑ ^{a b} IDMA 2019 - Winners (33rd International Dance Music Awards) on " YouTube "

Web links

Commons : Illenium  - Collection of Images

• Official website