Hardwell

About Hardwell

Robbert van de Corput known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ, record producer, and remixer from Breda, North Brabant. Hardwell was voted the world's number one DJ on DJ Mag in 2013 and again in 2014. He was ranked at number twelve in the top 100 DJs 2019 poll by DJ Mag. Hardwell is best known for his sets at music festivals, including Ultra Music Festival, Sunburn and Tomorrowland.

Hardwell first gained recognition in 2009 for his bootleg of "Show Me Love vs. Be". He founded the record label Revealed Recordings in 2010 and a radio show and podcast Hardwell On Air in 2011. He has released 10 compilation albums through his label, as well as a documentary film. His debut studio album, United We Are, was released in 2015.On 7 September 2018, Hardwell announced his indefinite hiatus from touring, stating that he wanted to focus more on his personal life.

Through his participation in various competitions, he became known in Breda's DJ scene. He was influenced by the DJ and producer Tiësto, who is also from Breda.As hip-hop became an underground scene, Hardwell changed his genre to commercial electronic dance music. He started producing remixes and uploaded them on several platforms on the Internet. At the age of 14 in 2002, he was offered a record deal with the Digidance record label by Dutch producer duo Klubbheads. Three weeks later he made a first official release with the two-disc-record "Bubbling Beats 1", whereupon he toured through the Netherlands and appeared in a number of dance clubs. His first official single, "Play It Around", was released in 2006, and was played in German clubs. The single featured a combination of popular musical genres, as well as his own style.

Hardwell's style can be classified into different subgenres of electro-house music. He describes his starting style as influenced by the hip-hop underground scene. Between 2005 and 2006, he developed his style more commercially and over time his productions were increasingly based on a mix of tech house and dirty Dutch. Around the year 2008, his songs became slower and more commercial. In parallel, he experimented with elements from other genres. During that time, he came up already with build-ups, which were very similar to the big-room genre that had emerged years later. With the release of the single "Feel So High" in 2009, he published a tech-house song that corresponded to the classical progressive house, which was dying out, especially at the time.At the beginning of 2010, he joined the growing EDM genre and increased his talent in the area of production with singles like "Move It 2 the Drum" and "Asteroid". In 2011, his first successful singles in the field of electro house appeared with "Zero 76" and "Encoded". With "Spaceman", he co-founded the big-room scene in 2012 and established himself permanently in the subgenre. One year later, his singles "Apollo" and "Never Say Goodbye" gave him a place in the modern progressive house style.

On his debut studio album, United We Are, he used trance music synths for the first time for his track "Echo" as well as deep house sounds for "Birds Fly". In addition, "Chameleon" is based on the jungle-terror genre, which was similar with the W&W single "Get Down". For the first time since "Don't Stop the Madness", "Hollywood" embodies a track corresponded to the dirty-German-music.

Starting from 2015, his songs were increasingly oriented on hardstyle samples. His Headhunterz collaboration "Nothing Can Hold Us Down" was created almost solely on hardstyle-based sounds. His solo productions "Run Wild" and "What We Need" contain features of this genre too. He also presented the song "Wake Up Call" at the Biggest Guestlist Festival in Mumbai, which was initially suspected as the collaboration with hardstyle producer Atmozfears, but later was confirmed by Hardwell as a solo production.His 2016 single "No Holding Back" represents his first movement into the UK garage. The track represents elements of deep and tech house scene as well for the first time since his Funkerman collaboration "Where Is Here Now".

On 7 January 2017, he released the song "Party Till the Daylight", which was Hardwell's debut bass house production. At the Ultra Music Festival, he premiered his first future bass single, "Creatures of the Night".

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