Steve Angello

Long before garnering GRAMMY® Award nominations, performing to millions of fans on multiple continents, crashing charts worldwide, and tallying streams in the billions, artist, DJ, producer, and Swedish House Mafia Co-Founder Steve Angello realized his purpose as a kid in Sweden. With bulky headphones on, he sat in front of his record player and spun classics by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson for hours on end, ultimately deciding, “I want to become a DJ.” “I knew what I wanted to do at ten-years-old,” he smiles. “I would save up all of my money from taking out the trash and doing chores to go to the record store and buy secondhand Zeppelin and Bob Marley albums—and anything Quincy Jones produced. I even bought a lot of albums based on the artwork, because it wasn’t like you could hear it before you bought it back then. Regardless, if it was American country, Swedish rock, or German punk, I would dig it, because I paid for it,” he laughs. “That’s how it started.” By the time he turned thirteen, Steve cut his teeth as a DJ, performing at summer basketball tournaments, and fueling the action with hip-hop breaks and no shortage of scratching. He honed his talents at scratch competitions around Sweden and produced original material. Early on, he collaborated with childhood friend Sebastian Ingrosso before launching his own label Size during 2003. He made waves internationally with a Remix of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart in 2005. A year later, he teamed up with Axwell in Supermode, landing a hit with “Tell Me Why.” Iconic Size solo singles followed, namely “Gypsy,” “Isabel,” and “Flonko.” 2009 saw him link up with Laidback Luke for the mega-smash remix of the Robin S Classic “Show Me Love.” Around the same time, he joined forces with Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso to launch Swedish House Mafia. The group effectively took over the world. They notched back-to-back GRAMMY® nominations in the category of “Best Dance Recording” for the platinum “Save the World” in 2012 and quintuple-platinum “Don’t You Worry Child” in 2013. Building a catalog highlighted by global anthems such as the gold-certified “Greyhound” and “One (Your Name),” they simultaneously sold out legendary venues—including Milton Keynes Bowl and Madison Square Garden—and delivered historic sets at Coachella, Ultra Music Festival, and beyond. Following a five-year hiatus, they returned as surprise headliners at Ultra 2018 before embarking on the Save The World Reunion Tour across European. Rekindling their chemistry, they assembled what would become their long-awaited full-length debut, Paradise Again, in 2021. Landing in 2022, Paradise Again only extended the group’s legacy by cracking the Top 10 of seven global charts and capturing #1 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart and #1 on the UK Dance Albums Chart with praise from Pitchfork, NME, and more. In tandem with the record, Swedish House Mafia headlined Coachella joined by The Weeknd for a groundbreaking show. Their smash “Moth To A Flame” graced both Paradise Again and Dawn FM on which the trio also contributed to “Sacrifice” and “How Do I Make You Love Me?” In between, Steve asserted himself as a force of nature solo. He occupied a spot on DJ Mag’s coveted “Top 100 DJs” list for fourteen consecutive years and received two DJ Awards. Not to mention, he has churned out official remixes for everyone from Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, and Depeche Mode to Fergie and Moby. Following his full-length debut Wild Youth, he ascended to another creative peak altogether on his sophomore offering, Human. Prior to officially sharing a note, he famously teased it during his famous Coachella 2017 set. A bold boundary-breaking body work, he widened the scope of the genre itself, collaborating with the likes of Bishop T.D. Jakes on “Rejoice,” Pusha T on “Freedom,” Barns Courtney on “Dopamine,” and more. Right out of the gate, Billboard hailed “the producer’s versatility and willingness to experiment,” and EDM Sauce christened it “His Magnum Opus.” “On Wild Youth, I talked about my childhood lyrically and musically,” he explains. “It was more melancholy. I had lived in Los Angeles for twelve years, but I brought my family back to Sweden. When I got into the studio, I said, ‘Fuck expectations. I’m not going to think about radio, playlists, or anything. I’m going to go in and make the album I want to make. I’m going to explore. I’m going to have fun’. That happened, and it became HUMAN. It’s a really proud moment for me.” However, it just paved the way for much more to come from Steve though. “I’ve been in this game for quite some time,” he leaves off. “Between doing Swedish House Mafia, we each evolved on our own. Now, it’s nice to push the needle and really be on the edge again together. That’s always exciting to me.””