In an industry where one tune can make someone’s career, and make somebody an overnight star, retaining the top spot in the widest poll for two years running is a mammoth task.
By doing so, our Artist Of The Month For January 2015 has joined the elite club that includes stalwarts like Armin van Buuren. He also released his story on the big screen with his movie. Yes, we’re talking about Robbert “Hardwell” van de Corput.
In an interview clip used in his movie, a young Hardwell is asked what he wants to achieve as a DJ, and replies by simply saying that he aspires to be the number one DJ in the world. What followed was an incredible journey from the man hailing from Breda,Netherlands, and the next chapter in his story is his first studio album titled, “United We Are”, set to release this month.
From a very young age, Robbert was showing signs of being a music superstar. Learning classic piano very early in his life, and DJing at 12, Hardwell quit Rock Academy within three months of joining it. After DJing in Holland’s biggest clubs for a few years, the then mashup king Hardwell gained worldwide recognition for his ‘Show Me Love vs Be’ mashup.
Soon after, he launched his own imprint Revealed Recordings, which has released more than 140 tracks so far. He also launched his own podcast, ‘Hardwell on Air’, which is nearing 200 episodes. The same year he made a storming entry into the DJ Mag Top 100 at No.24, due to his chart topping hit “Zero 76” with Tiesto, and other tracks like “Encoded” and “Cobra”.
2012 did even better things for his career. “Spaceman” happened to be the game changing track. It was played, remixed and mashed up at least a million times that year. It also helped Hardwell jump into the Top 10 of the DJ Mag poll, at the number 8 slot.
But the real big turnaround was after a rock bottom phase. Health issues saw Hardwell cancel live shows and lock himself in the studio for two months doing nothing but producing music. His comeback performance was Ultra Miami 2014 and we all know what happened next. Hardwell managed to crash Twitter during his live set, as too many people were tweeting about him. He played a massive 12 ID tracks in the one hour set, with one being released as late as in the last week of December 2014 – “Don’t Stop the Madness” with W&W. Releases like “Countdown”, “Jumper”, “Never Say Goodbye” and “Fifteen” all hit the top spot on Beatport. He also launched his own concept show, I AM HARDWELL with a documentary of the same name to follow, and Hardwell was crowned the number one DJ in the world in October 2013 at Amsterdam Dance Event.
2014 saw lesser releases although “Rambo” and “Dare You” did really well. He maintained the same energy level in his live performances and on his I AM HARDWELL Tour, and he also happened to announce his first studio album ‘United We Are’.
The first single from the album titled “Young Again” featuring the vocals of Chris Jones was released and did fairly well. There were more releases on Revealed, with a greater number of young artists given a chance to put out their music. Despite a lesser executing year compared to 2013, Hardwell managed to hold on to his No.1 spot in October, claiming that ‘he never imagined winning the poll twice’.
With his album set to release on January 23,2015 we can only hope that Hardwell continues to give us great music.
– Written By Shantanu Puro.
You can pre-order Hardwell’s upcoming debut album, “United We Are” on iTunes.
Follow T.H.E – Music Encyclopedia:
- Online Betting In Canada With Parimatch - August 2, 2022
- Wasted Fashion: The Need For Eco Reinvention In The Fashion Industry - July 13, 2022
- Best Online Slots From Play’n GO Provider - July 13, 2022
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://themusicessentials.com/artists/artist-of-the-month-january-hardwell/&media=https://themusicessentials.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/T1.jpg&description=Read more on "United We Are: Our Artist Of The Month For January 2015, Hardwell!", via T.H.E - Music Encyclopedia, providing the latest news in EDM!){kind=link}