Zhu
Genre: Electronic
Origin: United States
ZHU is ready to move again. After spending a year stuck inside, the Grammy-nominated musician and producer is turning his eyes to the future, when clubs reopen and pure rave energy can overtake a crowd of writhing bodies yet again. Most of his third album, DREAMLAND 2021, was made at home during quarantine, but as he crafted the new set’s grimy techno and sweaty house tracks, he imagined the record as the score to a world starting to spin back into motion—even if, for now, that feels out of reach. Over the years, ZHU has won acclaim for exactly these kinds of forward-looking experiments, including a Best Dance Recording nomination at the 2014 Grammys for his breakout hit “Faded.” His debut album GENERATIONWHY topped Billboard’s Dance/Electronic albums chart and landed on the Billboard 200, and he’s had dozens of tracks hit the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. These accolades have earned him partnerships with like-minded brands including Luminosity and Leica. And ZHU continued his productive streak in 2020 with a busy run of singles—including “Only” with Tinashe, “Desire” with Bob Moses, and the Kito and Jeremih collab “Follow”—and a string of live-streams for Digital Mirage, Insomniac, and Lollapalooza. But all of this success has never been the point—ZHU just wanted to head to the dancefloor and dream up better worlds. DREAMLAND 2021 basks in that impulse. He imagines everyone united under one roof raving—a party with enough energy to take over the whole world.
