Major Lazer is avirtual band [6] , and has released threefull-length albums: Guns Don't KillPeople... LazersDo in 2009, Free the Universe in 2013, and Peace is the Mission in 2015. Theyhavealsoreleased twoEPs:Apocalypse Soon in March 2014, which featuredvocalcontributions fromPharrell Williamsand Sean Paul ,and Know NoBetterin 2017, which featuredappearances fromCamila Cabello, Quavo, Travis Scott, and J Balvin, among others. Lazer has alsonotably producedReincarnated ,the
debut Reggaealbum by Snoop Dogg underhis "Snoop Lion" persona. [7]
Background Edit
2009–11: GunsDon't KillPeople... Lazers Do and Lazers NeverDie EP Edit At Coachella Festival ,2010.
Originally made up ofDJs DiploandSwitch ,the twowere introduced while working with M.I.A. .The duo's first albumGunsDon't KillPeople... Lazers Do wasreleased on16 June 2009, onDowntown Records .Itwasrecordedin Jamaicaat Tuff Gong
Studios. [8] Vocalists such as Santigold , Vybz Kartel , Ward 21 , Busy Signal ,Nina Sky , AmandaBlank , Mr. Vegas ,Turbulence ,Mapei ,T.O.K ,Prince Zimboo,Leftsideand otherscontribute guestvocals to the album, as well as additionalproduction from
Afrojackand Crookers . [9] This is thefirst release to come out ofthe label
partnership between Downtown Records and Diplo's label Mad Decent . [10] Major
Lazerendeda US tourlastsummer. [11]
Thealbum's first single was"Hold theLine", the video for which, directedbyEric Wareheim , wasnominatedfor a MTV Video Awardinthe Breakthrough Video category. "Hold theLine" wasalsofeaturedin thevideo game FIFA 10 . The track
"Zumbie" has amusic video that featurescomedian AndyMilonakis . [12] Music videos for thesongs" Pon deFloor ", "Keep It Going Louder", and " Bubble Butt "were directed by Eric Wareheim .In June 2009, Major Lazer werefeaturedfor the first time
onthecoverofthepublication TheFADER ,in its62nd issue. [13] MajorLazer performed at theFalls Music & ArtsFestival (Lorne, Victoria,Australia) on 30 December 2009and theCoachella Music Festival in April 2010. Theyalsoperformed at thePitchfork Music Festival inJuly 2010 and the Sasquatch Music Festivalon Monday30 May 2011. Live visuals were created byPomp&Clout. Major Lazer
performed at the2011OutsideLandsfestival in San Francisco. [14]
Amixtape with LaRouxentitled"Lazerproof" wasmade available for free download
on26 May. [15] Diplo postedcoverart onhisTwitpic. Itis thecharacter Major Lazer in War Machine's silversuit, EllyJacksonofLa Rouxin thesignature Iron Mansuit, andWhiplash, the villain in theIronMan 2 movie. On 20June 2010, thegroup releasedan EPtitledLazersNeverDie .Itcontained twonewsongsand three remixes, by Thom Yorke and others. Switchprovided production for Beyoncé 's " Run the World(Girls) ", which sampled "Pon deFloor". MajorLazeralsofeatures in the track, "Lookat Where WeAre", fromtheextendedversion ofHot Chip's albumIn Our Heads ,releasedJune 2011.
2012–13: Free theUniverse and Apocalypse SoonEP Edit Diplo and Jillionaire performingat the CongressTheater , Chicago ,in 2013.
Major Lazer's live showspreviouslyincluded hypemanSkerritBwoy, [16] although he left thegroup in 2012to pursuereligion.In 2012, Major Lazer began working with Snoop Dogg to producesome tracksthat wereto beincluded onhisnewreggae project. Along with the projectcame hisnewalterego personaknown as "Snoop Lion". Switchleftthecollaborative effortdue to "creative differences" as claimed by Diplo. He departed in late 2011and wasreplacedwith DJ/Producers Jillionaire and WalshyFire. Also, Boaz van de Beatz , artistfromMad Decent (record labelofDiplo ), has collaboratedwith mostofthegroupalbums andis considered a member ofthe
group. [ citationneeded ] In September2012, MajorLazerannounced that itsupcoming album, Free the Universe ,would be releasedon 12 March 2013on Mad Decent. They
alsoannouncedFall 2012tourdates. [17]
Major Lazer partly producedUK singerRita Ora 's debut album, Ora .MajorLazer worked with No Doubt for their sixthstudio album, Push and Shove . The album's title track features producers Major Lazer and Jamaicanreggaeartist Busy Signal , andwasreleased as a promotional single in August 2012. Major Lazer launched their FallTour2012 in October, with shows inOakland, Washington,D.C., Boston, and New York City, amongstothers.
In February2013, MajorLazersigned with indie record label SecretlyCanadian .At the sametime, they announced thenewrelease date, 16April, for their albumFree the Universe . They alsoannouncedtheFree theUniverse 2013WorldTour, which ran throughthespringof2013.
2015–16: Peace isthe Mission and Extended Edit WalshyFire ofMajor Lazer performingatFlowFestival in Helsinki, Finland,August 2015
On February8, 2015, duringtheGrammy Award ceremony, Diplo revealeddetails of the third Major Lazer album. Heconfirmedthat thealbumwould incorporate artists suchas Ariana Grande ,EllieGoulding and Pusha T ,and would be titledPeace is the Mission .
Thefirst single, " Lean On ", wasa collaboration withFrenchproducer DJ Snake and featured vocalsfromDanishrecording artist MØ .Itwasreleased onMarch 2, 2015. Thesong wasfirst offeredto Rihannaand thenNicki Minaj , who both turned itdown; however MajorLazerlater expressedthat noonecould havedone a better job than
MØ in therecording. [18] The songreached number 4 on the US Billboard 's Hot 100 chart and number 2 in theUK charts. Italsobecame Spotify's moststreamed song
ofall time, [19] receiving universallypositivereviews whilereachingover2 billion
views on YouTube, making itthe twelfthmost viewed video on the site. [20]
Four promotional singles werereleased;"Roll theBass" onMarch 23, 2015, "Night Riders", a collaboration with Travi$ Scott ,2 Chainz , Pusha T and Mad Cobra ,released onApril 20, 2015, and "Too Original", a collaborationwith Elliphant and JoviRockwell, releasedon May 11, 2015. On June 2, 2015, alyricvideo wasreleasedfor " Be Together ", a collaboration with Wild Belle ,making itthefourth promotional single.
Thesecond single fromthealbum, titled " Powerful ", featured Englishsinger- songwriter Ellie Goulding and Jamaicansinger Tarrus Riley .Itwasreleased simultaneously with thealbum, and wasadded to BBCRadio 1 's playlist onJune 21, 2015. Itreached theTop10in AustraliaandPoland.
Thealbumwasreleased onJune 1, 2015. [21] Itfeaturedartistssuchas Machel Montano ,Wild Belle , Pusha T , Ellie Goulding , and Ariana Grande .It peakedat number 12 ontheBillboard 200chart and received general critical success.
In an interview with inthemix onMay 22, 2015, WalshyFire announcedthat Major Lazer's fourth studio album would betitled Musicis the Weapon andthat itwould be
releasedlate 2015 or early 2016. [22] Thealbumnever arrived in 2015 or 2016, though Diplo did revealon April 27, 2015duringan interview with Belgianradio stationStudio Brussel that Major Lazer wasworking on anewtrackwith Belgian
singer Selah Sue , and that itmight appearontheir next album. [23] Selah Sue herselfhad confirmedthis duringan earlierinterview with thesame radiostation on May 4, 2015.
On November 27, 2015, Major Lazer released are-issue oftheir third studio album Peaceis the Mission ,re-titled as Peace is the Mission: Extended .Itfeaturedfive additionalsongs, includingacollaborationwith Dutch electro houseDJ MOTi (featuring TyDolla $ign, Wizkid ,and Kranium ), a remixof their previoustrack"LightIt Up" featuring Nylaand Fuse ODG, and a coverofFrank Ocean 's "Lost" featuring previous
collaboratorandDanishrecording artist MØ. [24]
Exactly oneyear afterPeace is the Missionwasreleased, Major Lazer announceda newremixalbumtitledPeace Isthe Mission: Remixes . Itfeaturedremixesof selected tracksfromtheir third studio album, including"Lean On", "Powerful", "Be Together", "Night Riders", and"Roll theBass". MajorLazerhad over27 milliontags in music identification service Shazam in 2015. This, along with Diplo 's other
collaboration JackÜ , gave Diplothe greatest number ofShazams in 2015. [25]
2016–present: Know No BetterEP Edit
In July 2016, a newtrack titled " Cold Water ", featuring vocalsfromMØ and Justin Bieber ,wasreleasedby Major Lazer. Itdebuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, andnumber 1 in several othercountries includingontheUK Official Charts , making
ittheir mostpopularsingle yet. [26] On September 30, 2016, "Believer", a collaboration with Dutch production duoShowtek , wasreleased as thesecondsingle fromMajor Lazer's upcoming fourth album. The album's title, Music is the Weapon , hadbeen announcedinMay 2015, and wassetto have"a fewmore club songs, a few morefestival songs" thanPeace is the Mission , butto be"in thesame
spectrum." [27]
On November 29, 2016, Major Lazer released apromotional single for MusicIsthe Weapon ,titled"My Number". The songis a collaboration with Bad Royale that samples " 54-46 That's MyNumber ", which Pitchfork describes as "a genre-defining
classicfromlegendaryska/reggae groupToots and the Maytals ." [28] The song contains newlyrecorded vocalsfromfrontman Toots Hibbertspecifically designedfor Major Lazer, changing theoriginal lyricsto incorporate thegroup into thesongwhile
keepingtheoriginal melody. [29][30]
Following the success ofsingles " Cold Water " and "Believer", Major Lazer released their third single titled" Run Up " on January 26, 2017. The songfeatures Canadian musician PartyNextDoor and rapper NickiMinaj , servingas a follow-upto the tropical, laid-back soundof"ColdWater". Music is the Weapon , however, stillfailed to arrive, promptingrumors that MajorLazerwould not bereleasing an albumafterall.Major Lazercould neither confirm nor denytheserumors.
On June 1, 2017, MajorLazerreleased a six-song extendedplaytitled " KnowNo Better "along withthe title trackas a single which features Camila Cabello , Travis Scott& Quavo . The EP's secondsingle, " Sua Cara ", waslater announced. It features Brazilian musiciansAnittaandPabllo Vittar .Several remixesofthe EP's titletrack havesince been released.
Discography Edit Mainarticle:Major Lazer discography
Studioalbums Edit GunsDon't KillPeople... LazersDo (2009) Free the Universe (2013) Peace Isthe Mission(2015) Music Isthe Weapon (2018)
Television series Edit Mainarticle:Major Lazer (TV series)
AMajor Lazer animatedseries premiered onApril 16, 2015on FXX .Diplo serves as
co-creator and executiveproducer oftheshow. [31]
Awards and nominations Edit
Year Awards Category Nominee/Work Outcome Ref 2016 NRJMusic Awards Best Live Performance
