Dance

Fred again..‘s Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 23, 2022) now has an actual Grammy, winning the award for best dance/electronic album at Sunday’s (Feb. 4) Grammy Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles.

The British producer in fact quickly became a two-time Grammy winner, also getting an award for best dance/electronic recording for his work on “Rumble” with Skrillex and Flowdan before winning for best dance/electronic album. The producer is also nominated for best new artist, with that award being presented during the live telecast.

Fred again.. was not in attendance to accept the award, with the ceremony’s host Justin Tranter accepting on his behalf.

Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 23, 2022) beat out some heavy-hitters, including James Blake’s Playing Robots Into Space, Skrillex’s Quest for Fire (on which Fred again.. has a number of credits), Kx5 by Kaskade and deadmau5 producing as Kx5 and The Chemical Brothers’ For That Beautiful Feeling.

Released in November 2022, Actual Life 3 — which marked the producer’s first ever entry on Top Dance/Electronic Albums — arrived amidst a massive run for Fred again.., with the artist playing hugely hyped performances earlier that year at Coachella before going on to headline Madison Square Garden with Skrillex and Four Tet in February 2023, closing out Coachella 2023 with the same two producers in April, playing headlining sets at festivals including Glastonbury and doing a historic residency at the Shrine in Los Angeles this past November.

Fred again.. is set to headline Bonnaroo 2024 this June. The artist currently has two tracks — “leavemealone” with Baby Keem and “Ten” with Jozzy — on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.

“Padam Padam” further cemented its juggernaut status Sunday (Feb. 4), winning the new best pop dance recording Grammy during the 2024 Grammys Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles.

This year is the first time the category has been included in the awards, with “Padam Padam” now the category’s first-ever winner.

The song beat Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s “Miracle”; David Guetta, Anne-Marie and Coi Leray’s “Baby Don’t Hurt Me”; Troye Sivan’s “Rush”; and Bebe Rexha and David Guetta’s “One in a Million.”

Minogue was not on hand, but “Padam Padam” co-writer Peter Rycroft (who produced the song as LostBoy) hit the stage to accept the award. “This is very surreal,” Rycroft said. “I just want to say thank you to the icon that is Kylie for believing in this record. It started in a tiny little studio in north London and she’s taken it around the world and I just want to give a big shout-out to Ina Wroldsen that I made the record with, means a lot. Thank you.”

Backstage at the Premiere Ceremony, Rycroft told Billboard that the weirdest place he’s heard the wildly popular song was at a funeral. “It’s quite dark… [It’s the kind of setting where if] you’re not laughing, you’re crying,” he said.

Speaking to Billboard at the MusiCares 2024 Person of the Year gala earlier this weekend, Minogue said that for her, “There’s pre-‘Padam’ and post-‘Padam’ … two different parts of my life. Who knew? We didn’t know it would become a viral sensation, and it reconnects me with a lot of people, but also a different generation, so they’ve put ‘Padam’ with ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head,’ 20 years apart but [they] kind of live together.”

The win marks Minogue’s second Grammy victory, with the Australian superstar — who will receive the Icon Award next month at Billboard’s Women In Music event — taking home the award for best dance recording in 2004 for “Come Into My World.”

Hear the victory?

Skrillex, Fred again.. and Flowdan‘s 2023-defining “Rumble” won the 2024 Grammy for best/dance electronic record at Sunday’s (Feb. 4) Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles.

Taking the stage alone to accept the award, a sharp-dressed Skrillex noted that “for anyone out there that wants to make music, the best advice I’ve ever gotten is that success is something you attract, not something that you try to chase or catch.

“The other thing I want to say, for all the young people,” the producer continued, “I know the world is crazy right now, I really hope that we can actually start listening to each other and that everyone on the other side of the aisle or anyone with a different perspective, we realize that they’re not enemies and I really hope we can start listening to each other and having conversations and that last thing I want to say is of course big love to Fred again.., big love to Flowdan. Flowdan is one of the biggest inspirations in underground music in my life [sniffles], excuse me I have a cold right now, and to have a Grammy with those guys, my best friends making music that we just love, not trying to make a hit, not trying to do anything but push music forward, this is for those guys, and thank you everybody.”

The win marks Skrillex’s ninth Grammy victory, the first win for Flowdan and the second win for Fred again.., whose Actual Life 3 also won the 2024 grammy for best dance/electronic album during Sunday’s Premiere Ceremony.