genre dance
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The first major dance music gathering of the year went down in Miami this past weekend, with Ultra Music Festival returning to downtown’s Bayfront Park from March 28-30.The annual event celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, with tens of thousands of fans descending upon the site to celebrate and hear music by artists both famous and up and coming.
While a strong wind was blowing through town on Friday (March 28), the weather held for the festival, with day one featuring sets from marquee acts including Charlotte de Witte, Alesso, Armin van Buuren and Dom Dolla and John Summit performing together as Everything Always. Saturday’s biggest stars included Axwell, Crankdat, Tokimonta, Gesaffelstein and KSHMR, while Sunday’s lineup included Martin Garrix, Zedd, Nico Moreno and Above & Beyond.
Beyond the fireworks and art installations, Ultra 2025 was made splashier by a series of mega-watt special guests. On Friday, David Guetta and Sia came out during Afrojack’s set to perform “Titanium,” with the three artists playing their 2011 smash together for the first time ever.
On Saturday, Skrillex brought out myriad stars during his headlining set — which marked his first appearance at Ultra in a Decade — with Flowdan appearing onstage to perform their 2023 collabs “Rumble” and “Badders.” Skrill then brought out Damian Marley, his collaborator on 2013’s “Make It Bun Dem” and then Young Miko, who performed what seemed to be an as-yet unreleased song. (To wit, the producer announced today, March 31, that he’ll release a new album tomorrow, April 1.) Then on Sunday, Steve Aoki also played the surprise guest game, bringing out Trippie Redd for their recently released track “Radio.”
Ultra 2025 also leaned hard into special b2bs. On Friday, Armin van Buuren played b2b with Maddix and Oliver Heldens for a Dutch triple-threat on the Worldwide Stage. Meanwhile over on the UMF Radio stage, Partiboi69 went b2b with both Juicy Romance and Kettama and Skream played played with Interplanetary Criminal.
On Saturday (March 29) under overcast skies, the festival again delivered a series of heavy-hitting b2bs that included Anyma and Solomun performing together for the first time and deadmau5 (sans his helmet) playing alongside Rob Swire of Pendulum.
While Ultra temporarily shut down on Sunday, March 30, due to rain, the festival eventually reopened and unleashed plenty of music, including b2bs by bass stars Alleycvt and Jessica Audifred (our Billboard Dance Rookie of the Month for March), bass titans Flux Pavilion and Doctor P going b2b and other pairings that included a major surprise b2b2b2b, with Solomun inviting Four Tet, Chloe Caillet and Mau P onstage during the last portion of his festival-closing show on Ultra’s massive Megastructure stage and the four artists taking turns on the decks.
See photos from Ultra Music Festival 2025 below.
Reflecting on his early days as a resident DJ in Las Vegas, David Guetta says it took him time to warm up to the Strip.
“When I first came [to Vegas], I didn’t like it because my thing was Ibiza,” Guetta tells Billboard. “I played a lot in the U.K. [as well], and it was all about culture. Also, I was a more underground type of artist. I was playing house music. When I came [the Strip], I felt [the audience was] coming to see a famous DJ, like they came to see a famous magician the day before. ‘Wow, they don’t get it. Okay, I’ll come no more than once a year.’”
Fifteen years later, the French DJ, EDM pioneer and early adopter of the Las Vegas residency circuit is still returning. Over the next two years, he will play 13 dates at his new LIV and LIV Beach residencies at Fontainebleau, launching on Saturday (March 29).
Guetta decamped from Wynn Nightlife last year after over a decade at XS and Encore Beach Club, sparking an era of shifts in residences up and down the Strip. Kygo, also a former Wynn headliner, moves over to Tao Group and, in May, will debut his own venue and first daytime residency at Palm Tree Beach Club at MGM Grand (the former Wet Republic).
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Wynn adds country (YeeDM) to its lineup with Dustin Lynch and new artists Odesza, Deadmau5, G-Eazy, Subtronics and Sofi Tukker trading off with returning performers The Chainsmokers, Marshmello, Diplo and Mau P. Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World features T-Pain, Illenium, Kaskade, Lil Wayne, DJ Snake, Nelly, Alison Wonderland, MEDUZA, James Hype and others from the worlds of hip-hop and electronic music. Drai’s stays true to hip-hop with Gucci Mane, French Montana, 2Chainz, Jeezy, 50 Cent, Gunna and Wiz Khalifa.
“I’ve witnessed the [city’s] investment of work, time, and money into the DJ culture,” Guetta says. “I’ve seen the culture evolve from zero to 100 during those years. It has been very spectacular and impressive to see the Vegas marketing machine. When they want something, they make it happen.”
Last week, Guetta tested the waters at LIV Beach by popping up during John Summit’s set to play “Beautiful People,” his latest song with Sia, for the crowd, which marks their ninth collaboration since 2011’s “Titanium.”
“I was not planning on it. I just came to say hi. I wanted to see the vibe because going to a new place is a huge challenge,” Guetta says. “Even though it looked good on paper, I needed to experience it, and then John told me, ‘Why don’t you play a few records.’ It was insane. The level of energy, also, we never played together, so I think people were shocked. Some clubs can be beautiful, but they just don’t connect, and it’s hard to explain why. But here, I felt good.”
Guetta prefers to soak up the vitamin D when asked to pick between nightclub sets and the infamous Vegas pool party. “Pool parties are insanely sexy, especially in Vegas, because it’s so early. When I play pool parties in Ibiza [at my residency at Ushuaia], it’s 9 p.m. [The beach] is all about feel good, happy music, sunshine, and that works well with the person I am,” he says.
In preparation for Guetta and the 2025 season, LIV and LIV Beach underwent a major renovation to expand seating and capacity. The two venues are now linked and operate as an indoor-outdoor day-night club with over 80,000 square feet. LIV Beach also added 33 VIP tables and bungalows. Guetta’s fellow residents include Tiësto, Summit, Metro Boomin and Dom Dolla.
Guetta has created a surprising setlist to break in the new venue, including what he describes as “big American classics.”
“I’ve been working like crazy every day, from morning to evening, on this set. I only play my records or records that I love, but I make remixes or revisit classics. It’s a lot of production work, but it gives unique content,” he says. “Vegas, to me, really represents America because you have people coming from everywhere. So I took a lot of big American classics, including rock songs, and made remixes to play for this event. More than half of the set I’ve never played before.”
The night before his LIV Beach debut, Guetta and Sia appeared at the 25th anniversary Ultra Music Festival in Miami to perform “Beautiful People” live during Afrojrack’s set. Can Vegas fans expect to see the collaborators as well?
“It’s not impossible because she lives in L.A. I might bring her one day,” Guetta says, sharing with Billboard that he keeps returning to Sia because of the “magic between them” and that she was the missing link “Beautiful People,” lingering in his files for a while. He teases that there is another yet-to-be-released song featuring the duo.
“We made another record that is absolutely crazy … so she reached out to me for that other record [initially] … then, I had [‘Beautiful People’] in my laptop for many years. I could never finish it. Speaking to her made me want to go back and try it again,” he says. “Sometimes you write a dope song, but you need to crack the code of the production, and it doesn’t always come. We have had this song for many years, and I could never nail it. The same thing happened with ‘I’m Good.’”
A TikTok sample made that track with Bebe Rexha a hit even before its release. A YouTube leak did the same for “Beautiful People.”
Much like Vegas is different now, so is the music industry. Tapping into the fans in a live setting such as LIV is imperative to Guetta’s longevity and cultural resonance.
“It used to be you did 10 to 14 songs to make an album, and then there were big meetings with the record company, and then you released three, and the record company chose the singles. Today, the fans choose, and I love it. I don’t get offended if a record flops. I’m blessed that many of them are working, but there is less pressure on me. It used to be if you made the wrong choice, you’re dead. And it’s not like this anymore.”
David Guetta’s LIV dates are May 24 and Nov. 22. His upcoming LIV Beach dates begin March 29 and run sporadically through May 31.
In a night of big moments, Afrojack helped deliver one of the very biggest when he brought out French titan David Guetta and one of history’s all-time singers, Sia, to perform their 2011 classic “Titanium” during the first night (March 28) of Ultra Music Festival 2025. The pair walked onto the festival’s mainstage hand-in-hand, a […]
Electronic music and psychology may technically be two different career paths, but Jessica Audiffred understands as well as anyone that they’re essentially the same job.
The Mexican producer has both a psychology degree and a long list of accomplishments as a bass DJ and producer. She earned the degree years ago after her dad, incredulous that playing clubs and festivals could ever be a lucrative career, insisted she go to college. But music remained her passion, with the work — and her progressively higher-profile gigs, which include her Ultra Music Festival debut this weekend in Miami — providing ample opportunity to observe and affect human behavior.
‘Playing songs in front of thousands and thousands of people is like therapy in a way,” Audiffred tells Billboard over Zoom from her native Mexico City. “You’re dictating a crowd’s mood for the entire set. If they cry, if they scream of joy, if they sing out loud, it’s up to you.”
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This kind of behavioral control is especially potent given that Audiffred has long made bass music, one of the most visceral, physical realms of the electronic music spectrum. Her entry into this world was a straight line from her adolescent love of nu-metal to a passion for music by producers including Flux Pavilion, Excision, Doctor P and Caspa and labels like Circus Records, all arbiters of the some of the hardest, wildest sounds in dubstep and electronic music at large. Her explorations of the sound initially happened entirely online, as there was no bass music scene to speak of in Mexico when she started DJing and producing the music more than ten years ago.
“At that time there was no one doing dubstep or bass” she says. “When I started DJing, I think people were like, ‘What is this? Why is she not playing techno? Why is she not playing house?’” But being different also gave her a competitive edge: “It was like being in the spotlight in a way, because there wasn’t a lot of hard music, and especially not a lot of girls playing that type of hard music.”
As her sets expanded out of her living room and into actual clubs, she also created her own label, A Records, in 2015, using it as a platform for her own tough as nails productions and similar work by other artists. When her hero Flux Pavilion mentioned her in a 2016 list of global artists to watch, the nod led to Audiffred releasing music on Flux’s Circus Records, with momentum picking up even more when a friend encouraged her to audition for a gig that would push her further into the international spotlight.
“I was just graduating from my psychology [courses]. I had nothing to lose, so I did the casting and I got the job,” she recalls of becoming the official national DJ for HP Computers and Beats Audio, a gig that opened up her world. “They took me to Miami, they took me to Boston and to all of these gigs. I’d never even really left Mexico.”
The job also gained her the attention of Excision, who invited Audiffred to remix a track of his and play it alongside him at his annual Bass Canyon festival, with the 2019 show marking her third set in the U.S. “I’ll never forget that moment,” she says. “I played it, and he heard it for the very first time and hugged me as the fireworks were going off. It was like, “Oh my god, what the f–k?”
This literal firepower gave her the juice to further expand her footprint in Mexico, where she started her own festival, Mad House, three years ago, creating the local scene she once longed for. “When I was starting I had nothing, just YouTube and my friends in our living rooms,” she says. “I’m really happy to say that after Mad House started, a lot of promoters came to do more bass music in Mexico.”
Jessica Audiffred
Courtesy of The Shalizi Group
She says Insomniac Events and its Bassrush brand have been particularly supportive, putting her on their stages and helping her grow a career and business that now includes a pair of managers and representation at WME. Her U.S shows are continually getting bigger, and this Sunday (March 31) Audiffred will perform one of her biggest to date when she plays a b2b with Virginia-born bass producer Alleycvt at Ultra in Miami. In a fitting full circle moment, the pair come onstage after a b2b by Flux Pavilion and Doctor P.
She’s bumped into plenty sexism in her career, particularly in the extremely male-dominated world of bass, where she’s often been wrongly and ridiculously accused of using ghost producers. But as her music affects moods, so too has her success and general presence in the scene been effective in evolving minds. “When people see a girl producing these heavy-ass songs, it’s kind of stuck in their heads that she’s not making it,” she says. “In their brains, it can’t exist. It’s actually cringe that we’re in 2025 and people still think like that, but every year we have more successful females in the industry. I think we’re on a run.”
Audiffred is also evolving her sound. She’s been releasing her debut album, Rave New World, in pieces since last December, and when the full project is out, “I think that’s the last harsh dubstep you’re going to hear from me,” she says. “It’s not saying goodbye, because I’m not moving from bass, but I’m moving to a different type of like sound,” with her upcoming work focused on the adjacent genres of trap and future house. Indeed, most any psychologist would advise that healthy evolution happens with maturity, and so with Audiffred having achieved her initial dreams, she’s now aiming to make her sound a bit more mainstream, so she can start flexing on festival mainstages.
But the reason she “really loved making this album,” she continues, is “because it was an ode to the rave and it’s kind of speaking to the little Jessica sho was just dreaming about playing festivals and becoming a DJ. It’s an album for her — to let her know that we’re good, and that we did it with own vision and style.”
The inaugural Femmy Awards kicked off in high style and spirit Thursday (March 27) in Miami.
Happening amid the many (many) events of Miami Music Week, the awards were put on by Femme House, the nonprofit founded by LP Giobbi and Lauren Spalding that works to create and celebrate equity in the music industry by amplifying voices of women, femme, gender-expansive LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC creators.
The afternoon ceremony took place on the waterfront patio at Palm Tree Club, the hotel opened by Kygo and his manager and Myles Shear this past December. In the sunshine and bay breezes, LP and Spaulding presented a variety of awards honoring artists, party brands, festivals, execs and other members across the dance music industry.
The event started with moving speeches by Barbara Tucker and Crystal Waters, who were honored with the Voice of House award for the prolific contributions they’ve made to the genre over the years. So too were DJ Minx and DJ Lady D each honored with the Pioneer Award for their everything they’ve each done to break barriers, reshape the dance and electronic music industries and pave the way for femme, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ artists.
The event also presented awards to a flurry of other artists, with Kaleena Zanders and Aluna Francis winning for best live performance, Coco & Breezy winning the Carolyn Horn Trailblazer Award (named for LP Giobbi’s longtime piano teacher who passed away in 2023), TSHA winning for best producer, Xandra being honored with the Rising Star Award and Sara Landry getting the award for producer of the year.
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The ceremony also honored a number of executives, with WME’s head of electronic music Stefanie LaFera getting the Theresa Velasquez Award for Outstanding Executive award and WME’s Bailey Greenwood winning for agent of the year. Billboard was the official media sponsor of the event.
See the complete winners list below.
2025 Ally Award: Le Chev2025 Breakthrough Artist: Alleycvt2025 Most Diverse Festival: Lightning in a Bottle2025 Theresa Velasquez Award for Outstanding Executive: Stephanie LaFera2025 Ableton Instructor of the Year: Mini Bear2025 Pass the Mic Media Award: DJ Mag2025 Pass the Mic Media Award: Billboard2025 Carolyn Horn Trailblazer Award: Coco & Breezy2025 Femme House Community Member of the Year: Shak Jackson2025 Best Live Performance: Kaleena Zanders + Aluna Francis @ Planet Pride
2025 Best Radio Mix: DJ Holographic2025 Album of the Year: Sofi Tukker, Bread2025 Best Sound Designer: Tokimonsta2025 Best Producer: TSHA2025 Best Vocalist: Kaleena Zanders2025 Best Engineer: Jayda Love2025 Best Mixer: Laura Sisk2025 Sonic Innovator Award: FKA Twigs2025 Best Visual Experience: The Blessed Madonna2025 Best Visual Experience: Nora En Pure2025 Activist & Impact Award: She Is the Music2025 Culture Shifter Award: Ronny Ho2025 Best Music Journalist: Katie Bain2025 Best Record Label: HE.SHE.THEY.2025 Manager of the Year: Julia Fugazy2025 Agent of the Year: Bailey Greenwood2025 Hospitality Visionary Award: Carly Van Sickle2025 Talent Booker: Heather Church2025 Best Club: Elsewhere2025 Icon Award: Honey Dijon2025 Song of the Year: Desiree, “Khuluma Nami”2025 Creative Director of the Year: Sophie Muller2025 Best Underground Promoter: Girls Room2025 For the Culture Award: Interna$hional Bounce2025 Voice of House Honoree: Barbara Tucker2025 Voice of House Honoree: Crystal Waters2025 Rising Star Honoree: Xandra2025 Producer of the Year Honoree: Sara Landry2025 Pioneer Award Honoree: DJ Lady D2025 Pioneer Award Honoree: Minx
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Neon Carnival has announced the line-up for this year’s late-night blow-out after party in Indio, CA that will take place on April 12.
The 14th year of the event founded by L.A. nightlife impresario Brent Bolthouse and produced by Jeffrey Best of Best Events will once again take place at the Desert International Horse Park and feature sets from Anderson .Paak‘s record-spinning persona, DJ Pee .Wee, as well as DJ Charly Jordan and Chase B & Friends.
“As we kick off our fourteenth year in the desert, we’re beyond thrilled to once again team up with our incredible sponsors to create another unforgettable experience, featuring some of the biggest names in the industry,” Bolthouse said in a statement. “Last year, we amazed our guests with an incredible DJ lineup and a surprise performance by Busta Rhymes. This year, we’re turning it up even more — Charly Jordan and Chase B & Friends are joining the lineup to deliver one of the most electrifying sets yet, and it’s going to be a night everyone will remember.”
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Last year’s show also featured sets from .Paak’s DJ Pee .Wee, along with a live horn player and drum kit, as well as TikTok DJ Hunny Bee and Vanderpump Rules star DJ James Kennedy.
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The invite-only, 21+ celebration that traditionally draws A-list guests including celebrities, influencers and industry movers will again take over the three-football-sized, all-grass Horse Park, turning it into an “immersive neon-lit wonderland” of music, along with classic carnival games, amusement park rides and the event’s iconic light-up ferris wheel. This year’s topline sponsor is once again Patrón El Alto, whose handcrafted, prestige tequila cocktails will be served along with beverages from returning sponsors Ghost Energy, Nütrl Vodka Seltzers, LaCroix, and PathWater.
Attendees at this year’s event will get to sample the event’s first-ever official cocktail, the PATRÓN Headliner Margarita, which will be served in a glow-in-the-dark collector cup.
The Long Feng art car will serve as the stage for the upcoming Framework in the Desert parties happening around the first weekend of Coachella 2025.
Electronic events producer Framework announced Wednesday (March 26) that the lineups for these parties will feature Dutch producer Mau P, Manchester’s Interplanetary Criminal and California native Max Styler on Saturday, April 12, and Alesso playing one of his underground Body Hi sets on Sunday, April 13, with special guests Francier Mercier and Layton Giordani. The lineup for Friday, April 11, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Framework in the Desert will be the first time that the Long Feng art car has appeared outside of Burning Man, where it made its debut last year. Featuring sets by a flurry of underground DJs, the car was an immediate standout for both its Funktion-One sound system and dragon design.
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These festival afterparties are happening at the Atlantic Aviation airport hangar in Thermal, Calif., a few miles from the Coachella site. Tickets are on sale now.
“Framework is back at the Atlantic Aviation hangar in Thermal, bringing our staple production and musical artists to the desert,” said Framework co-founder Kobi Danan. “After unforgettable moments like Chris Lake with Fisher, Black Coffee b2b The Martinez Brothers, Peggy Gou and last year’s standout sets from Charlotte de Witte, Dom Dolla and John Summit, Framework in the Desert has cemented itself as a pivotal extension of the festival experience. In 2025, expect a fresh lineup of global talent and forward-thinking artists, all set in an atmosphere for those craving something beyond the main stage. This year, we’re adding exciting new elements while keeping the unique vibe that’s made this event a fan favorite.”
Framework also curates the lineups for Coachella’s club space, the Yuma Tent, which will this year feature DJ/producers including Mercier, Indira Pagonotto, Vintage Culture, Amelie Lens, Haai, Tripolism, Damian Lazarus and many more. Coachella 2025 happens April 11-13 and April 18-20 in Indio, Calif., with headliners including Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott.
See the poster for Framework in the Desert below:
Framework In The Desert
Courtesy Photo
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Electronic music producer Anyma has signed a global publishing deal with independent music publishing company Kobalt. The deal encompasses the artist’s catalog (including some of his work as part of the duo Tale of Us), along with future releases. The deal announcement follows the conclusion of Anyma’s buzzy residency at Sphere Las Vegas earlier this […]