Kygo
Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, who records as Kygo, was born in 1991 and raised in Bergen, Norway, where he trained as a classical pianist from age six before turning to electronic production and posting remixes online. His breakout single 'Firestone' (2014) and the album 'Cloud Nine' helped popularize 'tropical house,' a softer, sun-lit strain of dance music built on marimba-like plucks, warm chords, and melody over aggression. He remains one of streaming's most-played dance producers, defined by an unhurried, melodically generous take on EDM.
Kygo has called Avicii his main inspiration and the reason he started producing, praising how Avicii's melodies are 'simple but crazy catchy, and structured like pop songs' — a lesson Kygo took straight into his own hook-first, verse-and-chorus approach to dance tracks.
listen forSet Avicii's 'Levels' next to Kygo's 'Stole the Show' — both organize the whole record around one euphoric, instantly memorable melodic phrase, letting the tune rather than the drum programming do the emotional heavy lifting.
Kygo has described himself as a long-time Coldplay fan and named the band a dream collaboration, and their imprint is audible in his taste for slow-building, piano-anchored uplift that resolves into a wide, cathartic, arms-open chorus.
listen forCompare Coldplay's 'Fix You' with Kygo's 'Here for You' — both spend their early minutes hushed and patient before swelling into a big, glowing emotional release meant to feel like a shared exhale.
Kygo has said his music was inspired in part by Bon Iver, and the influence surfaces in his reverb-soaked, atmospheric production — the way a track's space and texture carry as much feeling as the melody itself.
listen forPlay Bon Iver's 'Holocene' against Kygo's 'Stay' — notice the shared hushed, layered, cavernous ambience, where soft washes of reverb frame an intimate vocal and let the emptiness feel emotionally full.