Martin Garrix - Your Ultimate Guide
From a track made at sixteen to festival-headliner status. Here's how to get Martin Garrix fast, in the songs that matter.
He was sixteen, still at school just outside Amsterdam, when he made the track that would go off in every festival field on the planet. A year later "Animals" was everywhere. And Martin Garrix went from bedroom producer to main-stage headliner before he was old enough to drink in the States.
That's the short version. Here's how to actually get him, in three songs.
Start here: "Animals" (2013)
Play it loud. That clanging, almost-silly melodic hook and the enormous drop behind it are big-room house at its absolute peak. And the sound of a teenager rewriting the rules. It hasn't aged a day. If your foot isn't going by the drop, check your pulse.
Then hear him grow up: "Scared to Be Lonely"
Fast forward four years and you get a completely different Garrix. The festival fireworks make way for space, restraint and one of Dua Lipa's best early vocals. This is the track that proved he was more than a drop machine. He could do feeling, too.
The curveball: "Ocean"
Warm, weightless future bass with Khalid gliding over the top. It's the sound of a producer who has stopped chasing the biggest drop and started chasing the best song. Play these three back to back and you've got his whole career arc in about ten minutes.
Our pick: the one people forget
Everyone remembers "Animals". Far fewer mention "In the Name of Love" with Bebe Rexha. And they're missing out. It's Garrix at his most quietly clever: a huge hook that never once raises its voice. If you only add one deep cut to your playlist, make it that one.
Where to go next
Once those have clicked, keep pulling the thread: "Summer Days" for pure sunshine, "There for You" with Troye Sivan for the ache, and his 2022 album Sentio if you want a proper body of work rather than a run of singles.
Why he lands on Frisk
Garrix sits right on the line between the festival and the radio. Big enough for the main stage, melodic enough for your Tuesday morning. That's exactly the lane Frisk lives in, which is why you'll hear plenty of him here.