EDM: a genre of music made largely for nightclubs, raves and festivals. DJs seamlessly mash in multiple tracks into a mix. Popularized in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, following the emergence of raves. In the 21st century, prodigy Porter Robinson has built a reputation through this genre of music.

Robinson started to produce his own EDM music at the young age of 12, under the aliases of “Bloodsphere”, and later, “Ekowraith”. Video games, like the “Dance Dance Revolution”, as well as anime, which inspired his creation of “Shelter”. In 2011, he signed a deal with OWSLA and released one of his earliest albums, “Spitfire”. Shortly thereafter, he released “Language”, a hit Robinson usually plays at the end of his live concerts.

Robinson set forth into creating music that pushes the limit on how far the genre can go. In 2014, under his real name, he released the album “Worlds”. With this album, Robinson debuted his vocals for the first time in the widely acclaimed track “Sad Machine”. With his new album in tow, he pursued more with the “Worlds Live Tour”. In 2015, many artists collaborated with Robinson, such as Mat Zo, San Holo and others. This led to the creation of the “Worlds Remixed” album, a compilation of remixes from other artists from the songs of “Worlds”.

After being in a dry rut in 2016, Robinson announced that he will be producing new bits for a new album, and started a crossover between his longtime friend, the French music producer Madeon. Together, they wrote the song “Shelter”, which symbolizes their long-running friendship. The true meaning behind the lyrics of the song, according to Madeon himself, is that it’s about “the idea of transmission from a generation to the next through parenthood.”

Dedicated to his fellow anime lovers, Robinson teamed up with A-1 Pictures and Crunchyroll to create, oversee and personally direct the animation for the music video. Robinson and Madeon traveled together on a year-long tour; The “Shelter Live Tour” which started in Atlanta, Georgia and ended in Coachella 2017.

In 2017, Robinson took a break from creating songs under his real name and produced songs under the name Virtual Self. The songs attributed to Virtual Self are “departure” from the sounds of “Shelter” and “Worlds”, and favored a more 90s and early 2000s sound.

Back when he was still under the name Ekowraith, he debuted with the song “Eon Break”. The album describes more of a futuristic utopia, conveying cryptic messages. During his live shows, a simple rule was born: “No Porter songs in a Virtual show, and no Virtual songs in a Porter show.”
In 2019, Robinson announced the “Multiverse Music Festival”: a one-day music festival in Oakland, California. When sales of tickets went live, it sold out almost immediately, slating a second day for the festival. This became known as “Porter Robinson’s Second Sky Music Festival”, where fellow artists such as San Holo, Anamanaguchi, Madeon, Kero Kero Bonito and many more others performed.

On Jan. 28 this year, Robinson uploaded a 51-second video announcing the release of his second album, “Nurture”. The next day, “Get Your Wish” was released. On March 25, Robinson released the second track for the album, “Something Comforting”.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused all large gatherings to be cancelled. The Second Sky 2020 therefore did not take place. In an attempt to relieve his fans of this appalling outcome, Robinson hosted a virtual version of the music festival titled “Porter Robinson’s Secret Sky Music Festival”. And on Aug. 26, Robinson released the third song for the album, “Mirror”, and revealed a forthcoming part of the album, “Look At The Sky”.

Robinson also does the usual DJ sets for local and international radios. His latest set was “rewind/play/fast forward” for Radio.com’s Party In Place event, which took place on July 3rd, which, in his words, is about “the experience of listening to music you’ve worked on.”

Robinson is still in progress with the final song for “Nurture”, however, an interactive website is live, with the current songs that have been released.