Topic

From:Germany

DJ style:“Melancholic dance music.”

Best known for:“‘Breaking Me’, ‘Your Love (9PM)’, ‘Kernkraft 400 (A Better Day)’.”

The Croatian-German DJ and producer, Topic, is best known for his chart-topping hits including 2015’s certified platinum ‘Home’. This summer Topic embarked on an extensive tour across Europe, India and the UK which saw appearances at festivals such as Tomorrowland, Glücksgefühle Festival and Parookaville alongside a headline show at London’s Ministry of Sound. This year he also made his Ultra debut at Ultra Taiwan, and another highlight was his track ‘Breaking Me’ hitting one billion streams on Spotify.

As always, Topic’s release activity has been nothing short of relentless, putting out a string of original tracks such as ‘Lucid Dream’, ‘Forget You’ with FAST BOY, ‘Sleepless’ with Restricted and GoldFord, ’Saving Me’ with Sasha Alex Sloan and A7S, all released via Virgin Records, where Topic is a long-time signee. Aside original tracks, Topic also produced a bunch of remixes for none other than David Guetta and Lewis Thompson’s ‘Take Me Back’ and, most recently, ‘Tattoo’ by the Swedish singer-songwriter, Loreen.

Hero of 2023:“Afterlife.”

Fave tune of 2023:“John Summit, Hayla ‘Where You Are’.”

Best DJ set you’ve seen in 2023:“Boris Brejcha [at] Untold.”

What was the most exciting tech development of 2023?“Insane sounding AI vocals.”

Rising star DJ/producer of 2023:“John Summit.”

What gives you hope for 2024?“The diversity of electronic music.”

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Jay Hardway

From:Drunen, The Netherlands

DJ style:“House / melodic / main stage.”

Best known for:“Tracks like ‘Electric Elephants’, ‘Wizard’ with Martin Garrix and my melodies.”

It’s been just over a decade since main stage mainstay and EDM maestro Jay Hardway burst onto the scene via his Martin Garrix collab ‘Registration Code’, a tune that set him on the path to becoming a regular headliner at legendary clubs and global events like Tomorrowland, Pacha and EDC New York, AMF, Mysteryland and Omnia Las Vegas.

Becoming a father last year has meant Hardway has been focusing on maintaining that all-important work/life balance: “In my personal life I made sure to spend a lot of time with my family and it’s been amazing being a father. I still love doing shows worldwide, but I’ve made sure to plan my tours in such a way that I’m not on the road 24/7.”

It’s an approach that’s clearly working as 2023 has seen the Dutch DJ/producer continue to deliver high-impact dancefloor gold, including his big Spinnin’ Records collab with Tujamo featuring Bay-C ‘Energy’,high-drama Emo-DM tear-jerkerLost Souls’with Jeffrey Sutorius on Revealed, and fresh vocal track ‘On Fire’ featuring Nadia Gattas on Rave Culture, with Hardway’s solo releases like ‘The Sound’ and ‘Red Alert’ all picking up strong DJ support too.

Hero of 2023:“My daughter No