Major Lazer

Major Lazer bask in the unfamiliar and openly welcome the absurd. Just look at the group's eponymous cartoon mascot: a Jamaican war hero from the future with a laser gun for a hand. Originally formed as the borderless dance project of musical polyglot Diplo, Major Lazer have internationalized dance music by breaking from mainstream norms to explore, and often discover, the sounds and scenes of the global underground. Just as mainstream EDM and dubstep were beginning to dominate the U.S. in the late 2000s, Major Lazer stormed in with their raucous 2009 debut album, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, a no-limit fusion of dancehall, reggae, and electro-house. The band owe their futuristic, exotic sound as much to their rotating cast of in-house producers—currently Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Ape Drums; formerly Jillionaire and co-founder Switch—as they does to their vast network of guest collaborators, which welcomes both pop stars (Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars) and rap giants (Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj). Major Lazer's pop appeal is not limited to dance-floor glory: The trio’s platinum singles "Lean On" (2015), with DJ Snake featuring MØ, and "Cold Water" (2016), featuring Justin Bieber and, once again, MØ, have topped all-genre charts around the world. The act has helped usher in the next wave of global sounds, too, experimenting with Afrobeats on 2019's Africa Is the Future and Latin pop, as heard on "Que Calor," featuring Colombian reggaeton superstar J Balvin and Dominican dembow artist El Alfa. Simply put: Major Lazer do not follow trends, but define them.