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Skrillex (real name — Sonny John Moore; born 15 January 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA) is an American DJ, music producer, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. After beginning his professional career as the frontman of post-hardcore band From First to Last, he later became one of the central figures in global electronic music during the 2010s. His early recordings under the Skrillex name played an important role in the worldwide popularisation of dubstep and its more aggressive American branch, while his later career expanded into garage, house, jungle, trap, bass music, techno, pop, hip-hop, dancehall and numerous other styles.
From First to Last: a career that did not begin with electronic music
Before the name Skrillex appeared, Sonny Moore was primarily associated with the American alternative scene. He was involved in music as a teenager and in 2004 became the vocalist of From First to Last, one of the notable post-hardcore bands of its generation.
With Moore, the band recorded two albums — Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount in 2004 and Heroine in 2006. His high-pitched emotional vocals and stage presence became an important part of the group’s early identity.
Intensive touring led to serious vocal problems. From First to Last had to cancel a number of performances, while Moore underwent medical treatment on his vocal cords. In early 2007 he left the band to focus on solo music.
His connection with From First to Last did not disappear completely. In 2017, Moore recorded vocals again for the single Make War and performed with the band in Los Angeles, while in 2018 he appeared on the track Surrender.
The transition from Sonny Moore to Skrillex
After leaving the band, Moore spent some time releasing solo material under his own name. His first independent EP appeared in 2009, while the music gradually moved away from post-hardcore toward programming, synthesizers and electronic rhythms.
The alias Skrillex became established around 2009–2010. Before that, Moore also used the name Twipz, as noted in his official Recording Academy profile.
In 2010, he independently distributed the free EP My Name Is Skrillex. The release already contained the core elements of his new musical direction: heavily processed bass, glitch effects, aggressive drum programming and rapid transitions between heavy and melodic sections.
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and a turning point in dubstep history
On 22 October 2010, Skrillex released the EP Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. It became a defining point for everything that followed in his career. The title track combined dubstep rhythms with extremely aggressive bass sound design, glitch processing and a structure whose dynamics were closer to American rock and metal.
Skrillex did not create dubstep: the genre had developed much earlier in the United Kingdom around London’s garage and bass scenes. However, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites became one of the releases that radically expanded the genre’s international audience and helped establish a heavier American interpretation of dubstep. Apple Music has explicitly noted that the EP did not invent dubstep but became one of the catalysts for its global rise.
At the same time, his remix of Cinema by Benny Benassi also became hugely popular. Together, these releases made Skrillex’s characteristic bass sound part of mainstream festival EDM culture in the early 2010s.
First Grammys and the transition to international stardom
At the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012, Skrillex won three awards at once: Best Dance Recording for Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Best Dance/Electronica Album for the EP of the same name, and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remix of Cinema. These were his first Grammy wins.
The next release, Bangarang, arrived at the end of 2011 and continued developing a brighter and more melodic version of his bass music. The EP included Bangarang with Sirah, Kyoto, Summit with Ellie Goulding and other tracks.
At the following Grammy ceremony, Skrillex again won three awards: for Bangarang as both a dance recording and electronic album, as well as for his remix of Promises by NERO.
Within just a few years, the artist moved from small club performances to the world’s biggest electronic music festivals, while the synthesised bass sound associated with his early career became one of the most widely copied production techniques of the first half of the 2010s.
Recess — the first full-length album
In 2014, Skrillex released his debut studio album Recess. The record reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and demonstrated a considerably broader musical range than his early reputation as simply a “dubstep producer” suggested.
On Recess, bass music appeared alongside electro house, jungle, trap, reggae and experimental electronic music. Contributors included Ragga Twins, Chance the Rapper, Diplo, Kill the Noise, Fatman Scoop, Alvin Risk and other musicians.
The album included Try It Out, Ragga Bomb, Ease My Mind, Recess, Dirty Vibe and Doompy Poomp. Rather than repeating the formula of Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Moore was already treating Skrillex as a project without strict genre boundaries on his first full-length release.
OWSLA
In 2011, Skrillex launched his own label OWSLA together with partners. The name is connected to Richard Adams’ novel Watership Down. The company’s first release was Porter Robinson’s Spitfire EP.
Over the years, the OWSLA catalogue included music by Porter Robinson, Zedd, Kill the Noise, Dillon Francis, Seven Lions, What So Not, Mija, Marshmello, TroyBoi, Valentino Khan, AC Slater, Salvatore Ganacci, KOAN Sound, Moody Good and many other artists.
OWSLA functioned as more than a traditional record label. Radio shows, events, visual projects and an entire artist community developed around the brand, making its influence on the American bass and electronic scene of the 2010s considerably broader than the catalogue of individual releases alone.
The label continues to be used for Skrillex’s own music as well: his 2025 and 2026 albums were officially released through OWSLA/Atlantic Recording Corporation.
Dog Blood with Boys Noize
Another important direction was Dog Blood, the project created by Skrillex with German producer Boys Noize in 2012.
The debut release Next Order / Middle Finger combined Skrillex’s bass-oriented approach with the harder electro and techno aesthetic of Boys Noize. Middle Finger, Pt. 2 followed in 2013, and after a break the duo returned in 2019 with the Turn Off the Lights EP.
Dog Blood became an early example of Skrillex’s desire to move beyond the genre formula that had made him famous. The project places much greater emphasis on techno, electro, breakbeat and warehouse-oriented club production.
Jack Ü: Skrillex and Diplo
Skrillex’s most commercially successful side project became Jack Ü, created together with Diplo.
In February 2015, the duo released their only studio album, Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü. The record featured Kiesza, 2 Chainz, AlunaGeorge, Missy Elliott and other artists.
The project’s biggest hit was Where Are Ü Now with Justin Bieber. The track combined Skrillex and Diplo’s electronic production with pop vocals and became Skrillex’s first Top 10 hit in the United States.
At the 2016 Grammy Awards, Jack Ü won Best Dance/Electronic Album, while Where Are Ü Now received Best Dance Recording. These two wins brought Skrillex’s total number of Grammy victories to eight.
Jack Ü also influenced pop production during the second half of the 2010s: elements of dancehall, bass music and minimalist electronic production used by the duo became a noticeable part of the international pop sound of the period.
Work beyond his own project
Skrillex regularly works not only as the main artist but also as a producer or co-writer on other musicians’ material.
His catalogue includes work with Korn, for whom he helped create Get Up! and Narcissistic Cannibal; A$AP Rocky on Wild for the Night; Rick Ross on Purple Lamborghini; and Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Ty Dolla $ign, FKA twigs, Travis Scott and many other performers.
Purple Lamborghini, created for the film Suicide Squad, received a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
Skrillex’s film-related work also includes Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, for which he contributed music, while in gaming one of his notable projects is Face My Fears, created with Hikaru Utada and Poo Bear for Kingdom Hearts III.
The long period without a solo album
After Recess, Skrillex did not release another full-length solo album for almost nine years, but the period was far from a creative hiatus.
He continued releasing singles, remixes and collaborations. Notable records included Would You Ever with Poo Bear, his remix of Kendrick Lamar’s HUMBLE., Midnight Hour with Boys Noize and Ty Dolla $ign, Supersonic (My Existence) with Noisia, josh pan and Dylan Brady, Butterflies with Four Tet and Starrah, In Da Getto with J Balvin and Don't Go with Justin Bieber and Don Toliver.
This period gradually changed the perception of what Skrillex sounded like. His production incorporated more UK garage, house, jungle, hip-hop and experimental bass music, while the signature aggression of his early dubstep was no longer a mandatory element of every release.
Quest For Fire
On 17 February 2023, Skrillex released his second solo studio album Quest For Fire — his first full-length project since Recess. The album contains 15 tracks and combines bassline, UK garage, dubstep, dancehall, house, jungle and experimental club music.
Contributors included Fred again.., Flowdan, Four Tet, Starrah, Missy Elliott, Mr. Oizo, Dylan Brady, Nai Barghouti, Porter Robinson, Bibi Bourelly, Joker, Sleepnet and others.
One of the central tracks was Rumble, created by Skrillex, Fred again.. and Flowdan. Built around minimalist bass architecture and Flowdan’s distinctive vocal, the track differs sharply from the maximalism of Skrillex’s early work.
In 2024, Rumble earned him his ninth Grammy Award — Best Dance/Electronic Recording. Quest For Fire itself was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album.
Don't Get Too Close
On 18 February 2023, just one day after Quest For Fire, Skrillex unexpectedly released his third solo album Don't Get Too Close.
While Quest For Fire is primarily aimed at the club and bass scenes, Don't Get Too Close is considerably softer. It contains more garage, trap, R&B and pop, while vocals play a much more prominent role.
The album features Bobby Raps, PinkPantheress, Trippie Redd, Bladee, Yung Lean, Bibi Bourelly, Kid Cudi, Chief Keef, Corbin and Justin Bieber. The title track is one of the relatively rare recordings on which Sonny Moore’s own vocals can be heard.
The two albums, released one day apart, effectively divided contemporary Skrillex into two complementary sides: the club- and bass-oriented Quest For Fire and the more song-focused Don't Get Too Close.
Skrillex, Fred again.. and Four Tet
The period surrounding Quest For Fire coincided with close collaboration between Skrillex, Fred again.. and Four Tet.
In February 2023, the three artists played a multi-hour joint set at Madison Square Garden in New York. Several months later, they unexpectedly closed the second weekend of Coachella 2023, replacing Frank Ocean in the festival’s final slot.
These performances became notable moments in contemporary club culture: instead of a tightly rehearsed EDM show, the artists built their sets around free-flowing back-to-back interaction, moving between house, garage, techno, dubstep and their own unreleased material.
F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3
On 1 April 2025, without a traditional long promotional campaign, Skrillex released his fourth solo studio album F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3. The record contains 34 tracks with a total running time of approximately 46 minutes and is structured as an almost continuous stream of short compositions and transitions.
In terms of genre range, it is one of the most radical works in his catalogue. The album moves through classic dubstep, Brazilian phonk, hardcore techno, trance, experimental bass and fragments of pop music. Contributors include Boys Noize, Dylan Brady, Varg2™, Whitearmor, jamesjamesjames and other musicians.
The track VOLTAGE was nominated for a Grammy in 2026 in the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category, while the album itself received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Other artists won both categories, so Skrillex’s total number of Grammy victories remained at nine.
At the end of 2025, he followed the album with the EP hit me where it hurts x, featuring work with ISOxo, Virtual Riot, Moody Good, Nakeesha, Dylan Brady and Caroline Polachek.
SOMA and a new stage of his club sound
On 5 June 2026, Skrillex released his fifth studio album SOMA — a 13-track record once again issued through OWSLA and Atlantic Records.
Compared with the chaotic structure of the previous album, SOMA is noticeably more focused. The music moves between progressive house, techno, Brazilian club music, bass and various regional forms of contemporary electronic music.
Collaborators include Nitepunk, Blawan, Randomer, MC Dricka, ISOxo, Cristale, TeeZandos, Taichu, Anita B Queen and others. Thistle connects the British techno/bass environment with Brazilian vocals from MC Dricka, while the album as a whole emphasises the increasingly international character of Skrillex’s production.
The release continued a tendency already apparent on Quest For Fire: instead of working within one dominant “signature genre,” Skrillex increasingly functions as a link between different club cultures and production schools.
CONTRA
Alongside the new music, Skrillex launched CONTRA — his own multidisciplinary platform and event series.
The first major CONTRA event took place at Kraftwerk Berlin on 30–31 May 2026. The two-day programme featured more than 70 artists representing different areas of electronic and experimental culture.
CONTRA develops an approach that can be traced through Skrillex’s career as far back as OWSLA: creating an environment around music rather than working exclusively within the format of his own DJ project.
Why Skrillex’s sound became so influential
The most obvious technical influence of early Skrillex is connected with sound design.
On Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, First of the Year (Equinox) and Bangarang, bass stopped serving only a rhythmic or harmonic function and became almost an independent character within the composition. Frequency modulation, abrupt pitch changes, distortion, resampling and rapidly changing timbres created the impression of “talking” synthesizers.
These techniques existed before Skrillex, but the scale of his popularity turned this approach into a reference point for a huge number of young producers during the first half of the 2010s.
At the same time, his background as a rock vocalist remained audible in his music. Even instrumental tracks often use a sense of drama closer to hardcore and metal: the build-up functions like tension before a breakdown, while the bass drop takes on the role of a heavy guitar riff.
His later catalogue is considerably more complex. Quest For Fire, F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3 and SOMA are no longer built around a single form of bass drop, but around detailed drum programming, spatial production, vocal editing and combinations of different regional club genres.
Grammy Awards
According to the Recording Academy, Skrillex has 9 Grammy wins and 20 nominations.
His victories are associated with four main periods of his career: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and the Cinema remix in 2012; Bangarang and the NERO remix Promises in 2013; the Jack Ü project and Where Are Ü Now in 2016; and Rumble with Fred again.. and Flowdan in 2024.
Outside his own dance categories, Skrillex has also received nominations as a participant or songwriter on projects by Beyoncé, Justin Bieber and the Suicide Squad soundtrack.
Skrillex discography
Studio albums
- 2014 — Recess
- 2023 — Quest For Fire
- 2023 — Don't Get Too Close
- 2025 — F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3
- 2026 — SOMA
Major EPs
- 2009 — Gypsyhook EP — under the name Sonny Moore
- 2010 — My Name Is Skrillex
- 2010 — Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
- 2011 — More Monsters and Sprites
- 2011 — Bangarang
- 2013 — Leaving
- 2019 — Show Tracks
- 2025 — hit me where it hurts x
Other projects
- 2004 — Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount — From First to Last
- 2006 — Heroine — From First to Last
- 2012 — Next Order / Middle Finger — Dog Blood
- 2013 — Middle Finger, Pt. 2 — Dog Blood
- 2015 — Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü — Jack Ü
- 2019 — Turn Off the Lights EP — Dog Blood
Selected key tracks
- 2010 — Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
- 2011 — First of the Year (Equinox)
- 2011 — Bangarang — feat. Sirah
- 2011 — Summit — feat. Ellie Goulding
- 2012 — Make It Bun Dem — with Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley
- 2013 — Wild for the Night — A$AP Rocky feat. Skrillex & Birdy Nam Nam
- 2015 — Where Are Ü Now — Jack Ü feat. Justin Bieber
- 2016 — Purple Lamborghini — with Rick Ross
- 2017 — Would You Ever — with Poo Bear
- 2019 — Midnight Hour — with Boys Noize and Ty Dolla $ign
- 2021 — Supersonic (My Existence) — with Noisia, josh pan and Dylan Brady
- 2021 — Butterflies — with Starrah and Four Tet
- 2021 — In Da Getto — with J Balvin
- 2023 — Rumble — with Fred again.. and Flowdan
- 2023 — RATATA — with Missy Elliott and Mr. Oizo
- 2023 — XENA — with Nai Barghouti
- 2024 — TAKA — with Ahadadream and Priya Ragu
- 2025 — VOLTAGE
- 2025 — fuze — with ISOxo
- 2026 — Thistle — with Randomer, Blawan and MC Dricka.
Skrillex’s place in electronic music
Skrillex’s influence is defined by far more than the success of his early dubstep period. His career connects several musical worlds that rarely coexist within a single professional path: post-hardcore, American EDM, British bass culture, pop production, hip-hop, underground club music and experimental electronics.
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites helped bring heavy bass music into the international mainstream, Jack Ü demonstrated the possibilities of an electronic producer within global pop, while Quest For Fire and the albums that followed established his transition from a recognisable genre formula toward a much freer form of club production.
At the same time, the different stages of his career are not isolated from one another. The experience of From First to Last remains audible in Moore’s approach to dynamics and vocals; early dubstep remains part of his bass vocabulary; OWSLA created an entire producer ecosystem around him; Jack Ü and numerous collaborations expanded his work into pop and hip-hop; and his more recent projects connect Skrillex with contemporary garage, techno, jungle and the global club scene.
This constant rebuilding of his own sound has become one of Skrillex’s most enduring characteristics — an artist whose influence on electronic music is connected not to a single genre, but to the way different forms of club and bass music moved from local scenes into international music culture.
