Vanic

A metal enthusiast when he was in middle school, Hughes developed an interest in hardstyle and later in musical production. He played piano at the age of four.^[3] Hughes gained recognition for remixing songs for artists like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lana Del Rey and Birdy.^[4] He told Forbes "Family and personal issues came up in my life that made me re-evaluate my goals and direction. I decided that I might as well spend my youth trying for something really cool and different, something I was passionate about. And music was the obvious choice, it's been one of the biggest parts of my life..."^[5] Hughes, who studied business, dropped out of Simon Fraser University in an effort to pursue a successful musical career.^[6]

In 2014, he was featured on the song "Circles" by Machineheart, which received over a million streams in two weeks.^[1] In 2016, he signed a deal with Disruptor Records, a joint venture of Sony Music and Adam Alpert.^[7][8] He said "Adam and Disruptor were the right fit. Everything they do seems to be spot on, and they're really good people to work with."^[5] He released his debut single "Samurai" via the label.^[9] On January 20, 2017, he released the song "Too Soon" featuring Maty Noyes.^[10] According to Nielsen Music, the song received 740,000 streams in the United States and sold 1,000 downloads in its first tracking week. It debuted on the Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart at 40th.^[11] His song "Staring at the Sun" was also released via Disruptor and featured Clara Mae.^[12] The song became his third single to be released on the label.^[13]