Alan Walker

Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. His songs " Faded", "Sing Me to Sleep", " Alone", "All Falls Down" (with Noah Cyrus and Digital Farm Animals) and " Darkside" (with Au/Ra and Tomine Harket) have each been multi-platinum-certified and reached number 1 on the VG-lista chart in Norway. Walker values his anonymity and is known to wear a hoodie and mask to remain inconspicuous.

Walker grew up in Fana, Bergen, Norway, and began making music around 2012. Using feedback from fans online, he later gained recognition by posting several videos on YouTube and SoundCloud. Starting out as a bedroom producer, he was better known as DJ Walkzz before signing a record deal and releasing his debut single "Fade" on NoCopyrightSounds (NCS) at the age of 17. In December 2015, his single " Faded", released on MER Musikk, reached as high as number 80 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2016, after releasing the singles "Sing Me to Sleep" and " Alone", in 2017 released the single " The Spectre", a vocal remake of an early song, "Spectre", which reached the top 10 on the Norwegian, Swiss, and Polish charts. Walker was ranked 13th on the ''Billboard'' 21 Under 21, which was released in September of the same year. Then, in October of the same year, he achieved similar success with the single "All Falls Down", a collaboration with singer Noah Cyrus and British DJ and music producer Digital Farm Animals.

In 2018, he released the song " Darkside" featuring Antiguan-German singer/songwriter Au/Ra and Norwegian singer Tomine Harket. A few months later, his first studio album, '' Different World'' (2018), debuted at number 1 on the Norwegian and Finnish charts, as well as in the Top 20 in Sweden and Switzerland. In 2019, Walker released the singles "Are You Lonely" featuring Steve Aoki and Isák, and " On My Way" featuring Sabrina Carpenter and Farruko. Over the next two years, Walker released songs such as "Time", a collaboration with Hans Zimmer in 2020, and " Fake a Smile" in 2021. Both songs appear on his second studio album, ''World of Walker'', which was released in November 2021 and reached number 4 in Norway. In September of the same year, he also released the '' Walker Racing League'' EP.

In 2023, he ranked number 11 on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs. As of February 2023, the BBC estimated Walker's net worth to be $20 million. In a rating of the most subscribed YouTube channels in Norway by vidIQ, Walker is ranked at the top of the list with around 45.7 million subscribers as of March 2024. He remains the most-subscribed user as of May 2025 with 46.8 million subscribers.

Early life

Alan Olav Walker was born on August 24, 1997, in Northampton, England, to a British father and a Norwegian mother. Walker moved to Fana, Bergen, Norway, with his two siblings when he was two years old. He was originally most interested in computer games, graphic design, and programming, and spent his childhood playing with Nintendo hardware and home consoles such as the PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube.

In 2010, he went on to , a private Christian middle school in the center of Bergen. During middle school, he started making music. Originally, he loved listening to music, but knew very little about it. As a result, he started learning music and production by watching YouTube tutorials. In 2013, he went on to . During high school, he often worked in his grandparents' garden, but wondered if he could make music into a career. After graduating from high school, he planned to either serve his country in the military or work at a nearby grocery store.

Career

2012–2015: Career beginnings and breakthrough

In 2012, Walker, who was listening to a song by Italian DJ David Whistle (also known as DJ Ness) reached out to him inquiring how he produced his music. He was inspired by Norwegian music producer K-391 and Dutch music producer Ahrix, and film composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky. He started producing his music on his laptop using FL Studio. In July 2012, using feedback from his fans online, he began pursuing his music production and subsequently posted some of his videos on YouTube and SoundCloud. Starting as a bedroom producer, Walker was better known as DJ Walkzz before signing a record deal, releasing his debut single in 2014.

After uploading some songs to YouTube, he released "Fade" on 17 August 2014. The song was re-released by the record label NoCopyrightSounds on 19 November 2014, to great attention, garnering 200 million views on YouTube in 2014. Walker said of its success, "it was mind-blowing". Walker stated that the creation of the track was inspired by K-391 and Ahrix, whose tracks were also picked up by the record label. The track has achieved milestones, especially with the view counts on streaming services.

Walker continued his music career and released "Spectre" and "Force" on NCS in 2015. He signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, " Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade". It was released on 3 December 2015, and featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer, Iselin Solheim. The single topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, was nominated for British Single of the Year at the 2017 BRIT Awards and won Song of the Year at the annual Spellemannprisen. The music video on YouTube reached 1 billion views on 26 March 2017, and by June 2024, it had been viewed over 3.6 billion times, making it the 28th most viewed YouTube video. It also became the first EDM song to achieve 3 billion views. As of March 2025, the song has been streamed over 2.1 billion times on Spotify, and was the most Shazamed song in the world by March 2016. The single also received official remixes from Tiësto, Dash Berlin, and Hardwell. He later released an acoustic "restrung" version of the song, with all the EDM elements taken out.

2016: "Sing Me to Sleep" and "Alone"

After releasing "Faded" in 2015, Walker dropped out of high school. "Things were just crazy at the time," he told ''CelebMix'' in 2016. "I went to school for a few weeks, but then everybody, including my parents, made the decision for me to drop out."

On 27 February, Walker made his debut performance at the Winter X Games XIX in Oslo. He performed 15 tracks including the song "Faded" together with Iselin Solheim. By March, Walker had produced 30 to 40 songs in total, but "Faded" marks his first single with Sony Music Sweden, and was considered the first to attain global success. On 7 April, he teamed up with Zara Larsson at the Echo Awards in Germany, where they performed each other's songs "Faded" and " Never Forget You". Four weeks previously, he achieved the first place on NRJ Euro Hot 30 for the first time, which only has been achieved by one other Norwegian music producer, Kygo.

The single "Sing Me to Sleep" was released on 3 June 2016, and featured the same female vocalist Iselin Solheim as "Faded". The song reached number 1 on the Norwegian charts and won Norwegian Song of the Year at the NRJ Music Awards Norge that same year.

In October 2016, Walker released a remix of Sia's song " Move Your Body". This song was included in Sia's album ''This Is Acting (Deluxe Edition)'' in the same year. Michael Sundius of ''Billboard'' wrote that the "addictive four-on-the-floor number showcases Sia's vocals to the fullest" and that it "captures the sentimentality and honesty that fans have come to know from his work."

Another single titled " Alone" was also released on 2 December of the same year, featuring uncredited Swedish singer Noonie Bao. On 21 and 22 December, Walker held the concert "Alan Walker is Heading Home" in his hometown Bergen at USF Verftet, where he performed 16 songs and tracks together with singers Angelina Jordan, Marius Samuelsen, Alexandra Rotan, Yosef Wolde-Mariam, and Tove Styrke. The concert was officially live-streamed on YouTube. He premiered several unreleased tracks, including a restrung version of "Sing Me to Sleep", as well as " Heading Home", the latter of which was first performed during his debut at Winter X Games. The song "The Spectre", a remastered, vocal version of his earlier track "Spectre" was also performed during the concert.

2017–2018: ''Different World''

At the beginning of 2017, Walker's YouTube channel became the most subscribed channel registered in Norway, after passing about 4.5 million subscribers, and had the most views among Norwegian YouTubers at around 13.9 billion views as of 12 May 2024. Between February and April, he toured around America including attending the Euphoria Festival in Texas.

In the spring of 2017, Walker released an instrumental version of the song "Ignite" featuring K-391. The song is a remake of K-391's 2015 song "Godzilla" featuring Marvin Divine, promoting Sony and the launch of their new product, the Sony Xperia XZs. The official music video has also been released, showing footage of Tokyo, which is intended to showcase the excellent camera quality of Sony's phones.

On 19 May 2017, Walker released the song " Tired" featuring Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James. Then, on 14 July 2017, Kygo released a remix of the song. Walker said the song "added another dimension" to his work. The song reached number 5 on the Norwegian VG-lista charts.

Succeeding "Tired", the song "Sky" with Danish music producer Alex Skrindo was released on 9 June 2017, and was part of the ''Insomniac Records Presents: EDC Las Vegas 2017'' compilation.

On 15 September 2017, Walker released " The Spectre", a vocal and instrumental remake of his 2015 song "Spectre". The song was presented at last year's "Alan Walker is Heading Home" event. The song which the remake is based on was released by Walker on NoCopyrightSounds in January 2015. Walker had incorporated the song into his live set months before its release and performed a revised version of the song on the main stage at Tomorrowland 2017.

His next single, announced on YouTube, was a collaboration with American singer Noah Cyrus and British DJ and music producer Digital Farm Animals featuring Swedish singer Juliander titled "All Falls Down", which was released on 27 October 2017. Then, on 2 December 2017, to celebrate Walker's YouTube channel reaching 10 million subscribers, a video of him performing with Noah Cyrus and Juliander at YouTube Space NY was released. The song reached number 1 on the Norwegian and US ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs charts, and reached the top 5 in Sweden and Belgium.

On 31 October 2017, Riot Games released the Alan Walker remix to their League of Legends World Championship anthem " Legends Never Die", which formed a collaboration with American rock band Against the Current. Along with their lead singer Chrissy Costanza, he performed the track at the 2017 League of Legends World Championship at the National Stadium in Beijing, as well as at Coachella 2018. On 17 November 2017, Walker released a remix of Swedish DJ Avicii's song " Lonely Together" featuring British singer Rita Ora. The remix is part of Avicii's official remix package.

On December 11, 2017, Walker was scheduled to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert with Norwegian DJ Matoma, but on November 20, Walker announced that he would be cancelling the performance. In a press release, his record label MER cited "high work pressures and activity levels" as the reason for the cancellation.

In an interview with Fuse in early 2018, Walker revealed that an upcoming album is coming later in the year. "It's still in progress, not ready," Walker said. "I can't tell you much about features on it or anything yet, but I'm really, really excited about this one." In January, Walker appeared on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' and performed his 2017 single "All Falls Down" with Noah Cyrus. "I'm really excited to be on The Tonight Show with Noah Cyrus! I've seen a lot of these shows and performances before, and I'm so happy to be on the same stage with her," he said in a statement to music magazine ''Gaffa''.

During a performance at the 2018 Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren took to the stage where he premiered his new collaboration "Slow Lane". The song was released on 18 December 2020, two years after the performance. In April, he performed at the Coachella 2018 music festival in Indio, California.

On 11 May, Walker and K-391 released a vocal version of the previous year's instrumental track " Ignite". The vocals are by Norwegian singer Julie Bergan and South Korean singer Seungri. The song was performed at VG-lista 2018 with Julie Bergen and Norwegian rapper Vinni and reached number one on the Norwegian charts.

On 27 July, Walker released the song " Darkside" featuring Antiguan-German singer-songwriter Au/Ra and Norwegian singer Tomine Harket. A remix by Dutch DJ Afrojack was also released. The song reached number 1 on the Norwegian charts and number 10 on the Swedish charts.

At the end of August, Walker released a remix of Chinese rapper Lay's song "Sheep" from his solo album '' Lay 02 Sheep''. Prior to the release of the remix, Walker performed a remix of the song with Ray on 3 August 2018, at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois.

The single " Diamond Heart" featuring Swedish singer-songwriter Sophia Somajo was released on 28 September 2018. Two remixes have been officially released, one by Syn Cole and one by Dzeko. The song nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2019 Berlin Music Video Awards.

In December, Walker released his debut album '' Different World''. This album includes previous songs such as "Faded" and "Alone", as well as new songs such as "Lonely", a collaboration with American DJ Steve Aoki. Along with the release of the album, a campaign titled "#CreateADifferentWorld" was launched. The aim is to raise awareness on the topic of climate change. The album topped the charts in Norway and Finland and was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.

2019–2021: ''World of Walker'', ''Walker Racing League'' and Collaboration with PUBG Mobile

In early 2019, Walker released "Are You Lonely" with American DJ Steve Aoki featuring Norwegian band Isák. The song is a remake of Walker's song "Lonely" from last year's album ''Different World''.

He released " On My Way", a collaboration with American singer Sabrina Carpenter and Puerto Rican singer Farruko, as a single to commemorate the first anniversary of the US-based battle royale game PUBG Mobile. A cover challenge for the song was also announced and performed during the ''Good Morning America'' summer concert series. This song peaked at number 3 on the Norwegian VG-lista chart.

On 25 June 2019, Walker released the song " Live Fast (PUBGM)", which is a collaboration with American rapper ASAP Rocky. The song became a track for the PUBG Mobile eighth season. Walker performed live at the PMCO Spring Split Global Finals in Berlin as a result of the collaboration.

On 17 August 2019, Walker announced his intention to release a remake to the track "Eurodancer" by Swedish DJ and producer Mangoo from 2000, together with K-391 and Norwegian producer Tungevaag. On 30 August 2019, the song "Play" was released as the final result. The vocals were contributed by Norwegian singer Torine. On the website p74y.com allowed people to download the audio file of the song and create their own version of the song. K-391, Tungevaag, and Walker each selected one interpretation of the results, reworked it, and released it as an official remix. 3 months later, Walker launched ''The Walker Excavations'' project on mobile and on his website. The project was a game which featured Easter Eggs that teased fans of upcoming music and content.

On November 7, 2019, Walker joined Antiguan-German singer/songwriter Au/Ra on the '' Death Stranding: Timefall'' soundtrack for the action game ''Death Stranding'' and a new song from the soundtrack, "Ghost" was released. The song marks the second collaboration with Au/Ra, following 2018's "Darkside". ''Billboard'''s Krystal Rodriguez wrote, "Au/Ra's wistful vocals bring an ethereal lightness to Walker's hip-hop-tinged, bass-oriented production, The chemistry between the two is clearly evident. True to its title, 'Ghost' is dark, melancholic, and brooding, deeply evocative of people and situations that have passed."

End of the year, he released " Alone, Pt. II" with American singer Ava Max. The song is a sequel to Walker's single "Alone". Numerous remixes of the song have been released, including those by NIVIRO, Toby Romeo, RetroVision, and Da Tweekaz, as well as Alex Skrindo's collaboration with Sebastian Wiebe. The song entered the top 10 of the charts in Belgium, Norway, Poland and Romania. The official music video of the song was uploaded on Walker's YouTube channel on 27 December 2019. It is a sequel to Walker's video for his single "On My Way" from the same year.

In 2020, Walker performed " End of Time" with K-391 and Ahrix at X Games Norway. He also appeared at Tomorrowland Around the World, the virtual replacement for Tomorrowland 2020, which was canceled due to COVID-19.

On 15 May 2020, Walker released a remix of Hans Zimmer's "Time". Walker had previously been gifted a signed copy of the score for "Time", and the two musicians first met in April 2019 in Barcelona during one of the dates of the "World of Hans Zimmer – A Symphonic Celebration" tour. This meeting led to talks about a possible collaboration, which finally saw the light of day. The song charted in Germany Dance, Hungary and Switzerland.

On 11 June 2021, Walker released the song " Sweet Dreams", which is a collaboration with Kazakh record producer Imanbek. The song samples Scatman John's song "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)". He also released a remix package titled ''Sweet Dreams Remixes'' which features remixes from Brazilian DJ Alok and Dutch DJ Brooks, among others, which charted in both Norway and Sweden. A remix contest of "Sweet Dreams" was launched in partnership of Walker and the digital workstation, FL Studio. The next single, "Don't You Hold Me Down", featuring English singer Georgia Ku, was released on 27 August and marked Walker's third collaboration with PUBG Mobile.

On 18 August 2021, Walker launched the "ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Special Edition," a custom gaming laptop created in partnership with Asus and Republic of Gamers (ROG). It included Walker's "AW" logo engraved into the laptop and had custom startup sounds and animations for the laptop were also created by Walker. The collaboration also centered on Walker's single " Fake a Smile" featuring American singer Salem Ilese.

On 10 September 2021, Walker released the EP '' Walker Racing League''. The EP reached in the Norwegian and Finnish charts. Then, on 26 November 2021, they released their second studio album ''World of Walker'', consisting of 15 tracks built around electro-pop and EDM. This is also his first album in three years. The album reached number 6 in Norway and number 24 in Finland. The album includes songs such as "On My Way", "Alone, Pt. II" and "Fake a Smile".

On 13 November 2021, his contract with NoCopyrightSounds expired and his releases on the label (Fade, Spectre, Force) were removed from the NoCopyrightSounds catalog and from streaming platforms.

2022–2023: ''Walkerverse'' and ''Walkerworld''

In 2022, Walker released the project Walkerverse, which was presented as two EPs and later re-released as his third studio album, '' Walkerverse Pt. I & II''. the first EP, ''Walkerverse Pt. I'', included "Adventure Time", "Somebody Like U" with Au/Ra, The second EP, ''Walkerverse Pt. II'', contains nine songs, including "Extremes" with Trevor Daniel and the single "Lovesick", which samples Brahms' " Hungarian Dance No. 5". This was followed by Walkerverse: The Tour 2022, which began in September 2022. The tour, which visited large venues such as Ecostage in Washington, D.C., Radius in Chicago, and Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, began in the UK in September and ran for 29 shows until December in San Francisco, California. A teaser for the tour was also released.

In April 2022, Walker signed with the Swedish crowdfunding website Corite, which allows fans to invest in a music project. Walker raised over $100,000 from fans for his next musical projects, the first being a compilation EP called ''Origins'', while the second was a collaboration with his online community of fans known as The Walkers, called "Unity". He also appeared at the Belgian music festival Tomorrowland in July.

In April 2023, he re-signed with NoCopyrightSounds and "Dreamer" was released. This was Walker's first NoCopoyrightSounds release in eight years and also his first release since his original contract expired and his previous releases were deleted. The song reached number 47 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Dance/Electronic Songs charts, and a remix by Egzod, Alex Skrindo, Rival, and Beauz & Heleen was also released. The next single "Hero" with Sasha Alex Sloan, was released on 4 May. The song reached number 1 on the Hungarian radio chart and number 18 on US ''Billboard'' Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

On 28 September 2023, Walker collaborated with Dutch electronic music group Dash Berlin and British YouTuber and musician Vikkstar on the song " Better Off (Alone, Pt. III)", which was Vikkstar's debut single. It's part of Walker's suite of songs, including his 2016 single " Alone" and his 2019 collaborative single with Ava Max, " Alone, Pt. II". The song heavily samples the 1999 single "Better Off Alone" written by Dash Berlin founding members Eelke Kalberg and Sebastian Morin as part of the Eurodance project Alice Deejay.

On 10 November 2023, Walker released his fourth studio album, '' Walkerworld''. This album includes the song "Spectre 2.0" with Steve Aoki and "Land Of The Heroes" with Sophie Stray. The album peaked at number 18 on the Norwegian VG-lista album chart.

2024–present: ''Walkerworld 2.0'' and World of Walker App

On 4 January 2024, Walker released the song " Who I Am" with Norwegian singer Peder Elias and Indonesian singer Putri Ariani. The main drop of the song samples a song from the 1955 Norwegian film Karius and Baktus, composed by Christian Hartmann (who also has a songwriting credit in the film). On 27 April 2024, Walker performed unmasked during a residency at LIV Nightclub Las Vegas in Nevada, USA. Five days later, Walker released the song "Unsure" with American singer Kylie Cantrall.

This was followed by a series of tours called "Walkerworld Tour" starting in June 2024. The first tour, "Walkerworld Asia Tour Pt. I", began in June 2024 and took place in 10 cities, including Singapore, Jakarta, Macau, and Kuala Lumpur. Also, in mid-May before the tour began, he opened a WhatsApp phone number for his fans in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia to send him messages. The next tour, "Walkerworld India Tour", began in September and took place in 10 cities, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi National Capital Region, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Hyderabad, Pune, Shillong, Chennai, and Kolkata. Prior to the tour, Walker released the EP ''Neon Nights'' on Canadian record label Monstercat in August. He also collaborated with the vehicle soccer video game ''Rocket League'' to make songs from the EP available in the game as player anthems during the in-game music festival "Neon Nights," which began on August 7 and will end on August 21.

To coincide with the start of the tour, Walker released "Children Of The Sun", a song with Indian composer Pritam. The song also features the voice of Indian singer Vishal Mishra and incorporates a children's choir. The collaboration began after they met during Walker's Mumbai tour in 2019. Naman Ramachandran of ''Variety'' said, "The song blends Eastern and Western musical influences."

Walker also performed "Chal Kudiye," a collaboration between Diljit Dosanjh and Alia Bhatt from the film ''Jigra'' featuring Bhatt, during a performance in Bangalore on October 4. Alia Bhatt then came onstage to greet Walker. Bhatt's appearance drew mixed reactions online. Speaking to ''India Today'' about Bhatt's appearance, Walker said, "Sharing the stage with Alia was amazing. Her energy elevated the performance and the audience really enjoyed it. It was a natural collaboration and the atmosphere onstage was amazing. It was definitely a memorable moment for the audience." The tour ultimately sold approximately 160,000 tickets across nine Indian cities, making it India's highest grossing international tour ever. Then, "Walkerworld Asia Tour Pt. II" began in November, with performances in Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan.

On January 10, 2025, Walker released his fifth studio album, '' Walkerworld 2.0''. The album peaked at number 14 on the Norwegian VG-lista album chart. Then, from January to February 2025, a tour titled "Walkerworld North American Tour" took place in North America. Walker also announced that starting in March 2025, he will be performing in cities such as Barcelona, London, Berlin and Paris as part of his "Walkerworld European Tour." Walker then began the "Walkerworld India Pt. II" tour in April 2025, performing in Guwahati, Bhuvaneshwar, Hyderabad, and Jaipur. This tour will be a return visit to India within 6 months of his last India tour. In May, Walker released "Story of a Bird," a collaboration with Indian singer and rapper King.

On May 29, Walker announced that he would be releasing a fan app called "World of Walker" on August 8. The app will provide fans with immersive experiences, premium content (including Walker's entire music and video catalog), behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive weekly live streams, direct chat, and more. When asked why he was releasing the app, Walker cited the fact that "the connection between artists and fans is starting to weaken." Manager Gunnar Greve said he aims to attract 500,000 users in the first year.

Artistry

Artistic image

He was originally called "DJ Walkzz" and was part of several production collectives before becoming "Walkzz". The current logo consists of the initials "A" and "W" of Walker's real name, and was designed by Walker himself in 2013. To project his image, he uses a hoodie and face mask similar to concept. In an interview with KKBox, Walker said: "At first we were thinking about ideas like how can we promote Alan Walker as an artist, but then we started creating symbols that anyone could do, and anyone with a hoodie and a face mask could do it. You can become a 'Walker' right away, and we are all equal," he explained his concept. In an interview with NRK, when asked why he used a mask, he said, "To maintain the image they gave me. Basically, I'm focused on anonymity, so no one knows. But I can join Alan Walker and show that masks can look good on anyone." In an interview with ''The Hindu'', he said he didn't wear the mask "to be some mysterious icon" but rather "I wanted people to focus on my music rather than who I am as a person."

In the first promo pictures his management handed out, Walker's face was barely visible. Also in the music video for his single "Alone", he is all dressed as a black shadow figure. This is, according to the artist himself, a carefully planned image drawn up together with the record company Sony. "In a meeting with them we talked about how we could build the profile of Alan Walker", said Walker to the newspaper ''VG''. "They asked about my interests. I replied PC, computer gaming and stuff like "Anonymous" and computer hacking where hoodies play a role."

Walker acknowledges that it's a difficult time keeping low profile. Both he and his management prefer that he be characterised by the hoodie with a logo on the back. "When I first created a Instagram account I never had pictures of myself, nor of nature and such. But it is difficult to remain anonymous."

On stage, he is accompanied by two other men who are also masked. "It's rare to see a trio in electronic music. I think it is a cool concept. We are in a way a small band." He also said that while he used to mostly wear black on stage, he now sometimes wears a white mask and hoodie. "I realized that without headlights, the audience could barely see the artist on stage," he said in an interview, adding, "I realized that color could be incorporated into an artist's stage presence."

At a press conference on 9 November 2016, Walker said: "The concept with the mask is very cool, that is inspired by the hacker group "Anonymous" and the television series ''Mr. Robot''. I have a background as a gamer and kept on with it before I started with music. By taking on a mask I can be immediately seen as a gamer."

"I chose to quietly without a mask today. The concept ends in the trilogy. It will be interesting to open new doors and explore a bit. The mask is not lost permanently, but temporarily", which means he will take a break from his image – for a time. "With Alan Walker, the music is the focus, not necessarily everything around. It is a recurrent theme in the music of "Faded", "Sing Me To Sleep" and "Alone", which is a kind of conclusion to what one might call a trilogy", explains spokesperson Yonas Aregai for the record label MER."

Influences

Walker was inspired by Italian DJ David Whistle, who he said in an interview was "the one who inspired me to start producing". He is also inspired by fellow Norwegian producer K-391. In an interview with the American online magazine ''The Knockturnal'', Walker said, "My producer idol is K-391. He was a big inspiration and helped me create my sound." When making his debut single "Fade", Walker was influenced by the sound of the song "Nova" by Dutch music producer Ahrix. In an interview, he said, "The melody and the way the song progresses is very unique, which later inspired me to make "Fade". The classical aspects of Walker's songs were influenced by film composers such as Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky.

In an interview with Norwegian newspaper ''Bergensavisen'', when asked "Are you inspired by Kygo?", Walker replied, "He's a great inspiration, but we're not."

He has often spoken about the influence of Dutch music producer Tiësto, saying in a 2019 interview with ''Rolling Stone India'':

Walker is also influenced by video game music, drawing inspiration from ''The Legend of Zelda'' series, as well as classic games like ''Tetris''. In an interview, he said, "Sometimes when I play a video game and listen to the game's music, a new style suddenly emerges." Other influences include the ''Call of Duty'' series and movie music. "Video games and film music provide similar inspiration," he said. In an interview with ''India Today'', he said, "Games expose me to unique sounds and atmospheres that inspire my work."

Musical style

Walker's musical style has been described as house, future house, future bass, electropop, electro house, big room house, and progressive house. Originally, Walker was worried that his musical style wouldn't "fit in with the crowd", he said. ''DJ Mag'' described Walker's sound as a youthful mix of big room house, progressive and electro styles. Also, Ayaan Paul Chowdhury of ''The Hindu'' wrote that "his music is often darker and more minor in tone compared to the upbeat beats of contemporary tropical house".

Norwegian journalist Øyvind Holen described Walker's musical style as "much darker and closer to minor keys than the harmonies that characterize Kygo's contemporary tropical house. Walker's music is reminiscent of slightly slower progressive house, 1990s trance music, or dubstep with a smoother rhythmic edge."

Walker's main priorities when creating music are melody, melancholy, and mood. "I think sometimes people focus too much on having the best drum sample or having the perfect drum beat for a song or the perfect bass line, but at the end of the day, the audience, they don't think about whether the drums sound cool or if the bass sounds amazing, it's all about the melodies. You won't be singing and going around beatboxing to the beat – most likely – or trying to remember where the bass line goes. You'll be going around trying to remember the melody of the song or the vocals. That is actually what I want to try and focus on in my music, because I've always been a fan of melodies," Walker said in an interview with ''Rolling Stone India''.

Walker sees Artificial intelligence (AI) as an essential tool for music production. "I think it's very important to embrace AI in an era where everything is technology-driven. We need to figure out how we can leverage it," he said in an interview with ''Times of India''.

Public image

A former bedroom producer, he has been featured in multiple publications as one of YouTube's biggest success stories. Naman Ramachandran of ''Variety'' described Walker as "one of electronic music's most celebrated producers." Audun Vinger of ''Dagens Næringsliv'' called Walker "one of the most successful artists in the Norwegian and Nordic music industry in recent years" and said that "he has left a mark on both digital and concertgoers on a completely different level than most Norwegian artists, in fact a bigger mark than all the Norwegian artists currently appearing on the so-called best songs and best albums of the year lists." ''Forbes''' Eric Fuller also said that during an interview with Walker, he was impressed by "Walker's easy-going demeanor and work ethic" and that his "familiarity with current trends in electronic dance music will help grow his already fast-growing audience and create more opportunities for collaborations with his peers".

According to a YouGov polling as of January 2025, roughly half of Americans have heard of Alan Walker. Half of Americans view him favorably, with 31% of Americans who have heard of him having a positive opinion and 4% having a negative opinion. 48% of respondents said they have heard of Alan Walker. He is most well-known and popular among Millennials and Generation Z, with 60% having heard of him, of which 40% have a positive opinion. He is known by 30% of Generation X and 19% of Baby Boomers.

With a large following on social media, Walker is one of the most influential celebrities on the Internet. As of September 2024, Walker has 115 million followers across his social media channels and has generated over 80 billion streams of his audio and video content. As of February 2025, his YouTube channel has over 46 million subscribers, making it the most subscribed YouTube channel in Norway. Walker's channel also surpassed 20 million subscribers in December 2018, making him the first Nordic artist to reach that number. His music videos have been viewed more than 15 billion times in total, with three of them, " Faded", " Alone" and " The Spectre", reaching over 1 billion views. His song "Faded" has exceeded 3.6 billion views as of June 2024, making it the 28th most viewed video on YouTube. Walker's Spotify profile has attracted over 40.3 million followers, making him the 32nd most followed artist and the most followed electronic dance music artist. Additionally, Walker's TikTok account has over 15 million followers, making him the most followed DJ on TikTok and the only DJ in the world with over 10 million followers.

On the other hand, Walker's songs have been criticized for having too many composers credited. Walker received criticism for a "walk-through" video on the YouTube channel Future Music Magazine about the making of his song "Alone." Because his co-producers Mood Melodies were heavily involved in the song's production, the video drew backlash from many of Walker's fans, who considered Mood Melodies to be his "ghost producers". Norwegian newspaper ''Bergens Tidende'' also criticized Walker's song " On My Way" for having 12 composers and nine lyricists credited.

Julie Bergan replacement

In 2022, Walker created a song titled "Ritual" which had been played numerous times on his performances before release in November 2022, the same date as he released ''Walkerverse Pt. II'', an EP the song originally was part of. The song ended up being released as a single due to issues. Julie Bergan, a Norwegian singer-songwriter Walker collaborated with before, was reportedly part of the songwriting team, and she accompanied Walker as a singer for the song in live performances. The song featuring her voice was frequently used in teasers for the second part of the Walkerverse album, but they were ultimately unused in the final song.

Upon release, many fans were critical of the new singer and deemed her vocals inferior to Bergan's. Bergan's manager Cecile Torp-Holte stated that there was no agreement between her and MER on using Bergan's vocals. According to Torp-Holte, six concerts were planned in the US where Bergan was to perform with Walker, including a performance of "Ritual" as part of a larger agreement. She also said that the song's original release date was 28 October, and the negotiations on sharing rights collapsed shortly before.

Philanthropy

On the evening of April 1, 2017, Walker posted on Facebook that he would donate to the on the number of likes, shares, and comments he received, resulting in a total of 62,564 likes, 24,648 comments, and 6,840 shares, for a total of NOK 254,204 (about $23,000). "Thank you for all the great responses and feedback on my previous post about donating to the Children's Cancer Society," he wrote on Facebook.

In 2019, Walker donated $100,001 to Team Trees, a community fundraiser launched by American YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober to plant 20 million trees. First, MrBeast donated $100,000 and left an invitation for others to follow suit, commenting, "I dare you to take this space from me :)." Then Walker responded to his comment, "I want to plant one of the trees!" and matched his $100,000 donation.

On December 4, 2023, Walker donated 500,000 NOK (about $45,000) to Norwegian presenter and footballer Mads Hansen's fundraising campaign, which aims to bring a bright Christmas to families in need across Norway. "I'm speechless. I've once again realized how generous Alan Walker is," Hansen said in an interview with '' VG''.

Personal life

In 2016, Walker adopted a dog named "Happy". In a 2021 interview with '' VG'', Walker said, "He's my best four-legged friend. We adopted him five years ago when he was one year old. Happy is the creator of joy in our family. I don't know anyone happier than him."

In 2016, Walker purchased a Audi R8 Spyder. In March 2018, he bought a black Ferrari 488 Spider.

In 2019, Walker began dating Finnish Viivi Niemi. "We met in Finland about three or four years ago and have been in regular contact since then. We decided to take it a step further a few months ago and we really enjoy each other," Walker said in an interview with ''VG''.

In February 2021, Walker adopted a cat named "Peanut". "I think they're both absolutely amazing. I love animals!" Walker said of his pets.

In July 2021, Walker purchased a villa in Homansbyen, Oslo, Norway for $35 million. According to Walker's manager Gunnar Greve, the property will be used as both a residence, studio and office, and will become part of the company's business.

In the summer of 2022, he purchased a 2017 Lamborghini Aventador and a Lamborghini Urus.

In September 2023, Walker purchased the luxury villa "Skjöltn" in Bergen, Norway, for approximately NOK 40 million (about $3.5 million).

Discography

* '' Different World'' (2018)
* ''World of Walker'' (2021)
* '' Walkerverse Pt. I & II'' (2022)
* '' Walkerworld'' (2023)
* '' Walkerworld 2.0'' (2025)

Tours

Headlining

* Walker Tour (2016–2018)
* The World of Walker Tour (2018)
* Different World Tour (2018–2019)
* Aviation Tour (2019)
* Walkerverse: The Tour (2022–2023)
* Walkerworld Tour (2024–2025)

Supporting

* Rihanna – Anti World Tour (2016)
* Justin Bieber – Purpose World Tour (2017)
* Martin Garrix – Thursdays at Ushuaïa

Accolades

Walker was nominated for a wide variety of accolades including Music of the Year from Gullsnutten, Best Norwegian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, the Public Choice Award and Best Norwegian Act at the European Border Breakers Award, Best New Talent at the WDM Radio Awards and Swiss Music Awards, the Export Award at the 2017 Spellemannprisen/Music Norway, Best Norwegian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, and Best Breakthrough Artist at the International Dance Music Awards, as well as being named Spellemann of the Year at the 2019 Spellemannprisen. His song "Faded" was awarded the Cannes Lions Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Best International Hit at the Eska Music Awards, and the 2017 Spellemann Award for Song of the Year. At the NRJ Music Awards Norge, the song "Sing Me to Sleep" won Norwegian Song of the Year.Multiple sources

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References

Explanatory notes

Citations

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Alan

1997 births
Anglo-Scots
Norwegian people of Scottish descent
English emigrants to Norway
Musicians from Northampton
Deep house musicians
21st-century Norwegian male musicians
Norwegian electronic dance music DJs
Electro house musicians
Musicians from Bergen
Living people
YouTube channels launched in 2012
Norwegian YouTubers
Progressive house musicians
Norwegian remixers
Masked musicians
MTV Europe Music Award winners
Music-related YouTube channels
Music YouTubers
NoCopyrightSounds artists
YouTube vloggers
Spanish-language singers of Norway
RCA Records artists
Sony Music artists
Ultra Records artists
YouTubers from Northamptonshire