All great music careers have a turning point that marks a before and after in their path. This is usually a track or a song that reaches global acclaim and shoots the artist straight to stardom. That’s what happened to Martin Garrix when he created a track that, no sooner had it been released than it became the anthem of a generation. Obviously, we’re talking about the hit song “Animals”…
Before distilling the essence and significance of “Animals”, it’s vital to get to know a little bit about its creator, young Dutch prodigy, Martin Garrix. In 2004, at just eight years of age, Garrix watched Tiësto perform at the Athens Olympic Games and, that was it, he fell head over heels in love with electronic music. He started saving up from that very day to buy himself the best mixing equipment on the market. When he finished his music production studies at the Herman Brood Academy in Utrecht, Garrix signed with Spinnin’ Records and began working on his greatest hit to date: “Animals”.
Much has been said about the source of the inspiration for this iconic Garrix song. Back then, nobody had heard of this Martin Garrix kid and there were even rumours bouncing around that the track was actually the work of Hardwell. But the truth is this: the young Dutch musician took inspiration from a Busta Rhymes song to create the greatest hit of recent times. To date, however, Garrix has not revealed which song this is, which only builds the mystery around the piece even more.
“Animals” dropped on 17 June 2013 and went straight to the top of the charts all over the world. The figures are unbelievable: more than 700 million YouTube hits and four consecutive weeks at number one on the Beatport charts, making Garrix the youngest ever DJ to hold the top spot for that long. But the most spectacular achievement was that “Animals”, composed by this 17-year-old newcomer, became the best-selling debut single in the UK charts, outdoing giants like Rihanna, Eminem, One Direction, Lady Gaga or Ellie Goulding.
