Tim Wu (born November 10, 1989), better known by his stage name Elephante, is an American musician, DJ and music producer based in Los Angeles.

Early life

Wu was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His parents were born in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

and moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in their 20s. He is based in Los Angeles. He started to play music at an early age and taught himself to play guitar and was trained to play

classical piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. He majored in economics at Harvard University. In 2011, he graduated and wanted to involve himself in the music industry as an acoustic singer-songwriter before he moved on to electronic dance music. Wu began using "Elephante" as a stage name because it was a reference to the phrase "

elephant in the room The expression “the elephant in the room” (or "the elephant in the living room") is a metaphorical idiom in English for an important or enormous topic, question, or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one ...

" which he described as his unhappiness of working at a corporate job since he wanted to be a musician.

Musical style

Wu describes his music as melodic electronic music that fuses with various other genres. His preferred genres are big room,

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...

and regularly incorporates pop and

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

into his music. His songs have been played on streaming services such as SoundCloud for over a million times. Trap high-hats, deep house elements and house synths are incorporated into his melodic sounds. Wu has quoted

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...

to be his inspiration in music, citing "

Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites ''Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites'' is the second extended play (EP) by American electronic music producer Skrillex. It was released exclusively through Beatport on October 22, 2010 through mau5trap and Big Beat Records, while being released on ...

" astonished him. Wu uses

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool ...

as his

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software program on a laptop, to an integrat ...

and previously used GarageBand,

FruityLoops FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is availa ...

and

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

. He remixed songs for artists such as Calvin Harris,

Galantis Galantis is a Swedish electronic dance music production, songwriting and DJ duo consisting of Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw. Karlsson is also known as Bloodshy as part of two other musical groups, a duo (Bloodshy & Avant) and a trio (Mi ...

, The Chainsmokers,

Jack Ü Jack Ü was an American DJ duo consisting of electronic music producers Skrillex and Diplo, formed in 2013. They released their first official single, " Take Ü There", featuring vocals from Kiesza, on September 17, 2014. On February 3, 2015, the ...

and

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...

Career

2014: SERC Fall Concert

In October 2014, Wu performed at SERC Fall Concert alongside Sage the Gemini.

2015: Beginnings

Wu started his career by remixing music for artists before began releasing original songs. His first single was self-released, titled "Temporary Love" which features the vocals of Brooke Forman. He released his first single through Armada Records titled "I Want You" featuring Rumors. He opened for headliners Deorro and MAKJ at the 2015 Echostage in June.

2016: Debut extended play

In 2016, he released his debut extended play titled "I Am the Elephante". The EP consists of nine songs of progressive house, synthpop and trap. He released a single titled "Age of Innocence" featuring Trouze and Damon Sharp. The song peaked on Billboard's Dance/Club chart at 18th and received over a million plays on Spotify. His single "Closer" featuring Bishop had peaked on the Spotify 'Viral 50' chart at 27th. Spotify 'Velocity' has "Closer" and another single titled "Plans" featuring Brandyn Burnette charted at 22nd and 28th respectively. The third single "Hold" from the EP was released, it features American singer Jessica Jarrell.

2018 - present: ''Glass Mansion''

On 15 June 2018, Wu released his second EP, titled ''Glass Mansion''. The nine-track extended play includes the previously released singles "Troubled", "Come Back for You", "The In Between" and "Have It All". The EP reached number one on iTunes in the US Dance album category. Compared to his previous release, Wu takes a stripped-back approach on this extended play, with songs featuring more light guitar melodies than electronic instrumentals. Describing the EP on Twitter, Elephante said it is about "realizing that no matter how beautiful and strong what we build is, it's ultimately fragile and one stone could bring it all down. It's about coming to peace with the fact that it all might never be finished, and that's okay. It's about realizing that our Glass Mansion isn't the answer to all our problems, and it's about the journey of finding grace and happiness in a half-built home." In October 2019, he announced a live tour titled the "Diamond Days Tour", which is based on his single of the same name and dubbed the "natural evolution" of his evolving live shows.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Remixes

2013

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-first on its 20 ...

and Project 46 – "Last Chance" (Elephante Remix) *

The Unlikely Candidates The Unlikely Candidates are an American indie rock band from Keller, Texas, formed in 2008. The band consists of lead vocalist Kyle Morris, lead guitarist Brenton Carney, guitarist Cole Male, drummer Kevin Goddard, and bassist Jared Hornbeek. Thei ...

– "Follow My Feet" (Elephante Remix)

2014

* AYER – "Young" (Elephante Remix) * Katy Perry featuring

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, established i ...

– " Dark Horse" (Elephante Remix) * The Chainsmokers – " #Selfie" (Elephante Remix) * Lorde – "

Team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

" (Elephante Remix) *

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the Worl ...

featuring

Wrabel Stephen Wrabel (born January 7, 1989), known mononymously as Wrabel, is an American singer, songwriter and musician based in Los Angeles. Life and career Wrabel attended high school at The Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas. After high school ...

– " Ten Feet Tall" (Elephante Remix) * Calvin Harris – " Summer" (Elephante Remix) *

– "Help" (Elephante Remix) *

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

– "

Rather Be "Rather Be" is a song by English electronic music group Clean Bandit, featuring vocals by Jess Glynne. It was released on 5 December 2013 as the fourth single from the group's debut studio album, ''New Eyes'' (2014). It also appears on the delu ...

" (Elephante Remix) *

Oliver Heldens Olivier J. L. Heldens (born 1 February 1995) is a Dutch DJ and electronic music producer from Rotterdam. He is regarded as a pioneer of the future house genre, propelling it to international attention and scoring numerous chart successes, includ ...

– " Gecko" (Elephante Remix) *

Sander van Doorn Sander Ketelaars (; born 28 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sander van Doorn () or the initials SvD, is a Dutch electro house DJ and record producer from Eindhoven. Background Sander van Doorn began his recording career in 200 ...

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...

and DVBBS – " Gold Skies" (Elephante Remix) * Lemaitre – "Wait" (Elephante Remix) * Dirty South – "Unbreakable" (Elephante Remix) * Penguin Prison – "Calling Out" (Elephante Remix)

2015

* The Magician featuring

Years & Years Years & Years is the solo project of British singer Olly Alexander. Originally formed as a band in 2010, Years & Years' music has been described as electropop, mixing R&B and 1990s house elements. The band's debut studio album, '' Communion'', ...

– "Sunlight" (Elephante Remix) *

featuring

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

– "

Where Are Ü Now "Where Are Ü Now" is a song produced by American EDM artists Skrillex and Diplo under their collaborative effort Jack Ü, with vocals from Canadian singer Justin Bieber. The song was released as the second single from the duo's debut studio alb ...

" (Elephante Remix) * Oh, Be Clever – "Next To You" (Elephante Remix) *

featuring

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

– " I Want You To Know" (Elephante Remix) *

Phoebe Ryan Phoebe Holiday Ryan (born September 21, 1990) is an American singer and songwriter. In 2015, she released a mashup of R. Kelly's "Ignition" and Miguel's "Do You", followed by her first single "Mine" from her debut EP of the same name. She signe ...

– "Mine" (Elephante Remix) * Deluka – "Home" (Elephante Remix) * Jason Derulo – "

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

" (Elephante Remix) *

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese voice actress, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also performed in a Japanese television ...

– " Smoke Filled Room" (Elephante Remix) *

Nathan Sykes Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993) is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series '' The Wanted Life''. After the band's hiat ...

– "Over And Over Again" (Elephante Remix) * Miia – "Dynasty" (Elephante Remix)

2016

* Stephen – "Crossfire" (Elephante Remix) *

Bebe Rexha Bleta Rexha (; born August 30, 1989), known professionally as Bebe Rexha ( ), is an American pop singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem's single " The Monster" (which lat ...

– " No Broken Hearts" (Elephante Remix) *

– " Famous" (Elephante Remix)

2018

* Elephante featuring Anjulie – "The In Between" (Elephante "Zoo" Remix)

References

External links

Official website

Elephante on Discogs
{{Authority control Living people 1989 births American DJs Electronic musicians Progressive house musicians Electronic dance music DJs Harvard College alumni Musicians from Ann Arbor, Michigan