2014 Artists of the Year | No. 7 | Kygo

THUMP is celebrating 2014 in tracks, albums, artists, events and moments with our first annual yearbook, #YRBK14. Our Artists of the Year include well-established acts alongside some exciting newcomers. Rather than tell you why these particular ten won the year, we asked a few of their fans to do it for us.

Given Kygo's popularity with the college crowd, we enlisted the help of a quintessential college student—a Delta Gamma sorority sister, no less—for her perspective on the producer and his banner year.

It's hard to pin down when I first fell in love with Kygo. Maybe it was when I listened to his remix of "Younger" eight consecutive times or maybe it was when my girlfriends and I belted out every word to "Sexual Healing" when he played his remix to a sweaty, eager crowd in Vancouver. Whichever it was, Kygo's ability to elevate emotions in 16 bars or fewer is as rare a trait as any. The number of times that I shared his music with a sister in need of cheering up is eclipsed only by the number of times that I shared his music with a sister in need of exciting. Through thick and thin, we were with Kygo as he grew from SoundCloud curiosity to international phenomenon.

Sure, in 2014 Kygo scored a major record deal with Ultra Records, was asked personally by Coldplay's Chris Martin to remix their track "Midnight," and replaced Avicii at TomorrowWorld. Still, the most remarkable aspect of the 23-year old Norwegian's success was the universal appeal with which his music was received. He showed the world that if you pair the word "tropical" with anything, people will crawl out of the (cold, dark) woodwork to dance to it. Like it or not, the influence of the style that he championed has been undeniable.

It's no wonder then that Kygo's 2014 feature on Thomas Jack's Tropical House series has nearly 1.5 million plays on SoundCloud only three weeks after being posted (a large portion of which I'm willing to bet came from swooning sorority girls all across North America). If you like music and sunshine, and Kygo's remix of "Sexual Healing" wasn't on your summer playlist, then you probably had a lousy summer.

If you had asked someone a year ago what they thought about Kygo their response would have been an abrupt "who?" With a non-existent budget and a lot of hard work, Kygo has ascended to electronic music's A-list in a short period of time without so much as a hint of viral videos, Twitter beef, or behind the scenes scandal. Whether or not you care to admit that his remix of The Weeknd's "Often" gives you a tingling sensation, it's impossible to ignore what he he has achieved in such a short time.

Here's to you, Kygo. May your music forever flow as freely as the sexual appetites of your fanbase.

Emily Winckler is a sister in Delta Gamma. She is a fourth year studying History and planning to graduate in Spring, 2015.

THUMP Artists of the Year | Porter Robinson |FKA Twigs | Clean Bandit I Kiesza | SOPHIE | Gorgon City |Kygo | Bassnectar | Theo Parrish | Diplo, Skrillex and Jack Ü