Martin Garrix spent the opening night of Amsterdam Dance Event playing for his most loyal Spotify listeners, and he left them with a title. At a pop-up show held at P60 in Amstelveen, according to EDM.com, the Dutch producer revealed MARTY, an album due March 5, 2027 on STMPD Records and Darkroom Records. His team calls it his debut pop album.
That billing needs a footnote. Garrix has made albums before. DJ Mag reports that MARTY will be his second under his own name and his first since Sentio in 2022. What changes this time, per the release, is the voice: Garrix sings. He told Toronto’s KiSS 92.5 in June, as EDM.com reported, that he wanted a record that felt “more accessible” than his debut. Bono has been part of that path for years. Garrix produced “Scars” for U2’s Easter Lily EP, as Rolling Stone noted when “Fireflies” arrived in July, and Hot Press reports that Bono co-wrote Garrix singles including “Weightless” and “Catharina.”
Martin Garrix frames MARTY as a life story in 14 tracks
The album runs in the order of a life, according to the release. “Catharina,” named for Garrix’s mother, opens it. From there the tracklist moves through childhood, his rise as a DJ and his picture of the afterlife, with key changes linking the chapters. The title comes from DJ Marty, the alias he used as a kid, and from the slogan “Party with DJ Marty.” The release says the central idea is “eternal love,” the belief that love outlasts a life.
His team says the 14 songs were pulled from more than 400 written over a decade. It also says Bono coached him through vocal technique and pushed him to perform with more vulnerability. U2, Ed Sheeran, Madonna and Aitana are the announced guests, with more names still to come, and Bono is credited as a co-writer.
Garrix described the project as a start, not a summing up. “Even though I’ve been doing this for most of my life, I still feel like I’m just at the beginning,” he said in a statement.
Martin Garrix takes MARTY on the road, with Ultra Miami next
The promotion is already happening on stage. Garrix has finished the first leg of his Americas Tour and played Tomorrowland, Creamfields and his Ushuaïa Ibiza residency, according to his team. Last week he played two nights at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, which the release describes as sold out, and premiered a collaboration with Aitana there.
The calendar stays full. He plays STMPD 10 Years ADE in Amsterdam on October 22, then Las Vegas club dates at Omnia and Marquee through November. After that come Guatemala City, Cuenca, San José, Bogotá, Medellín and Lima, where the run ends on December 7.
The singles set the tone. “Repeat It,” with Ed Sheeran, came out in May. His team calls it a collaboration more than a decade in the making and says it has reached the Top 15 at Mediabase Top 40. “Fireflies,” released in July, was the first Garrix collaboration to feature all four members of U2. His team says it has entered the Top 10 at UK radio.
Ultra Music Festival announced on October 14 that Garrix returns to Bayfront Park in Miami as a headliner on March 26 to 28, 2027, with STMPD RCRDS taking a stage for the label’s tenth anniversary. That is three weeks after MARTY lands. U2 has said it has an album due later this year, and neither camp has said whether “Fireflies” belongs to either record, according to U2Radio. For Garrix, the first test is a festival crowd that knows him as the person behind the decks.
