3lau


Justin David Blau, better known by his stage name 3lau, is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer.

Early life

Justin David Blau was born in Syosset, New York, on January 9, 1991. Blau grew up in an artistic family and was soon playing piano and guitar and singing. At 13, he moved with his family to Las Vegas. He attended The Meadows School in Las Vegas for high school and Washington University in St. Louis.

Music career

Much of 3lau's music incorporates electro house, dubstep, deep house, and progressive house. He is known for his melodic take on dance music and live sets that incorporate sampling. The emotional purpose of his style of songwriting, Blau says, is to inspire others to overcome their sense of feeling lost.

2011–12: First releases

In 2011, at the age of 20, he vacationed in Sweden, where he discovered electronic dance music. After returning to college he started producing mashups, "mainly because didn't think anyone was doing a good job." He soon began mixing under the professional name 3lau, and by June of that year, was uploading mashups to YouTube.
3lau gained recognition in the electronic music world in 2011 with his two bootlegs, "Girls Who Save the World" and "All Night Long". He also won a remix competition for his remix of Tiesto's "Work Hard, Play Hard". Before 2012 while a student at Washington University in St. Louis, 3lau DJed at night. His remixes charted in the top 10 on both Beatport and Hype Machine.

2012–15: Singles, touring

In 2012, he focused on DJing and launched his 3lau Your Mind tour. That same year, he released his second bootleg album, Dance Floor Filth. In 2012, the Las Vegas Review-Journal described him as "one of America's fastest-rising DJ-producers." In 2012 he released Dance Floor Filth 2, an album featuring his production.
In late 2013, he went on a short tour with Carnage called the Night Riot tour. Jonah Ollman of Sound of Boston said 3lau's live performances in late 2013 are "A nice balance of mashups, electro-house, poppy vocal samples, and a 90's throwback here and there keep the young 20-something crowd going and constantly entertained." In the summer of 2015, he visited Barcelona, Germany, and Ibiza on his first European tour. Later in the fall, he went on his first Asian tour, stops included Bangkok, Jakarta, and Tokyo.

2016–17: Blume Records

In 2016 3lau launched Blume Records, an independent label with a ground-breaking model that harnesses the power of streaming to raise money for charitable causes. 3lau said, "Hopefully we can inspire other people to act and there will be this domino effect."

2018–19: ''Ultraviolet, OMF''

On February 16, 2018, 3lau released his debut album Ultraviolet on label "BLUME" featuring singles "Touch," "On My Own", "Walk Away" and "Star Crossed". The album features collaborations with Carly Paige, Nevve, Emma Hewitt, Max Schneider, Said the Sky, and Neonheart. The album hit No. 1 on iTunes' Electronic Chart, as did lead single "Touch." On June 21, 2018, 3lau announced the launch of OMF, the first blockchain-powered music festival. The festival was held on October 20, 2018, in San Francisco and was headlined by Zedd.
In March 2021, 3lau marked the three-year anniversary of his Ultraviolet album through an unusual internet auction with "NFTs" certifying certain digital rights and the one-of-a-kind ownership, for a total of approximately in the three-day sale.

2025: Touring

In January 2025, 3lau performed at Donald Trump's second Inaugural Ball and was strongly criticized by the media and multiple artists, including known artists Deadmau5 and Jai Wolf, for his attendance and possible indirect support for Donald Trump.
A couple months after the backlash, 3lau deleted his social media pages and teased that he was rebranding and changing his stage name. On March 13, a social media post was made on a new account announcing that he was returning to using his real name, Justin Blau, and that the 3lau chapter had ended.

Charity work

In 2016, 3lau launched the record label Blume, the first not-for-profit dance music label. Profits from all songs released on Blume are dedicated to charity. 3lau raised over $200,000 for Pencils of Promise, a nonprofit using the funds donated to build a seven-classroom school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala as well as to fund clean water, education, and teacher development programs. In 2013, 3LAU announced that he had built his first school with the non-profit and in 2018 another school was built in Guatemala.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Remixes