Biography
30-year-old Tobtok aka Tobias Karlsson leads the new wave of Swedish electronic music DJ / producers. With over 400 million streams globally and consistent support across BBC Radio 1, KISS FM, Capital and more, including spins from Mistajam, Pete Tong, Scott Mills, Charlie Hedges, and Joel Corry, Tobtok continues to prove he is a rare talent. His single “New Levels“ was certified BBC Radio Tune of The Week and seems certain to become his biggest hit yet. After winning a battle with cancer early on in his career, Tobtok signed his debut single “Savanna“ to highly respected French label, Kitsuné, later touring for the label across Europe. By 2015, his tropical-flavoured “Fast Car“ featuring River (Neon Records) had reached double-platinum sales and crashed into charts around the world as his profile continued to rise. Tobtok is in high demand as a remixer and producer for other artists, working on Karen Harding’s hit “Picture“, and “Dreams“ and “Close Enough“ by Alex Ross. Off the back of his success as a producer, Tobtok has showcased his DJ skills mixing Toolroom’s ‘Miami Poolside’ compilation. His accessible style of house music has been heard in clubs and festivals around the world at Ushuaia Ibiza, The Warehouse Project, Creamfields, Sziget, both sharing bills with Kygo, Alesso, Axwell ^ Ingrosso, Oliver Heldens and Martin Garrix, as well as on headline tours across the USA and Asia.
To today, and he lists Nile Rodgers as his biggest influence musically, although many of these influences come away from music and just through life. Having been diagnosed with cancer and told there was a 50% chance he would lose his hearing during treatment (he had a different operation at 7 years old to remove a cyst from his ear drum), Tobtok now grabs every opportunity with both hands. “When I heard that, it was the worst thing I had heard in my life. If that happened, I couldn't do music anymore. Basically, when I started my treatment with chemo therapy, my hearing instantly got worse. So during the period whilst I was being treated, I couldn't work on music at all, I could barely listen to music because my I had my headphones on and my head would get really bad. So I was really afraid I would not be able to make music again.”
Thankfully, his hearing came back within weeks of finishing treatment, and Tobtok celebrated a year in remission with the release of his track “Savanna“, a track he started writing the day of his year check-up. His internal filename? ‘Happy’. Most recently Tobtok, and his remix of Years & Years – Real, caught the right attention, featuring on Kitsune, arguably the label of Nu Disco and French house. It was a dream come true for Tobtok, and a tick off the bucket list after being a fan of Kitsune and what they represent for years.
What is music to Tobtok, aka Tobias Karlsson: “Music for me is the most powerful tool to express feelings and thoughts, and it’s like a global language that everyone can understand and relate to.”
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