Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992, better known by his stage name Marshmello, is an EDM music DJ and record producer best-known for hits in The New '10s and The New '20s such as "Alone", "Silence" (with Khalid), "Wolves" (with Selena Gomez), "Friends" and "Happier" (with Bastille). In 2017, his performance at Coachella boosted him onto Forbes' list of the highest-paid DJs.
He started out posting original music and remixes in 2015, gaining attention through the support of musicians such as Skrillex, who would eventually collaborate with him. He began playing his first shows by the end of the year, and started putting out his first commercial releases the next year.
While he's best-known for his groove-oriented, synth and bass-heavy dance music, his music has increasingly incorporated a far wider range of genres ranging from Indie Pop to Melodic Rap to Pop Punk, aided by an ever-increasing selection of collaborators including Halsey, Demi Lovato, blackbear, Megan Thee Stallion, A Day to Remember, CHVRCHES, Juice WRLD and The Jonas Brothers.
His identity as Comstock (who had previously had success as a DJ under the name dotcom) had long been rumoured before being confirmed by Forbes in 2017.
Discography
- Joytime (2016)
- Joytime II (2018)
- Joytime III (2019)
- Shockwave (2021)
Tropes associated with Marshmello:
- A Boy and His X: The music video for "Happier" focuses on a girl and the dog she got for her birthday. The dog passes away due to old age, and the video ends with the girl's daughter getting a dog of her own.
- Balloonacy: Marshmello floats around with a bunch of balloons in "FLY". Apparently he doesn't need the balloons to fly, though it turns out to be a daydream.
- The Bully:
- A few stereotypes are shown in "Alone", including a guy who eats his s'more aggressively in Marshmallo's face.
- Of course, that seems very lame until you realize that
s'mores are primarily made of marshmallows!
- Of course, that seems very lame until you realize that
- A few of the Alpha Bitch variety also show up in "Happier" to pick on the teenage protagonist.
- A few stereotypes are shown in "Alone", including a guy who eats his s'more aggressively in Marshmallo's face.
- Crossover: Played a concert
in Fortnite. - Daydream Surprise: The "FLY" music video shows Marshmello flying around with a bunch of balloons, but it turns out it's just Marshmello with a balloon daydreaming in the park.
- Deliberately Monochrome: All-white outfit, with black detailing, to look like a marshmallow.
- Elective Mute: Doesn't speak, even in radio interviews, presumably to hide that identity. In a video for GQ he uses a voice synthesizer instead of actually speaking.
- Filmi Music: He composed the song "BIBA", along with Shirley Setia and Shah Rukh Khan, as an affectionate homage to this music genre. The music video even features the most common Bollywood tropes.
- Genre Roulette: In addition to spanning various different Electronic Music subgenres, he's released songs that can be considered Pop Punk ("You and Me", "Rescue Me", "Tongue Tied"), Indie Pop ("Be Kind", "It's OK Not To Be OK", "Leave Before You Love Me"), Trap Music ("Been Thru This Before", "Baggin'"), Melodic Rap ("Project Dreams", "Like This"), Country Music ("One Thing Right") and even Filmi Music ("BIBA").
- Good-Times Montage: The music video for "Ritual" shows Marshmello having a good time with his friends.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: In "Alone".
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In "Happier", the singer decides to end his toxic relationship so his girlfriend can be happy without him.
- Improbable Sports Skills: Marshmello isn't known for his sports skills, but he uploaded a video of him acing a course in
American Ninja Warrior. Some viewers believe he had a Stunt Double do those tricks. - Only Known by Their Nickname: In theory, Marshmallo's identity is unknown. However, he shares a name, birthday, manager, friends and tattoo with Chris Comstock.
- Shout-Out: Marshmello's headgear is influenced by deadmau5, who also gets a shout out in the "Alone" music video with Marshmello's pet mouse Joel (deadmau5's real name is Joel).
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Played for Laughs in "Friends". In the clean version, the lyric is "F-R-I-E-N-D-S, that's how you spell friends". In the explicit version, the lyric is "F-R-I-E-N-D-S, that's how you f*** spell friends". That's right, it's bleeped out.
- Step Up to the Microphone: He sings using his unaltered voice on "You and Me".
