Madeon

Career beginnings[edit]

Leclercq started composing music at the age of 11,^[3] producing hands-up under the name of "Daemon" and Wayne Mont until 2010 when he began producing house music under his current name, Madeon, which is an anagram of his previous nickname. He won a remix competition for "The Island" by Pendulum the same year.^[7]


He went on to remix tracks by other electronic artists the following year. A clip of Leclercq performing his mash-up "Pop Culture", uploaded to YouTube on 11 July 2011, propelled him to international fame. It featured samples from thirty-nine songs mixed together on-the-fly using a Novation Launchpad. The clip went viral and reached over six million views in just a few days.^[3] According to a Reddit AMA he hosted in November 2019, he had the idea, purchased the Launchpad, and recorded the song all on the same day.^[8]


During live performances, apart from the Launchpads, he also uses Allen & Heath's Xone:K2, Novation's Launch Control XL and Ableton Live.^[9] His first live performance was in Paris in April 2011 where he was a support act to Yelle,^[3] and his UK debut was at The Nest in Dalston, London where he performed alongside the likes of Jacques Lu Cont.^[9]


Leclercq has been featured several times on "15 Minutes of Fame", a segment of Pete Tong's radio show on BBC Radio 1, with both his debut single "Icarus" and his remix for deadmau5's "Raise Your Weapon" given their first full play on the show. His live recorded performance debut was for Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1 gala event in Hull on 27 January 2012, where he played a 20-minute-long set.^[10]


A debut EP was scheduled to be released at the end of 2011,^[3] but then cancelled in favour of multiple singles.^[11] The first single, "Icarus", was released on 24 February 2012 on his independent label popcultur.


Madeon toured with Lady Gaga as an opening act during her Born This Way Ball.^[12] He later worked with Gaga on three tracks, "Gypsy", "Mary Jane Holland", and "Venus" on her third studio album, Artpop.^[13]


In 2012, he was invited to play four major American festivals, the Ultra Music Festival in Miami,^[14] Coachella in California, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Electric Daisy Carnival in New York,^[15] as well as several UK dance music festivals, including the Dance Arena at the BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend; he also provided support for Swedish House Mafia's headlining set at the Milton Keynes Bowl.^[16] Leclercq was listed at number 54 on DJ Mag in 2012.^[17] Madeon released a new single on 3 August 2013 titled "Technicolor."^[18] On 25 February 2014, Leclercq released a track available for a free download on his website called "Cut the Kid", stating that it was created c. 2011 or 2012.


Many of his songs have been used in media franchises: "Icarus" was featured in the US show Dancing with the Stars in May 2012 and 21 May 2013 (finals with Aly Raisman), on the in-game soundtrack of Forza Horizon, and the animated film The Mitchells vs. the Machines; "Finale" and "Imperium" have been featured in EA Sports' FIFA 13 and FIFA 15 respectively. "You're On" was also featured in Pro Evolution Soccer 2016. "Finale" has also been included in the opening cinematic of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale; "The City" appears in EA Sports' NHL 15, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and "Technicolor (Club Extended)" in Need for Speed Rivals. "Finale" and Leclercq's remix of "The Night Out" by Martin Solveig were featured on the official soundtrack of ESPN's Winter X Games XVII event in Tignes, France and both received several plays on air.^[19] "Finale" continues to be used as the bumper music for X Games broadcasts.^[20]