Joytime II

“The *Joytime II* album is a flashback to the original stuff I was putting out back in the day,” Marshmello tweeted, one week before his sophomore LP’s release. “No features. No pop. Just bounce & fun.”

On his second album, the quasi-anonymous DJ in a stylized marshmallow mask proves the perfect figurehead for a commercial EDM scene running on fumes.

The ascent of Marshmello, a young electronic producer known as much for his goofy helmet (white, cylindrical, two X’s for the eyes) as his chart success (four Top 40 hits in the past seven months, upward of 2 billion total streams), shows the enduring importance of arena-scale dance music in the pop landscape.