Marlon Hoffstadt

The Sahara at Coachella, turned into a Berlin rave

In April 2026, Marlon Hoffstadt planted a Berlin rave on the Sahara stage at Coachella: original tracks, open mic, and the alias DJ Daddy Trance at full volume. The previous year, he had made his U.S. debut between Tiësto and Armin van Buuren on the mainstage of Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, in front of tens of thousands of people. That same leap coincided with his signing to Capitol Records. His motto is deliberately anti-purist: feel everything, sing along, and don't try to look too cool.

Too pop for the underground and too rave for the mainstream circuit, he has become one of the most visible—and most divisive—figures on the European dancefloor. The colorful hair and high-tempo choruses are not a costume: they are the consequence of stopping the attempt to fit into the serious techno scene of his city.

Ibiza, Pete Tong, and the Midnight Themes laboratory

He grew up in Berlin and, by the age of fifteen, was already sneaking into venues like Kater Holzig, Maria, or Magdalena. The film Berlin Calling, starring Paul Kalkbrenner, convinced him that music could be a profession. In 2012, he released his debut on Evamore Music and created the label Well Done!; the following year, Shake That with Dansson—a house track with a Nate Dogg sample—took off in Ibiza, reached Pete Tong's FFRR, and, at nineteen, he topped the island's Shazam charts.

Early success pushed him to tour without a safety net, leading to an identity crisis. Instead of chasing another hit, he built infrastructure: he co-founded Retrograde, launched Midnight Themes for his own catalog, and, with HRRSN, the duo Tender Games. In 2018, he launched Savour the Moment at Salon zur Wilden Renate, a phone-free party. The album Planet Love (2020) accelerated his shift toward trance and eurodance; it coincided with fatherhood and the nickname that stuck: DJ Daddy Trance.

Club Heart Broken and the anthem It's That Time

Together with MALUGI, he promoted Club Heart Broken, first as a Berlin party with mile-long queues and back-to-back sets, and later as a label, backed by Sony. His Boiler Room set in London in 2024 ranked among the platform's most-watched debuts. In 2023, It's That Time, I Got You, and his eurodance reinterpretation of Kid Cudi's Day 'n' Nite opened up the global circuit to him, with remixes for Madonna and Sam Smith, Robyn, or Kylie Minogue.

Das Ist Daddy, on a stadium scale

In 2025, Capitol released the double single Supersonic / Hands Up In The Sky and the EP All Yours; in August 2026, the album Das Ist Daddy arrived, featuring collaborations with Rose Gray and Niko Rubio. He has sold out 20,000-ticket passes, toured Australia, and played at Ultra Miami and Tomorrowland, without leaving the intimate nights of his home city. He remains based in Berlin: faster, more emotional, and without asking the dancefloor for permission to have fun.