Major Lazer is back with brand-new music and a new member, British-Jamaican artist and content creator America Foster, joining Diplo, Ape Drums, and Walshy Fire in the latest iteration of the iconic, multi-platinum and diamond-charting music juggernaut.
“GANGSTA,” the first Major Lazer single of 2025, reunites the group with dancehall icon Busy Signal, who previously featured on their salsa-infused 2013 classic “Watch Out For This (Bumaye).” The track also sees the group team up with Kybba, the Italy-raised, Amsterdam-based DJ/producer behind record label, video channel and events brand Basshall Movement. “GANGSTA” is a classic Major Lazer big-room banger, fusing dancehall and future-leaning dance sounds with Busy Signal’s quick-witted badman lyrics.
While they gear up for an upcoming project, the group has been on the road, debuting new music at live performances around the world. America Foster made her live debut with Major Lazer during four raucous sets at Paris’s Fete De La Musique in June, and revealed the news of her joining the group in an Instagram post after Major Lazer’s headlining set at Austria’s Electric Love Festival in July:
“Major Lazer are back…and, it looks like I’m the fourth member for the foreseeable future!…Thank you Diplo, Walshy Fire, Ape Drums, Major Lazer for taking me under your wings! I love you guys dearly…”
America Foster is a British-Jamaican artist, content creator, and all-around performer whose distinctive style, humor, bold personality, authentic voice and creative versatility caught the attention of Diplo, Walshy Fire, and Ape Drums, leading to a collaboration in Jamaica that evolved into a formal place in the group. Raised between cultures and continents, she has built a loyal online following through sharp-witted freestyles, sketches, and genre-fluid music. With a perspective shaped by both outsider humor and deep-rooted cultural fluency, the charismatic Foster brings fresh energy to Major Lazer’s global sound.
The group has been making pop-up appearances at street parties and unlikely venues this summer, including a surprise rave at a Bronx bodega in July. This week saw Major Lazer visit London for the first time in ten years with performances at Notting Hill Carnival as well as a pop-up performance at a secret Shoreditch location tonight with Busy Signal to celebrate the release of “GANGSTA.” Up next is a headlining set at Chandler, Arizona’s Goldrush Music Festival in September, and spontaneous pop ups from the DJ quartet at colleges and universities across the U.S. throughout the fall. Additional tour dates across Europe and North America are also forthcoming.
“Coming back out now with America and Busy Signal feels like starting a new chapter while revisiting an old one,” Diplo says. “Busy Signal was a big part of our journey with Major Lazer, blessing us with his incredible vocals on ‘Bumaye,’ a massive single that helped define what Major Lazer was going to be. Now, more than a decade later, we’re starting another journey with America joining the group. It’s amazing how much she complements the dynamic we’ve already established with Walshy and Ape Drums. While she’s not on this track as a vocalist, look out for her on some new music coming real soon.”
Formed by Diplo and U.K. producer Switch after a trip to Jamaica to produce tracks for M.I.A., Major Lazer debuted in 2009 with the genre-bending, dancehall-punk concept album Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do. Following the departure of Switch in 2011, the group returned with 2013’s Free the Universe, and the addition of DJ/MC/producers Walshy Fire and Jillionaire. Ape Drums joined the group in 2019, replacing Jillionaire, with that lineup remaining the same until this summer’s addition of America Foster.
Initially a studio-oriented project, Major Lazer has become world-renowned as a live juggernaut, blowing minds on tour and at festivals across the U.S. and Europe with their unique fusion of big-room dance sounds and Jamaican sound-system culture. The global-pop kings have dominated the charts with hits including the Diamond-certified “Lean On”—one of the most successful songs of all time—and the 4x Platinum-certified “Cold Water” and 2x Platinum-certified “Light It Up.” In 2024, the group celebrated the 15th anniversary of Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do, with a deluxe digital reissue featuring previously unreleased collaborations with Vybz Kartel and M.I.A.
With this year’s slate of new music, Major Lazer is returning to their roots, fusing reggae/dancehall, Caribbean, dance, and pop influences while continuing to reflect their global sound and mission: Making the world smaller by making the party bigger.
UPCOMING MAJOR LAZER LIVE DATES
Aug 28th – Brussels, Belgium – Major Lazer Block Party @ Grand Place
Aug 29th – Amsterdam, Netherlands -Major Lazer Block Party @ LoFi Courtyard
Sept 13th – Chandler, AZ – Goldrush Festival
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