5 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jun 18, 2026 07:12 PM IST
The past month witnessed an unlikely revolution in cinemas across the world when two horror films, made by two young YouTubers, broke out as massive hits. Made on modest budgets of $1 million and $10 million, respectively, Curry Baker’s Obsession and Kane Parsons’ Backrooms have amassed over $250 million each at the worldwide box office. But 2026 isn’t the first year a YouTuber has broken out in the mainstream. Over 10 years ago, right when the global music industry was struggling to find a new sound, came Alan Walker’s “Faded.”
“Faded” put Alan Walker on the music map
Like Backrooms, “Faded” was reworked from Walker’s 2014 YouTube hit. Beginning his career as a bedroom producer in Norway, he dropped the house track “Fade” online, which garnered over 200 million views over the next one year. Walker took into account the listeners’ feedback that his instrumental track would benefit from lyrics, and collaborated with fellow Norwegian artist Iselin Solheim to release the new and improved version, “Faded.”
As of March this year, “Faded” has garnered over 3.9 billion views, becoming the 33rd most-watched YouTube video ever and the first-ever EDM track to cross 1 billion views. “Faded is such a timeless song that even if I even try to recreate it, I’d never surpass it. Faded came out at the right place at the right time, when the music industry needed it the most. If Faded was released today, I don’t think it’d have the nearly same impact as it did back in 2015,” Alan Walker tells SCREEN in an exclusive interview.
Alan Walker on turning 10 in the music industry
Right after “Faded” blew up globally, Walker, who was 17 then, opted out of high school. He became one of the most popular artistes to emerge from Norway. “Being 17-18 years old when I released Faded, I had no experience on how to handle such a big success. Almost no one nowhere even experienced anything remotely like this. Kygo would be the only other one,” says Walker, referring to his fellow Norwegian record producer, who also broke out around the same time with his single “Firestone.”
With no mentor or godfather in the music industry to take after, Walker has stuck to the very same team for the past 11 years, since he first made it big. “No one knows how to approach it, digest it, and move on. I did my best, kept my feet planted on the ground, and tried to manoeuvre it the best way possible. I’ve been working with the same team that I did back then, and it’s been quite an incredible journey. I’ve happily been in the music industry for the past 10 years, and looking forward to do 10+ more. I’m only grateful that everything’s been great,” he adds.
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What has Alan Walker been up to?
The most recent feather in Alan Walker’s cap has been “The Sting Within Me”, a track inspired by the energy and sounds of Formula 1, in collaboration with Sting Energy, which was debuted at Barcelona Grand Prix earlier this month. While Walker is no stranger to his songs being used in video games (“Faded” being an unofficial anthem for the gaming community), blending his style with motorsports was a whole new challenge. “Of course, I had to make something Alan Walker and my sound image, but also see what I can do to capture the sound of Formula 1 and what I imagine the sound of Sting is, and combine those three completely different universes into the sound of one,” says Walker.
The Norwegian artiste has also been to India, opening for Justin Bieber’s Mumbai concert in 2017, followed by two WalkerWorld tours in 2024 and 2025, becoming one of the few Western artistes to perform in over a dozen cities across the country. “Visiting India is a part of my core memories. I had one of the biggest tours for any Western artiste in India, which was really, really cool. I got to travel to cities no Western artiste had been to. It was my way of giving back to my Indian followers, fans, and listeners. They’ve been showing so much love and support over the years,” he says.
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Alan Walker has also collaborated with Indian artistes like King on the track “Sorry” from the latter’s album Monopoly Moves, and Pritam, for the single “Children of the Sun” in 2024. The same year, he also composed and performed “Team Side”, the official team track of Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bengaluru. “The chance to collaborate with different artistes, creators, and vocalists within India has been really cool as well. It’s an incredible country with a lot of amazing talent. And I’m happy I get to share some projects alongside some of them,” adds Walker.
Alan Walker talks to SCREEN about his 2014 hit "Faded".