Global dance music icon Steve Aoki joins forces with Dutch hard dance powerhouses Sub Zero Project for a high-energy reimagining of Nero’s beloved electronic anthem “Promises.” After more than a year of testing the collaboration on festival stages around the world, the official release transforms the iconic track into a festival-scale weapon without losing the emotional pull of the original.
The collaboration has already made an impact at some of the world’s biggest electronic music events, including Tomorrowland, EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Australia, Ultra Peru and Amsterdam Music Festival. Now officially released, “Promises” brings together Aoki’s genre-defying production instincts with Sub Zero Project’s signature hard dance sound.
At its core, the rework preserves the instantly recognizable vocal chorus that made the original such a defining dance record while introducing an entirely new sonic framework. Bass-heavy drops, uptempo breaks and harder-edged melodic sections push “Promises” into a more aggressive festival environment, creating a track that moves seamlessly between emotional breakdowns and full-throttle dancefloor impact.
The collaboration first took shape onstage, where Steve Aoki and Sub Zero Project refined the record through repeated performances and real-time reactions from audiences around the world. That live testing became an essential part of the track’s evolution, ultimately turning the rework into a centerpiece of both artists’ festival sets.
“There’s a fine line between paying tribute to a classic and giving it a new identity, and that’s what made this collaboration with Sub Zero Project so exciting,” says Steve Aoki. “We wanted to preserve what made ‘Promises’ so memorable while giving it a completely new perspective. The track really found itself through the live shows — every time we played it, the crowd showed us where to keep pushing it. By the time we finished the record, it had already taken on a life of its own, and that’s when you know you’ve created something special.”
For Sub Zero Project, the collaboration offered an opportunity to work alongside one of electronic music’s most recognizable figures while bringing their hard dance aesthetic to a classic that has already stood the test of time.
“It was a huge honor to finally collaborate with the legend Steve Aoki and we had so much fun creating this track together,” Sub Zero Project shares. “We’ve been playing ‘Promises’ for well over a year and it has become a true highlight in our live sets at events such as Tomorrowland, EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Australia, Ultra Peru, Amsterdam Music Festival and many more, with explosive crowd reactions every single time.”
The duo describes the track as a deliberately unpredictable journey, beginning with a powerful dubstep drop before switching into an energetic hard dance section. From there, the arrangement pulls back into the song’s emotional vocal break before building toward a massive melodic finale.
“The fun part of playing the track is that the first drop — a powerful dubstep drop — catches the crowd completely off guard before transitioning into the highly energetic hard dance drop, followed by the epic break with the beautiful vocals. To top it all off, the track builds into an insane melody drop, delivering energy from start to finish. We’re beyond excited to finally share this collaboration with the world and we can’t wait for everyone to experience the same energy we’ve been witnessing on dance floors across the globe.”
The release further highlights Sub Zero Project’s continued role in pushing hard dance into increasingly global territory. The Dutch duo has built a reputation for combining aggressive sound design, euphoric melodies and boundary-pushing production, bringing its distinctive style to audiences through the Our World tour and appearances at major festivals including Tomorrowland, Ultra Peru, EDC Las Vegas and Amsterdam Music Festival.
For Steve Aoki, “Promises” arrives during an especially significant year for his career and label. The release forms part of the celebration surrounding Dim Mak’s landmark 30th anniversary, with Aoki commemorating three decades of the influential imprint through special events, festival takeovers and the ongoing Dim Mak 30 Tour.
The anniversary celebrations will continue with upcoming appearances at Austin City Limits and EDC Orlando, alongside performances in Tokyo, San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York City.
By bringing Nero’s timeless “Promises” into the worlds of hard dance, dubstep and modern festival production, Steve Aoki and Sub Zero Project have created more than a straightforward remix. The result is a full-scale reinterpretation built to honor the emotional core of the original while giving it an entirely new life on today’s biggest dancefloors.
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