Do we like Kygo?
Our score: 8 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, and there's real LGBTQ+ fundraising, but the record on the planet and his own voice is thin.
Kygo is the Norwegian producer who helped make tropical house a global thing. His remix of Ed Sheeran's “I See Fire” put him on the map, and “Firestone” with Conrad was the breakthrough hit that took the sound worldwide.
His 2016 debut album, Cloud Nine, was a deliberate bid to be taken seriously as more than a genre. He told Official Charts he wanted “a proper album that tells a story”, and he headlined London's Wireless festival that same summer.
On the scandal front, there isn't one. Searches for court cases, lawsuits and allegations against the DJ turned up nothing at all (the results were about a Denver radio station with the same call letters). That's honestly the whole list, and an empty file is a good sign.
On the harm test, we found no harmful statements, no culture-war grievance and no dodgy collaborators. The record points the other way: in 2016 he put money and show proceeds toward support for LGBT activists in Uganda, working with Norway's Rafto Foundation, and reports put the total at over $50,000.
In 2019 he headlined UTOPIA in New York during Pride, an event that raised over $110,000 for LGBTQ+ charities and groups. He called it “an honor” and said “Love is love.” That's a platform used for other people, not just a press release.
The business side is big now. His Palm Tree Crew hospitality and festival company was valued at $215 million after a WME-led funding round in September 2025. This year he was also booked to co-headline the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix concert. The listing carries a note that the event would not go ahead because of conflict in the region, so we can't confirm he played it.