Armin van Buuren and Martin Garrix finally release Sleepless Nights

Armin van Buuren released his ninth studio album Breathe this year, a record that carried collaborations with Bon Jovi and Pendulum. He has spent the surrounding months headlining A State of Trance festivals and launching a live concept under the name Pillars of Creation. Martin Garrix has sold out three nights at L.A. State Historic Park, marking a first Los Angeles appearance since 2016. Sleepless Nights, out now via Armada Music, is the long-awaited first official track credited to van Buuren and Garrix. The pair are longtime friends who have shared festival stages for years without ever sharing a release, and both are five-time DJ Mag Top 100 winners.

The track was premiered in March at Ultra Miami, where the two played it back to back on the mainstage during Garrix’s festival-closing set. Crowds connected with the hook as soon as they heard it. Van Buuren has since worked it into A State of Trance London, Ushuaïa Ibiza and Weekend Festival Finland, and Garrix has carried it onto Lollapalooza’s Perry’s Stage. It has held its place in both setlists through EDC Las Vegas and through shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Garrix has run it across Los Angeles and Korea, and van Buuren has played it in China and the Czech Republic.

The single runs three minutes and is built around a vocal from Libby Whitehouse, an English singer-songwriter. Whitehouse sings a desperation that keeps doubling back on itself, and the record is pitched at the hours between a late dance floor and first light. Van Buuren’s trance instincts arrive in the brighter, more contemporary register that Garrix works in. Stream it below.