Bringing Nurture to life meant overcoming creative drought, depression and family illness. “It was an extensive period of just total emotional struggle,” says the North Carolina-based artist. Nurture is made up of songs he found on the other side: adventurous, uplifting diaries of his own path back to happiness, each one imploring listeners suffering their own periods of hardship to hold on. Everything’s changed since Robinson’s 2010 arrival, from sonic landscapes to literal surroundings. Porter himself notes the immense effect of the exit from his childhood home on this new collection, shedding the comforting walls of his formative years, where 2014’s genre defining Worlds crafted an expansion for the universe of electronic music. His own precocious arrival into the collective consciousness via co-signs from the dance music’s greats now feels like merely a footnote in the time spent since, with 2016 granting the union of Robinson and longtime friend Madeon to conceive the gold certified, anime-accompanied single “Shelter”. Just a year later he’d introduce alter ego Virtual Self, a reinvention that landed him a Grammy nod and left incalculable influence in its wake. The launch of his own festival, Second Sky, would mark the final endeavor before the start of this new era. “I feel like the world is beautiful and filled with possibility, and that I want to cherish every second that I have to be alive. That description doesn’t quite capture it, but it’s as close as I can get.”
Virtual Self is one of Porter Robinson's side projects, inspired by 90s and early 2000s dance music. The Virtual Self EP was released in 2017, consisting of tracks like: Eon Break, Ghost Voices, Key, Partical Arts, and more. This EP was split into 2 halfs for 2 characters, Pathselector and technic-Angel. There was also an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that came with this project, to fit the vibe of the project, however Robinson said that there was no lore, and it was just for looks. Virtual Self was notable for its shows, which had been critically aclaimed for its lighting setups. One that comes to mind for me is the performance for the unreleased track 'God Rays'. Virtual Self was also nominated for the song 'Ghost Voices' at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for 'Best Dance Recording'. Robinson also did a red carpet interview for Virtual Self at the Grammys. Porter has also notoriously stated about how 'No Porter Robinson songs will be played at Virtual Self sets.'
Air to Earth (stylized as Air 2 Earth) is a another side project from Porter Robinson. This is a 'live-only' DJ project from Robinson, that he describes as 'focused on sample-driven, tranquil proghouse and airy disco.' He debuted this new project at his music festival 'Second Sky'. He remixed some of his own personal songs like 'Mirror' and 'Language' into this new 'airy disco' style. A full video of his Second Sky set can be viewed here. He also did a set for an official after party for Second Sky here.
Shelter is a colaborative single from Porter Robinson and long time friend Madeon. This single also accompanied a short film music video produced by Japanese animation studio A-1 Pictures. Robinson and Madeon both went on the Shelter Tour, which was a duel show in which each artist remixed the others songs.