Hardwell and Sound Rush Flip Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” Into a Hardstyle Anthem

Hardwell just took one of the most karaoke’d rock ballads of all time and turned it into a 160 BPM festival weapon. His new collab with Sound Rush flips Goo Goo Dolls’ 1998 classic “Iris” into a full-blown hardstyle anthem, and it’s out now on Revealed Recordings.

If you caught Hardwell anywhere this summer, you’ve probably already heard it. According to the announcement, he road-tested the rework at EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Europe and Tomorrowland before finally giving it an official release. The formula is simple but deadly: keep the melody everyone knows by heart, then swap the acoustic strums for soaring synths and hardstyle kicks. You know exactly what happens when that chorus hits a mainstage.

A quick history lesson for the younger ravers: “Iris” was originally written for the 1998 film City of Angels and went on to become one of the defining rock ballads of its era — the kind of song your parents slow-danced to and you’ve screamed at 1 a.m. in at least one karaoke bar. That’s exactly what makes it such perfect raw material. Everyone in the crowd already knows every word before the first drop even lands.

Sound Rush, if you’re not familiar, are identical twin brothers from the Netherlands and one of the most melodic acts in hardstyle right now. Pairing them with Hardwell makes a lot of sense — he’s spent 2026 leaning back into the big, unapologetic festival sound that made him famous, from “Bangkok” with W&W to a run of Revealed releases built purely for mainstage chaos. It’s also been a big year behind the scenes, with Hardwell signing a major publishing deal with Armada Music back in August.

There’s a bigger trend here too. Hardstyle has been strip-mining the ’90s and 2000s for emotional singalongs lately, and honestly? It works. A tear-jerker like “Iris” already has the built-in drama — all a producer has to do is give it a drop worthy of the chorus. Purists will grumble, but purists aren’t the ones with their hands up during the second verse.

Is it subtle? Absolutely not. That’s kind of the point. “Iris” is out now on all platforms via Revealed Recordings, and you can bet it’s living in festival sets for the rest of the season.