Members: Brian Wayy (Los Angeles, USA) & Masoud Fouladi Moghaddam (Bandar-e Anzali, Iran)
Formed: 2015
Genres: Progressive Trance, Vocal Trance, Melodic House, Uplifting Trance
Labels: Flashover Recordings, Armada Music, AVA Recordings, Blanco y Negro, HitTunez / Teletunez, Sony Music Norway
Associated Acts: Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Andy Moor, Sebastian Brandt, Dash Berlin
A Collaboration Born Across Continents
Few stories in electronic music are as compelling as the one behind MaWayy. Brian Wayy and Masoud Fuladi — who to this day have never met in person — formed a masterful collaboration through faith, creativity, and passion, built entirely within the confines of telecommunications. Two producers separated by thousands of miles and vastly different cultural landscapes, one in Los Angeles and one in a port city on the Caspian Sea, discovered they shared the same musical instincts. That shared instinct eventually became one of the most globally resonant partnerships to emerge from the trance and electronic dance music world.
Masoud: Iran’s Trance Pioneer
Before MaWayy ever existed, one half of the duo had already established himself as a genuinely pioneering figure within the trance scene — and had done so from one of the most unlikely places on earth for it.
Masoud Fouladi Moghaddam is widely credited with leading the electronic dance music artist community in Iran. He began his production career at the end of 2009, collaborating with songwriter Jaren Cerf and vocalist Josie on \”Leave It All Behind,\” which was signed by Ferry Corsten\’s prestigious Flashover Recordings imprint and received immediate support from both Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten himself.
The debut was remarkable for a first release. Getting signed to Flashover and landing simultaneous support from two of trance\’s most influential figures announced Masoud as a serious talent from the outset. He followed it by remixing \”Staring at the Sea\” by DJ Eco Pres. Pacheco, a version supported by Above & Beyond and Ferry Corsten that went on to hit the Beatport Top 20 chart.
His ascent within trance circles was swift. In 2010, he reunited with Jaren Cerf for \”Blinded,\” the Sebastian Brandt remix of which was designated a Tune of the Week on A State of Trance episode 453 by Armin van Buuren, and climbed to number one on Ferry Corsten\’s Countdown. For any trance producer, an ASOT Tune of the Week represents one of the genre\’s highest stamps of approval — and Masoud earned it within his first two years.
His releases and remixes were featured in major compilations including Trance Nation 2010, Armada Lounge Vol. 5, The Ibiza Soundtrack 2011, Trance 100 across 2010, 2011, and 2012, and AVA Recordings Collected & Best of 2011, spanning labels such as Ministry of Sound, Armada Music, Spinnin\’ Records, and Flashover Recordings.
Andy Moor selected Masoud\’s EP for his compilation Breaking the Silence Vol. 2 and signed it to Armada Music, where it received support from Paul Oakenfold and Richard Durand, while Faruk Sabanci’s remix reached number one on Juno Download.
His remix of “Arlanda” — an uplifting trance track by Sophie Sugar and Tom Colontonio — was released on the A State of Trance label, a sub-imprint of Armada Music, and reached Dash Berlin\’s Top 15 in May 2011.
In 2014, Masoud signed three tracks to Armada Music featuring vocalists Melissa Loretta, Alexandra Badoi, and Aneym, with support coming from Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten, and Andy Moor.
Throughout these years, Masoud also hosted The Caspian Sessions, a trance-focused radio show that ran for 100 episodes and became a touchstone for Iranian and international trance listeners alike, airing on Afterhours.FM before moving to Digitally Imported\’s DJ Mixes channel in 2015.
Brian Wayy: From MCA Records to Trance Collaboration
While Masoud was building his name within trance, Brian Wayy had carved out a parallel career in American music spanning decades of the entertainment industry. At eighteen he signed a contract with MCA Records, and by his mid-twenties he was touring with The Untouchables, opening for major acts including UB40, The Police, and Duran Duran. His remixing credits include Rod Stewart, Paula Abdul, and The Doobie Brothers, while his production work extended to Diana Ross, Stevie B, and Corbin Bleu. After his recording career, he was signed by Warner Bros. Television and began composing for shows including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Judge Mathis, TMZ, and The Bachelor.
In 2011, the paths of these two very different musicians quietly converged when Masoud signed a deal with Teletunez Inc. to write for television alongside Brian Wayy, eventually co-scoring theme music for Warner Bros. TV productions. What started as a professional writing partnership would, over the following years, evolve into something far more personal and musically ambitious.
The Formation of MaWayy
In 2015, the pair launched MaWayy — a portmanteau of Masoud and Wayy — as a dedicated electronic music project. Their music, shaped by two vastly different cultural backgrounds and life experiences, quickly found an audience that reflected that breadth, drawing listeners from across the world.
Their debut single arrived in 2017. “Wrong,” released through Teletunez’s HitTunez division and Blanco y Negro, reached number 42 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart in May 2018, held that position for three weeks, and became the number one record on WCPY Dance Factory FM in Chicago. It was featured on Spotify\’s flagship electronic playlist mint and accumulated over 1.6 million YouTube views and more than 1.1 million Spotify streams.
The follow-up proved even more impactful. “Blame” climbed to number 18 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart and number 13 on UK Music Week\’s Upfront Club Chart, received support from Hardwell, and amassed over 6 million combined streams across YouTube and Spotify.
In 2020, MaWayy signed “Calling Her My Name” to Sony Music Norway, which charted on Spotify’s India Viral 50 and gained radio airplay on stations including N-JOY and Laluna Charts.
Trance Roots, Broader Sound
MaWayy\’s trance DNA — rooted in Masoud\’s years working alongside the genre\’s biggest names — is woven throughout the project\’s identity even as the sound evolved toward melodic and progressive territory. The emotional architecture of trance: the tension of the build, the release of the drop, the euphoric payoff, the use of vocals to carry both melody and feeling — all of it informed how the duo structured their songs, even when the tempo and groove moved closer to contemporary house.
The duo also hosted the MaWayy Radio show on Digitally Imported Radio, one of the most important broadcast homes for trance and electronic music globally. The show allowed them to act as curators, bridging the trance-informed sensibility Masoud brought with the broader electronic landscape Brian navigated.
What Makes MaWayy Distinctive
The project\’s most unusual quality is the sheer breadth of experience concentrated within it. Masoud\’s trance catalogue — remixes championed on A State of Trance, releases on Flashover, Armada, and AVA, appearances across the world\’s biggest trance compilation series — gave the project an emotional depth and structural intelligence that distinguishes it from purely commercial crossover acts. Brian\’s background in television composition, major-label remixing, and decades of professional craft brought songwriting instincts that most producer-led projects lack.
Together, they created music that sits at the intersection of melodic emotion and dancefloor purpose: not pure trance by classification, but unmistakably shaped by it.
Legacy
MaWayy represents something rare: a trance artist who, having earned genuine respect within the genre\’s most prestigious circles — ASOT airplay, Armada signings, support from the genre’s elite — chose to use that foundation to build something wider and more universal, rather than abandoning it entirely. Masoud’s journey from Bandar-e Anzali to the Beatport trance Top 20 and eventually to the Billboard dance charts stands as one of the more quietly remarkable stories in modern electronic music. And the collaboration with Brian Wayy transformed that personal story into a shared one — a transatlantic, cross-cultural bridge built entirely out of music, by two people who have never once been in the same room.