Artist Spotlight: HUGEL & Ultra Naté — "Movin' To The Sun" Is the Dance Track of Summer 2026

Born and raised in Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, HUGEL grew up surrounded by funk, disco, and soul — music his mother played through their home — before discovering DJing at sixteen with vinyl records. His early influences read like a syllabus for anyone who wants to understand French electronic music: Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier, Daft Punk, Amine Edge, and David Guetta. Those influences stuck.

HUGEL broke into the global consciousness as a key figure in the Latin House movement, first turning heads with "Morenita" and building a devoted following across Europe and Ibiza. With over a billion streams to his name and a permanent residency at Hï Ibiza, he's cemented himself as one of the most in-demand DJs working today. In 2023 he launched his own label, Make The Girls Dance Records — a boutique imprint laser-focused on Afro House, Latin House, and deep, groove-forward club music — giving him full creative control over his releases.

"Twenty One," his debut album released June 2026, takes its name from the years separating his sixteen-year-old self making bedroom mixes in Marseille from the global touring DJ he is today. It's a record of real ambition, pulling in collaborators including David Guetta, French Montana, Roy Woods, and Big Sean — but "Movin' To The Sun" is the standout that the clubs have claimed as their own. Visit HUGEL on Beatport

If you need one reason this collab works so well, it's Ultra Naté. Born in Baltimore in 1968, she's one of the most enduring voices in house music history — ranked by Billboard as the 12th most successful dance artist of all time. Her 1997 Strictly Rhythm single "Free," produced by Mood II Swing, is arguably the most uplifting house vocal record ever made, scoring Top Ten entries across Europe and landing at #1 in France and Switzerland. It's still a floor-filler nearly thirty years later.

Ultra Naté has never chased trends. She's stayed true to her roots in underground dance music through major-label turbulence, genre shifts, and industry upheaval — and that authenticity is exactly why pairing her voice with HUGEL's sun-soaked production makes complete sense. She doesn't just fit the record; she elevates it.

Running at 125 BPM in F Minor, "Movin' To The Sun" is engineered for maximum euphoria with minimum excess. The track opens on a rolling, buoyant bassline layered with warm, shimmering pads — the kind of low-end that fills a room without ever feeling heavy. HUGEL and production partner Late Nine keep the arrangement lean: a crisp four-on-the-floor kick, subtle Latin percussive elements that nod to HUGEL's signature groove, and a mid-range chord progression that feels like it was made for a golden-hour set at Hï Ibiza.

Ultra Naté's vocal arrives early and stays commanding throughout. Her delivery carries the same effortless soul she brought to "Free" — warm, certain, inviting you in rather than demanding your attention. Imael Angel's production contributions sharpen the track's edges without crowding the space. The extended mix — the version the DJs are playing — gives that groove room to breathe, building tension through subtle filter sweeps and a breakdown that feels genuinely earned before the bassline drops back in.

What HUGEL has achieved here is a dance record with real replay value. It's not a one-trick festival drop. It's a proper grower: the kind of track that sounds different at 2am on a packed floor to how it sounds through your headphones on a Tuesday afternoon, and it works brilliantly at both. Listen on Beatport

"Movin' To The Sun" arrived in May 2026 as festival season was hitting full stride, and the timing was perfect. HUGEL has been running his "Make The Girls Dance" residency at Hï Ibiza every Thursday through summer, and the track has been the centrepiece of those sets — giving it enormous exposure to the tastemakers, industry figures, and passionate clubbers who flow through Ibiza. Once the big DJs started dropping it at festivals, it was everywhere.

There's also a broader current it's riding. Dance music is 2026's fastest-growing genre in the US and across global streaming platforms, with feel-good club house leading the charge after years of darker, techno-adjacent sounds dominating festival main stages. "Movin' To The Sun" is the perfect expression of that counter-swing — it's unapologetically joyful, rooted in proper house values, and built by a team who know exactly what they're doing.

The Ultra Naté connection doesn't hurt either. There's a generation of electronic music fans who grew up on "Free" and who recognise her voice instantly. "Movin' To The Sun" functions as a bridge between house's golden era and its present peak.

This is one of the records of the year. HUGEL has made a debut album track that sounds like the kind of thing you spend years trying to make — effortless, timeless, completely of its moment. Ultra Naté's vocal is a masterclass in restraint and presence in equal measure. It's the rare Beatport #1 that genuinely deserves that position.

9/10. Essential for any summer set, any festival bag, any playlist built for peak-time joy. If you're a DJ, you need this in your crate. If you're a listener, you need this in your life.

Buy/stream "Movin' To The Sun" on Beatport

Stream on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud

Explore HUGEL's full catalogue on Beatport

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"Movin' To The Sun" is a Dance/Pop and House track running at 125 BPM in F Minor, released on HUGEL's Make The Girls Dance Records.

You can buy or stream "Movin' To The Sun" on Beatport, as well as streaming it on Spotify and Apple Music.

→ Explore more Artist Spotlights on SoundStashHQ

Image credit: iTunes / Apple Music