The odyssey through the realm of consciousness might be reaching its end! As Afterlife Tulum kicked off 2025, whispers abound that Afterlife Tulum 2025 might be the last Afterlife event or the last set from Tale of Us. Why is it that these rumors are circulating at a time when Afterlife and the melodic techno sound it pioneered have become a global phenomenon? Let’s examine the signs.
The Calendar
A quick browse of the Afterlife website offers our first red flag. There are no events on the calendar right now, with Afterlife Tulum being the last (although Anyma’s Sphere residency has not concluded). Beyond this, there is not a single Tale of Us booking for a 2025 festival yet. Major festivals which have typically booked Tale of Us are now featuring Anyma, such as Ultra or Kappa Futur Festival. One festival that holds our biggest clue is Tomorrowland. Tale of Us has become a major staple of the festival in recent years, playing every year since 2017. Their Afterlife takeover has grown to occupy the Freedom Stage for both Weekends for two consecutive years. Tomorrowland even entered into a partnership with Afterlife for merchandise and then allowed Anyma to use his own visuals on the mainstage (which almost never happens). If Tomorrowland drops its stage hosts without Afterlife, then the worst has come to pass. We would not be surprised to see Anyma swap in where Afterlife would have been.
The event calendar has been filled with Afterlife shows since 2016, the year Afterlife was founded. The same could be safely assumed for MRAK. Rumors suggest the cracks had started back in May last year when MRAK was accused of sexual abuse in Argentina. An individual by the name of Liliana Nuno took to Instagram to share her experience with Carmine Conte (MRAK). Nothing more ever happened publicly regarding these allegations, but whatever the truth may be could have had an effect on the duo. Many thought it was strange that Afterlife had no event in New York City in 2024, after the Brooklyn Mirage shows sold out three nights in a row in record time.
Chemistry Fading
The videos circulating from Afterlife Tulum do not offer solace either, showing a lack of chemistry between the pair. One could assume that the two are not speaking to each other after watching the videos. The same was observed during Afterlife’s show in Abu Dhabi last month. Social media is abuzz with these rumors as well. Many speculate that the success of the Anyma project is the source of the falling out, and that Carmine has not handled the situation well. The biggest red flag in this department is that Mrak did not perform at all during Anyma’s The End of Genesys residency. It’s unclear whether he was invited to or not, but it does not appear he even attended.
Going Dormant
A fan also pointed out that ‘it’s been 1,279 days since Tale of Us released an original track’. The Tale of Us Instagram page has not posted anything since the Tomorrowland recap post on July 23, 2024. Their last Facebook post is from July 9, 2024 at Kappa Futur Festival. A quick browse of Beatport reveals that the last Afterlife release was the MRAK EP released on October 4, 2024. Anyma’s most recently single ‘Angel In The Dark’ was released on a new Anyma label called The End of Genesys rather than Afterlife. His next single with Ellie Goulding is also set for release on the new label. Another very worrying sign.
The signs seem to point to the journey through consciousness coming to an end, at least in its current form. We suspect there will be a nearly definitive answer to these questions when Tomorrowland releases its lineup over the next month. At that point there will be no more hiding if things are truly done. Some second-hand rumors state that they will stick it out for 2025 or some portion of the year and play out a few more shows, but either way it appears that the days are numbered for this beloved duo.