INTERVIEW: Oliver Heldens Talks 'Space Sheep'

In a few short years, producer/DJ Oliver Heldens has become one of the top house DJs in the world -- he is actually ranked the number one house DJ in the annual DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll. After catching the attention of superstar DJ/producer Tiesto with his 2013 hit "Gecko," Oliver has since performed at some of the biggest dance music festivals in the world including Electric Daisy Carnival (AKA EDC), Ultra Music Festival, Tomorrowland, and more. Recently, the 21-year-old who also goes by the alias HI-LO, released a collaboration with Dutch house music duo Chocolate Puma titled "Space Sheep." Oliver recently stopped by iHeartRadio HQ in New York City where he told us about his new song during an exclusive interview.

[Buy "Space Sheep" on iTunes]

You might look at the title of Oliver's collab with Chocolate Puma and think, Space Sheep? Where did that come from? Well, we were wondering too. But if you think about it, Oliver has released several tracks with animal names: "Gecko" (2013), "Koala" (2014), "Pikachu" (YES, we're counting that as an animal), "Bunnydance" (2015), and more. So Space Sheep fits right in.

On the meaning behind the song title "Space Sheep"

"Who names a track 'Space Sheep?' It started all with 'Gecko.' Two years ago I made a song, and I named it 'Gecko' because it was kind of different from everything else. So just one of the weird animals. The first animal that came into my mind was a gecko. Since then, I've made a lot of follow up names. I had 'Koala,' and I had 'Bunnydance.' So then, for this track, I thought 'Space Sheep' would be nice."

Oliver says he was happy to team up with Chocolate Puma on "Space Sheep," and that he had been following the duo's career for a long time. He explains that a few years ago, he made a few collaborations with the guys, and one of them was "Space Sheep."

On collaborating with Chocolate Puma

"It was awesome, because I had been following them since I really got into house music, and they were big examples for me. Then almost two years ago, we started working together, then we made several tracks and we really liked this one, 'Space Sheep.' The track is really drum 'n' bass inspired. So the track has some really heavy big sounds, some weird sounds, big break beats, big percussion, but it's really catchy and groovy, funky and fun and uplifting."

So what else can you expect from Oliver this year? Other than catching him on tour, he tells us he's working on music for his HI-LO alias, which he describes as "a little bit more bass line driven, more underground, sometimes a little bit dark, so working on a lot of stuff like that, which is kind of techno influenced stuff." He's also releasing his official remix of Moby's classic "Go." Additionally, he says, "Lately I've been really inspired by disco, and there's also this new track coming out that's called 'Good Life,' and it's very disco influenced. Very catchy and danceable. I'm always just busy with new music, so you can expect a lot. I'm just getting started."

Oliver also told us three things that you might not know about "Space Sheep" -- plus he drew exactly what Space Sheep look like! (In case you were wondering) Check it out below:

Photos: Rachel Kaplan for iHeartRadio