February 3, 2025 • 17 mins
Celebrating another #1 on the dance charts, the legend Armin van Buuren joined us again on America's Dance 30 to chat all things "Part Of Me"! Armin shared how the song was born w Louis III, how long ago they started working on it, and why he was worried about releasing it. He also talked about his new smash "Euphoria", and how it was born w Alok, Norma Jean Martine, & Lawrent!
We also chatted w Armin about "Pillars of Creation", the visually amazing show he did the end of last year, and an upcoming first for him.. a FACE-TO-FACE set w Maddix!
Armin also put to rest a Google-question about himself, and shared what it's like living in The Netherlands, where he's such a hometown icon.
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
We also chatted w Armin about "Pillars of Creation", the visually amazing show he did the end of last year, and an upcoming first for him.. a FACE-TO-FACE set w Maddix!
Armin also put to rest a Google-question about himself, and shared what it's like living in The Netherlands, where he's such a hometown icon.
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Armand van Buren. We've got so much to catch up on.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Including a visually insane looking show that you just recently did,
a first of yours coming up, a brand news smash
that you've got, and another number one Armand van Buren,
Welcome back to America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
What's going on man, Good to see you again. Dance
counting down the biggest dance songs in the country.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
This is America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now, before we talk about music, I got to tell
you how disappointed I am. So I was in Amsterdam
for my first time ever last year for ADE and
I didn't get the chance to stop by the beautiful
Armada studios.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Oh that's sad. Well, there's always in next here, right,
you really have to come. I really want to show
you around. You're really gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, I really wish that you would have checked with
me first before building it because it's so far from
Amsterdam exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, well, next time you're free to use it if
you ever want to make radio in the Netherlands, you know,
be my guest.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you. I appreciate that. I can't wait to see
it now. Since you are such an icon in the Netherlands.
What is it like for you when you're home? Is
it like celebrities here in the US in Hollywood?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I call myself part time famous, and that means that,
you know, when I get to a club or something,
then yeah, there'd be tons of fans. But especially in
the city where I live. It's a city just south
of Amsterdam's place called Leiden, people don't really bother me.
Like occasionally there may be somebody on the street asking
for a picture, but that's just very rare. You know.
(01:54):
I'd love to go out in my own city, you know,
go to the market or you know, buy some new
genes or whatever. And I can be pretty anonymous here
because people know me here, they kind of accept it.
I've been living here all my life, so I haven't
moved house in fifteen years, so I'm just stuck in
the same place and I feel great here. I feel
very safe, and my family's close by, so it's just
(02:17):
it's a really convenient place to live.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
And this is probably going to be a really stupid question,
but I don't know a lot about the Netherlands.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Is there paparazzi? There is that something you have to
deal with.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
There is there is, and they've been following me around
in Ibiza, funnily enough, but that was years ago, when
my little one was just born, and ever since then,
I don't think I'm that interesting for paparazzi, even though
my name sometimes pops up in these you know, gossip
magazines or whatever, but never in it that way. So
(02:48):
I guess I'm not very attractive to them. It's not
very No, I'm not really a catch. I don't tell
a lot of gossip magazines.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Unfortunately, Well this might start a little gossip. I gotta
tell you.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I don't know if you know this, but when I
was prepping for the chat, I googled Armand van Buren
and the first Google question that came up was.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Is Armand van Buren Iranian? Oh? Really, so let's put
an end to that right now. You are not Iranian.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I'm not. But apparently Armin is a name that's being
used in a lot of Persian countries and Switzerland as well.
I don't know. You have to ask my parents why
they chose that name, because it's really my own original name.
You know, my name is Armin, And yeah, I'm glad
that they did because it's a great brand.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And speaking of your name, something that I learned for
the first time, which I had never known, was that
your real name is actually really long.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, that's my dad. He named me after all my grandfathers,
so after himself, my grandfather, and my great grandfather. So
that's why I have no idea why he did that.
You should call him and ask him.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I'll do that right afterward chatting. Something else I learned
that I didn't know was that I'm actually older than
you are you. Yeah, neither of us, neither of us
look our age. But you were born in December. I
was born in March of the same year. So make
sure to respect your elders.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Arman. Let's talk about music.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Congratulations on another number one with part of Me.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's insane, Honestly, it's insane. It took a while for
the track to take off. It was released end of
last year. And yeah, to see the baby grow. I
already saw a lot of love online, and I saw
a lot of love in my sets. But you never
know how it's gonna go. And now you know, we
saw it rise, and wow, it it keeps rising. That's amazing,
(04:45):
and now it to be there. It's just it's an
incredible honor, and you know, it feels great, honestly.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
And how was the smash born with Louis the third?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Honestly, it was a little bit on the efro house vibe,
but I wanted to give my own twist to it.
So if you can listen, we used a lot of
similar sounds as we did on the production of On
and On, which was my great smash from twenty twenty three.
So I wanted to have sort of a mix between
like a club record and an afro house tracts. You know,
(05:17):
me jumping on the afro house bandwagon would be a
little bit too much out of my league, you know
what I mean. And honestly, I don't really know how
to produce afro house, but I'm very much inspired about
that sound. I really really love that sound. I think
afro house sound is just incredible, And yeah, it inspired
us to write a track that has a similar vibe
(05:38):
yet still has a very arm and vambura and taste
to it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But I got to be honest, it's great having you
an afro house. I mean, you're not the only one
Tiesto did with Tantalizing Now Afrojack and Greg Orsalto, So
there's a lot going on with the afro house trend.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Finally, it's great.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's very inspirational, you know, and this is the way
I like to be in the studio, you know. I
always get inspired by listening to random playlists where I
discover so much new music, and it's actually what keeps
me going. A lot of people ask me what inspires
you after all these years, and I say the current music.
You know, having two radio shows of my own, having
to go through all the promos just gives me so
(06:15):
much inspiration. And then when I walk into a writing
session or a studio session, it's always like it's very easy,
you know, I start playing the songs that I currently
really love. And obviously there's a lot of really really
great afro house tracks last year, and actually I was
a little bit afraid that this track would be too late,
because you know, I was afraid that when we would
release it, the avro house hype would already be gone.
(06:38):
But apparently it's still doing really, really well. It seems
to have a second life at the moment. So I
just feel blessed and honored that this track is getting
so much love. It's really great.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Well, let's talk about another track that's getting love as well.
Your new song Euphoria.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
How was that born with Alock, Norma, Jean Martini, and
Laurent It.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Was the result of a writing session with and Norma G. Martin.
Actually the track was called wonder lust At in the beginning,
and a look had an idea for the vocal as well.
And of course the Beethoven melody for Relize is the
basis of the track. And you know right now is
interpolations are hot. You know, interpolation is kind of a
(07:20):
rework using melodies from the past in current records. And
I was like, it would be a cool twist, especially
because I'm studying piano a lot. I'm doing a lot
of piano lessons. I've started studying pianos seven years ago,
right after my first Grammy nomination. I thought that would
be a cool moment to start learning how to play piano.
(07:41):
And they were one of the first songs you learned
to play on the piano, obviously is Beethoven's for Realiza
because it's like a beginner's track, but it's super beautiful
and the way he did that with the harmonies, So
we use that as the basic foundation for this track
called Euphoria, and obviously Euphoria refers to my DJ sets.
You know, Euphoria is something I'm looking for on the
(08:02):
downs for Norman J. Martin did an incredible job on
the vocal and look, we've actually worked together on a
track in twenty eighteen together with Vini Vici called United,
so it isn't the first time we worked together. But
he's one of the nicest DJs out there. Seriously, he's
so talented. He's extremely popular in Brazil. But aboff all that,
(08:24):
he's just one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet,
because he's so humble and he's always super supportive. And
you know, we met each other backstage at several festivals
and we said, like, you know, let's try and do
another track together. And this is something that happens for
a long time. I couldn't speak about it because I
was like, I'm going to do a really big single
(08:44):
with Alock. And he's so huge in Brazil. You can't
even imagine how many tickets he sells in Brazil. It's incredible.
I think he is like twenty nine million followers on Instagram.
It's insane. But that wasn't the main reason to work
with him. The main reason was that we just have
a personal connection, you know, And it was great to
work with him as well, and obviously that helps the
(09:06):
track a lot. But yeah, it was great to premiere
a track together at Tomorrowland in Brazil. It was actually
a funny story because he wasn't playing on the day
that I was playing Tomorrowland, Brazil, so I think I
was playing on the Friday and he was supposed to
play on the Saturday. Yet he flew in especially to
be on stage with me. So I think that is
(09:27):
a that shows you that it is he's such an
amazing character. You know.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, you mentioned that you couldn't announce the collab. How
long ago did you guys start working on it?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Well, secretly, I'm always working with a lot of famous names,
but in reality, a lot of them fall through. And
this is a sad thing, you know, And I don't
want to mention anything on air here that like, oh,
I'm working with such and such, and then you're going
to be like in a few months you're going to
be like, hey, what happened with that collab with such
and such? And then it doesn't happen. So the thing
(09:58):
I hate the most is disappoint my fans. So I
only announced a collaboration after the contracts are signed. It's
a bit boring, I know, but that's kind of how
the game is played, because you know, I really hate
to disappoint people, and.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I got to be honest with you, I totally feel that,
not on that level, but lately we've had a couple
of guests on America's Dan's thirty that haven't been able
to follow through after I've announced it on the show
the week prior. And yeah, it's the same thing. It's
so frustrating it happens.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
You know, it's a music industry. You know, you may
have a great vibe with someone in the studio and
you may write an amazing song, Yet sometimes that track
doesn't see the light of day, and it has to
do with lawyers, it has to do with you know,
release schedules, and I mean, just as we speak right now,
there's another text coming in about a track that I
(10:48):
wrote a year ago, and you know, the girl I
worked with doesn't want to stay on the record with
her name, So you know, it's like that. So if
I would have mentioned that her name to you right
now now, she would be upset, you know, And I
have to take all these you know things into account.
I don't want to step on any toes and you know.
But honestly, I want to say, like seven out of
(11:10):
ten tracks still see the light of day sooner or
later anyway. So there's not a lot of stuff that
you know is still on the shelf. Of course, there's
always a few tracks that fall through. But yeah, I'm
working on a lot of exciting things at the moment.
I'm just super happy. I took two months off in
my DJ's schedule. I've never been more fits. I lost weight,
I feel great. I have so much new music. I mean, honestly,
(11:34):
get ready for a lot of releases in twenty twenty five.
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Now on songs like that that you know have situations
where they might not come out with the original singer
or original producer or whatever. Do you revisit those or
do you completely shelve them?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Well, in my experience, everything that I do always gets
used in some way. You know. Some tracks just stay
on the shelf for years until they get released, and
some get released in like a month, you know, And
that's really but you always have to take the rights
and the work of other people into account. That's just
the way it is, and sometimes it's frustrating. I'm not
(12:23):
gonna lie. I have a few songs that will never
see the light of day that are so incredible, but
the name on it was you know, the label just
doesn't give you permission. But again, I'm very lucky to
be in this position because most people just say yes
and are comfortable with me releasing the songs.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Gotcha, Well, congratulations on part of me. Going number one,
congratulations on Euphoria. Let's talk about this recent show that
you did was which was visually amazing, this Pillars of Creation,
not only the led pillars, but also the eight hundred drones.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
How did this show come together?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Pitters of Creation is a concept I've been I had
in my head for years already. This is one of
those ideas, and we never really had the budget nor
the place in the diary to put the test that
show out. So what we kind of did is we
kind of put everything together the way that we wanted
and the way that we envisioned it. We put it
in which is one of the seven emirates in the
(13:24):
United Arab Emirates. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the most known,
but there's another one just above Dubai and it's called
Rama and they're building a huge casino there now and
that's going to be the new hotspot. So we thought
it would be a super cool idea to do the
first big DJ show in But and then immediately start
(13:44):
with the Piters of Creation concept. And the idea of
the concept of the concept is that I'm standing in
the middle of a big circle surrounded by pillars, and
the people are not dancing in front of me like
normally at a festival whatever, but they're around me, so
you have a much closer connection to the crowd, which
is something I've been testing in recent gigs as well,
(14:04):
also in Ibiza and several other stages, and I love
having the crowd around me because it gives more of
that club feel. I don't really like the you know,
the God is a DJ kind of thing, that there's
a distinction between the DJ and and the crowd so much.
I like to be that the part the crowd feels
part of the show. So that's the idea of Pillars
(14:25):
of Creation. The show is literally around you, and then
the drones of course add to the LED experience.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
There was this one shot you could see how massive
the drones were compared to your guys area.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, it's crazy, Like they really went all out. I
thought it would just be like two hundred drones or something,
but they went all out. They said like, oh, yeah,
we're flying in more drones and there was Actually it
was quite interesting because they got held up at customs,
you know, because drones are a thing now, especially with
the whole Ukraine situation. So but now fortunately they let
(15:01):
them through and we were able to use all the
drones in the show. And it was I've never did
I've never done a show with eight hundred drones. It
was insane.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Seriously, it looked it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, let's talk about another first that you've got coming up,
this face to face set you're going to be doing
with Maddix. When you're doing a set like that, when
you're prepping for it, do you have to completely plan
it out since you're not going to know what each
other is playing? Or is it like a normal back
to back where it's just going to be on the fly.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
No, it's it's going to be a mix between a
normal back to back and something new because we're going
to face each other. It's like a fight, you know,
almost and uh, and that's going to be very interesting
because normally I'm able to look on a CDJs and
I can look what he's playing exactly. Now I can't
do that, so we have we have to figure out
a way to mix that. And I don't like back
(15:50):
to back sets to be completely pre programmed because it
kind of takes away from the specialty of of something
like that. It's it's it's a unique thing. Fortunately, I
was able to rotest being back to back with Meddix.
He did a solo, eleven hour solo show during the
Amsterdam Dance event in October and he played back to
back with I think like ten other DJs and I
(16:13):
was just one of them, and the vibe was incredible.
I think there's images of that online. And it was
so smooth because he was super busy, he had nine
other back to backs to prepare, and we just had
a brief chat and we send each other some tracks
on dropbox, we shared some links. That was it. So
we spent like half an hour and it just felt
(16:34):
like it was so organic. But for the face to
face that we want to do something a little bit
more than just preparing like that, so we actually went
into the studio created a track together. He already did
an incredible remix of one of my songs called Computer
Sake Over the World, and of course we're going to
premiere that track during the set, so it's going to
be a special moment for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I don't know if I've ever seen two DJs playing
face to face like that.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
No, it's kind of a new concept, and uh, I'm
a little nervous about it, but yeah, you know, you
have to try some new stuff like bidness of creation,
like face to face. Like you know, I'm all doing
all kinds of new things, which takes me a little
bit out of my comfort zone. But I think that's
the whole point. You know, you got to do stuff
out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Sometimes, absolutely, and that leads to the euphoria that you
were talking about exactly. Well, congratulations on everything upcoming, Congratulations
on another number one with part of me, armand Van Buren,
thank you so much for your time with us on
America's Dan's thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Thank you so much. I feel so blessed, and thanks
again for all the support you guys are giving me, Brian,
it really really means a lot of stuff. Answer. Counting
down the biggest dance songs in the country AM America's
Dance thirty
Armand van Buren. We've got so much to catch up on.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Including a visually insane looking show that you just recently did,
a first of yours coming up, a brand news smash
that you've got, and another number one Armand van Buren,
Welcome back to America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
What's going on man, Good to see you again. Dance
counting down the biggest dance songs in the country.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
This is America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Now, before we talk about music, I got to tell
you how disappointed I am. So I was in Amsterdam
for my first time ever last year for ADE and
I didn't get the chance to stop by the beautiful
Armada studios.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Oh that's sad. Well, there's always in next here, right,
you really have to come. I really want to show
you around. You're really gonna love it.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, I really wish that you would have checked with
me first before building it because it's so far from
Amsterdam exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, well, next time you're free to use it if
you ever want to make radio in the Netherlands, you know,
be my guest.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Thank you. I appreciate that. I can't wait to see
it now. Since you are such an icon in the Netherlands.
What is it like for you when you're home? Is
it like celebrities here in the US in Hollywood?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I call myself part time famous, and that means that,
you know, when I get to a club or something,
then yeah, there'd be tons of fans. But especially in
the city where I live. It's a city just south
of Amsterdam's place called Leiden, people don't really bother me.
Like occasionally there may be somebody on the street asking
for a picture, but that's just very rare. You know.
(01:54):
I'd love to go out in my own city, you know,
go to the market or you know, buy some new
genes or whatever. And I can be pretty anonymous here
because people know me here, they kind of accept it.
I've been living here all my life, so I haven't
moved house in fifteen years, so I'm just stuck in
the same place and I feel great here. I feel
very safe, and my family's close by, so it's just
(02:17):
it's a really convenient place to live.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
And this is probably going to be a really stupid question,
but I don't know a lot about the Netherlands.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Is there paparazzi? There is that something you have to
deal with.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
There is there is, and they've been following me around
in Ibiza, funnily enough, but that was years ago, when
my little one was just born, and ever since then,
I don't think I'm that interesting for paparazzi, even though
my name sometimes pops up in these you know, gossip
magazines or whatever, but never in it that way. So
(02:48):
I guess I'm not very attractive to them. It's not
very No, I'm not really a catch. I don't tell
a lot of gossip magazines.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Unfortunately, Well this might start a little gossip. I gotta
tell you.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I don't know if you know this, but when I
was prepping for the chat, I googled Armand van Buren
and the first Google question that came up was.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Is Armand van Buren Iranian? Oh? Really, so let's put
an end to that right now. You are not Iranian.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
I'm not. But apparently Armin is a name that's being
used in a lot of Persian countries and Switzerland as well.
I don't know. You have to ask my parents why
they chose that name, because it's really my own original name.
You know, my name is Armin, And yeah, I'm glad
that they did because it's a great brand.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And speaking of your name, something that I learned for
the first time, which I had never known, was that
your real name is actually really long.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, that's my dad. He named me after all my grandfathers,
so after himself, my grandfather, and my great grandfather. So
that's why I have no idea why he did that.
You should call him and ask him.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I'll do that right afterward chatting. Something else I learned
that I didn't know was that I'm actually older than
you are you. Yeah, neither of us, neither of us
look our age. But you were born in December. I
was born in March of the same year. So make
sure to respect your elders.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Arman. Let's talk about music.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Congratulations on another number one with part of Me.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
It's insane, Honestly, it's insane. It took a while for
the track to take off. It was released end of
last year. And yeah, to see the baby grow. I
already saw a lot of love online, and I saw
a lot of love in my sets. But you never
know how it's gonna go. And now you know, we
saw it rise, and wow, it it keeps rising. That's amazing,
(04:45):
and now it to be there. It's just it's an
incredible honor, and you know, it feels great, honestly.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
And how was the smash born with Louis the third?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Honestly, it was a little bit on the efro house vibe,
but I wanted to give my own twist to it.
So if you can listen, we used a lot of
similar sounds as we did on the production of On
and On, which was my great smash from twenty twenty three.
So I wanted to have sort of a mix between
like a club record and an afro house tracts. You know,
(05:17):
me jumping on the afro house bandwagon would be a
little bit too much out of my league, you know
what I mean. And honestly, I don't really know how
to produce afro house, but I'm very much inspired about
that sound. I really really love that sound. I think
afro house sound is just incredible, And yeah, it inspired
us to write a track that has a similar vibe
(05:38):
yet still has a very arm and vambura and taste
to it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But I got to be honest, it's great having you
an afro house. I mean, you're not the only one
Tiesto did with Tantalizing Now Afrojack and Greg Orsalto, So
there's a lot going on with the afro house trend.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Finally, it's great.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
It's very inspirational, you know, and this is the way
I like to be in the studio, you know. I
always get inspired by listening to random playlists where I
discover so much new music, and it's actually what keeps
me going. A lot of people ask me what inspires
you after all these years, and I say the current music.
You know, having two radio shows of my own, having
to go through all the promos just gives me so
(06:15):
much inspiration. And then when I walk into a writing
session or a studio session, it's always like it's very easy,
you know, I start playing the songs that I currently
really love. And obviously there's a lot of really really
great afro house tracks last year, and actually I was
a little bit afraid that this track would be too late,
because you know, I was afraid that when we would
release it, the avro house hype would already be gone.
(06:38):
But apparently it's still doing really, really well. It seems
to have a second life at the moment. So I
just feel blessed and honored that this track is getting
so much love. It's really great.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Well, let's talk about another track that's getting love as well.
Your new song Euphoria.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
How was that born with Alock, Norma, Jean Martini, and
Laurent It.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Was the result of a writing session with and Norma G. Martin.
Actually the track was called wonder lust At in the beginning,
and a look had an idea for the vocal as well.
And of course the Beethoven melody for Relize is the
basis of the track. And you know right now is
interpolations are hot. You know, interpolation is kind of a
(07:20):
rework using melodies from the past in current records. And
I was like, it would be a cool twist, especially
because I'm studying piano a lot. I'm doing a lot
of piano lessons. I've started studying pianos seven years ago,
right after my first Grammy nomination. I thought that would
be a cool moment to start learning how to play piano.
(07:41):
And they were one of the first songs you learned
to play on the piano, obviously is Beethoven's for Realiza
because it's like a beginner's track, but it's super beautiful
and the way he did that with the harmonies, So
we use that as the basic foundation for this track
called Euphoria, and obviously Euphoria refers to my DJ sets.
You know, Euphoria is something I'm looking for on the
(08:02):
downs for Norman J. Martin did an incredible job on
the vocal and look, we've actually worked together on a
track in twenty eighteen together with Vini Vici called United,
so it isn't the first time we worked together. But
he's one of the nicest DJs out there. Seriously, he's
so talented. He's extremely popular in Brazil. But aboff all that,
(08:24):
he's just one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet,
because he's so humble and he's always super supportive. And
you know, we met each other backstage at several festivals
and we said, like, you know, let's try and do
another track together. And this is something that happens for
a long time. I couldn't speak about it because I
was like, I'm going to do a really big single
(08:44):
with Alock. And he's so huge in Brazil. You can't
even imagine how many tickets he sells in Brazil. It's incredible.
I think he is like twenty nine million followers on Instagram.
It's insane. But that wasn't the main reason to work
with him. The main reason was that we just have
a personal connection, you know, And it was great to
work with him as well, and obviously that helps the
(09:06):
track a lot. But yeah, it was great to premiere
a track together at Tomorrowland in Brazil. It was actually
a funny story because he wasn't playing on the day
that I was playing Tomorrowland, Brazil, so I think I
was playing on the Friday and he was supposed to
play on the Saturday. Yet he flew in especially to
be on stage with me. So I think that is
(09:27):
a that shows you that it is he's such an
amazing character. You know.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, you mentioned that you couldn't announce the collab. How
long ago did you guys start working on it?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Well, secretly, I'm always working with a lot of famous names,
but in reality, a lot of them fall through. And
this is a sad thing, you know, And I don't
want to mention anything on air here that like, oh,
I'm working with such and such, and then you're going
to be like in a few months you're going to
be like, hey, what happened with that collab with such
and such? And then it doesn't happen. So the thing
(09:58):
I hate the most is disappoint my fans. So I
only announced a collaboration after the contracts are signed. It's
a bit boring, I know, but that's kind of how
the game is played, because you know, I really hate
to disappoint people, and.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I got to be honest with you, I totally feel that,
not on that level, but lately we've had a couple
of guests on America's Dan's thirty that haven't been able
to follow through after I've announced it on the show
the week prior. And yeah, it's the same thing. It's
so frustrating it happens.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
You know, it's a music industry. You know, you may
have a great vibe with someone in the studio and
you may write an amazing song, Yet sometimes that track
doesn't see the light of day, and it has to
do with lawyers, it has to do with you know,
release schedules, and I mean, just as we speak right now,
there's another text coming in about a track that I
(10:48):
wrote a year ago, and you know, the girl I
worked with doesn't want to stay on the record with
her name, So you know, it's like that. So if
I would have mentioned that her name to you right
now now, she would be upset, you know, And I
have to take all these you know things into account.
I don't want to step on any toes and you know.
But honestly, I want to say, like seven out of
(11:10):
ten tracks still see the light of day sooner or
later anyway. So there's not a lot of stuff that
you know is still on the shelf. Of course, there's
always a few tracks that fall through. But yeah, I'm
working on a lot of exciting things at the moment.
I'm just super happy. I took two months off in
my DJ's schedule. I've never been more fits. I lost weight,
I feel great. I have so much new music. I mean, honestly,
(11:34):
get ready for a lot of releases in twenty twenty five.
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Now on songs like that that you know have situations
where they might not come out with the original singer
or original producer or whatever. Do you revisit those or
do you completely shelve them?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Well, in my experience, everything that I do always gets
used in some way. You know. Some tracks just stay
on the shelf for years until they get released, and
some get released in like a month, you know, And
that's really but you always have to take the rights
and the work of other people into account. That's just
the way it is, and sometimes it's frustrating. I'm not
(12:23):
gonna lie. I have a few songs that will never
see the light of day that are so incredible, but
the name on it was you know, the label just
doesn't give you permission. But again, I'm very lucky to
be in this position because most people just say yes
and are comfortable with me releasing the songs.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Gotcha, Well, congratulations on part of me. Going number one,
congratulations on Euphoria. Let's talk about this recent show that
you did was which was visually amazing, this Pillars of Creation,
not only the led pillars, but also the eight hundred drones.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
How did this show come together?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Pitters of Creation is a concept I've been I had
in my head for years already. This is one of
those ideas, and we never really had the budget nor
the place in the diary to put the test that
show out. So what we kind of did is we
kind of put everything together the way that we wanted
and the way that we envisioned it. We put it
in which is one of the seven emirates in the
(13:24):
United Arab Emirates. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the most known,
but there's another one just above Dubai and it's called
Rama and they're building a huge casino there now and
that's going to be the new hotspot. So we thought
it would be a super cool idea to do the
first big DJ show in But and then immediately start
(13:44):
with the Piters of Creation concept. And the idea of
the concept of the concept is that I'm standing in
the middle of a big circle surrounded by pillars, and
the people are not dancing in front of me like
normally at a festival whatever, but they're around me, so
you have a much closer connection to the crowd, which
is something I've been testing in recent gigs as well,
(14:04):
also in Ibiza and several other stages, and I love
having the crowd around me because it gives more of
that club feel. I don't really like the you know,
the God is a DJ kind of thing, that there's
a distinction between the DJ and and the crowd so much.
I like to be that the part the crowd feels
part of the show. So that's the idea of Pillars
(14:25):
of Creation. The show is literally around you, and then
the drones of course add to the LED experience.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
There was this one shot you could see how massive
the drones were compared to your guys area.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, it's crazy, Like they really went all out. I
thought it would just be like two hundred drones or something,
but they went all out. They said like, oh, yeah,
we're flying in more drones and there was Actually it
was quite interesting because they got held up at customs,
you know, because drones are a thing now, especially with
the whole Ukraine situation. So but now fortunately they let
(15:01):
them through and we were able to use all the
drones in the show. And it was I've never did
I've never done a show with eight hundred drones. It
was insane.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Seriously, it looked it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, let's talk about another first that you've got coming up,
this face to face set you're going to be doing
with Maddix. When you're doing a set like that, when
you're prepping for it, do you have to completely plan
it out since you're not going to know what each
other is playing? Or is it like a normal back
to back where it's just going to be on the fly.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
No, it's it's going to be a mix between a
normal back to back and something new because we're going
to face each other. It's like a fight, you know,
almost and uh, and that's going to be very interesting
because normally I'm able to look on a CDJs and
I can look what he's playing exactly. Now I can't
do that, so we have we have to figure out
a way to mix that. And I don't like back
(15:50):
to back sets to be completely pre programmed because it
kind of takes away from the specialty of of something
like that. It's it's it's a unique thing. Fortunately, I
was able to rotest being back to back with Meddix.
He did a solo, eleven hour solo show during the
Amsterdam Dance event in October and he played back to
back with I think like ten other DJs and I
(16:13):
was just one of them, and the vibe was incredible.
I think there's images of that online. And it was
so smooth because he was super busy, he had nine
other back to backs to prepare, and we just had
a brief chat and we send each other some tracks
on dropbox, we shared some links. That was it. So
we spent like half an hour and it just felt
(16:34):
like it was so organic. But for the face to
face that we want to do something a little bit
more than just preparing like that, so we actually went
into the studio created a track together. He already did
an incredible remix of one of my songs called Computer
Sake Over the World, and of course we're going to
premiere that track during the set, so it's going to
be a special moment for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I don't know if I've ever seen two DJs playing
face to face like that.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
No, it's kind of a new concept, and uh, I'm
a little nervous about it, but yeah, you know, you
have to try some new stuff like bidness of creation,
like face to face. Like you know, I'm all doing
all kinds of new things, which takes me a little
bit out of my comfort zone. But I think that's
the whole point. You know, you got to do stuff
out of your comfort zone.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Sometimes, absolutely, and that leads to the euphoria that you
were talking about exactly. Well, congratulations on everything upcoming, Congratulations
on another number one with part of me, armand Van Buren,
thank you so much for your time with us on
America's Dan's thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Thank you so much. I feel so blessed, and thanks
again for all the support you guys are giving me, Brian,
it really really means a lot of stuff. Answer. Counting
down the biggest dance songs in the country AM America's
Dance thirty
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