July 21, 2025 • 21 mins
It has been years in the making... the icon Calvin Harris finally joins us for the first time on America's Dance 30! Celebrating his smash "Blessings" w Clementine Douglas going #1 on the dance charts, Calvin shares how the song was born, how many different Vs there were of the song before its release, and who was ALMOST singing on it.
Calvin also answers a question he has never been asked before, shares how he decides whether he's gonna sing on a song or have someone else as the vocalist, AND we get to know him better w #FinkysFirsts!
Find out about:
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!
Calvin also answers a question he has never been asked before, shares how he decides whether he's gonna sing on a song or have someone else as the vocalist, AND we get to know him better w #FinkysFirsts!
Find out about:
- if music was the first thing he wanted to get into growing up
- if 'Calvin Harris' was his first choice for an artist project name, and where the name came from
- the first dance song that made him fall in love w EDM
- his first time performing for a crowd
- the first thing he feels blessed for
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):
Calvin, we're going to be chatting all about your smash
blessings coming up. We're going to get to know you
a little better coming up and ask you a question
that you have possibly never been asked before. Calvin Harris,
Welcome to America's Dance thirty for the first time.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello there, How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I know you are beyond insane and don't do a
lot of interviews, so I greatly appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's nice to be here. The dance.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Counting down the biggest dance songs in the country. This
is America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Now do you want me calling you Calvin or do
you want me calling you Adam?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I think probably to avoid confusion, Calvin makes more sense.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yep. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I just wanted to make sure because I read somewhere
that you didn't necessarily like to be called Calvin, So
I just wanted to check.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Well, not like by my wife or my mom, but
for professional reasons. It just makes more sense, doesn't it.
I mean, it can get confused in other ways.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So what you're saying is we're not BFFs yet.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Maybe after the interview we'll see no pressure.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, congratulations on the incredible success of Blessings with Clementine Douglas.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Thanks Brian. Yeah, I love it. I love this track.
Probably my favorite thing I've done in a while.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, I can't wait to talk about how this smash
was born coming up. But first, since this is your
first time on America's Dan's thirty, let's get to know
Calvin Harris a little better with Finkey's first.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Now, I also know you've been doing this a long time,
so I apologize in advance. If you've been asked these
questions a thousand times, go for it.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I'm ready. I'm ready now.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I always love finding out the origin story of artists.
I read that you actually fell in love with dance
music when you were in your teens, but when you
were growing up? Was music the first thing that you
wanted to get into or was there something else you
wanted to be when you grew up?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I don't remember anything else that I wanted to be
or do. I didn't really know music job though, to
be honest with you, I was one of those people
that didn't really have a skill set in anything or
any kind of talent. So all I knew for sure
was that I really liked music and I liked listening
(02:34):
to it, But until I was maybe fourteen or fifteen,
I had no clue that I could maybe pursue that
as a.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Job sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Well, thank god it worked out for you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
But me, yeah, yeah, thank god for me.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Now, thinking back to the beginning, when you were trying
to decide on an artist project name, was Calvin Harris?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Your first choice? Were the other names you were considering?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I had many, many, many names.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I had one that was Stufa, which was named after
a cartoon cat actually a pop hit cat on a
on a comedy show over in the UK. I also
had Jimmy Bones, which I think lives in the same
sort of world as Calvin Harris. But it just yeah,
there were there were, There were a few. Those are
(03:25):
the two that I can remember off the top of
my head. But for every kind of because I was
experimenting with styles of music and all different kinds of things,
but every different style I did sort of different name,
try and get a record deal, and that eventually this
one just sort of stuck, even though the music evolved,
and just I just felt like the name was kind
(03:46):
of it rolled off the tongue. Well, better than my
real name, so I stuck with it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You know, I can't foresee the future, but I don't
think you would have had a career if you did
go with Stuffers or whatever that was.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I would reluctantly agree. I think a name is a
name is very important.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And where did Calvin Harris actually come from?
Speaker 4 (04:08):
So one of my favorite producers at the time was
Andre Harris, and he'd made a Glenn Lewis album. This
is this is like, this is like soul music, and
Calvin I used to I have like twenty Calvin and
Hobbes books, you know those cartoons absolutely, and that name
(04:30):
all all kind of always just kind of resonated with
me as a as A as a fun name, as
I as just a I don't know, it makes me.
It made me feel good to be maybe called that
and sort of embody that that kid.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, it's an iconic name, so I'm glad you came
up with it. Now, besides blessings with Clementine Douglass, you've
got some iconic songs. If I mentioned them all, we
would be here until twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
But you know, one of my thirst mention.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
All right, let's see flashback which is still one of
my favorites, and I think one of your most underrated songs. Uh,
there's iron I'm trying to think of like the the
Distant exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I'm trying to think the distant ones. Okay, bounce.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, I'm going from least popular to the most popular.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Just because they're the least popular, it doesn't mean they're
not my favorites.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Those are iconics.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I love them.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Do you remember the first dance song that made you
fall in love with ed?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
M Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Actually, let me think about that, because I was. I
was I was sort of getting CD singles of in
Europe in the UK. There were a lot of novelty
dance songs in the in the sort of mid to
late nineties, and I enjoyed them a lot, but I
wouldn't say that it was a life changing thing, you know,
(06:00):
but there was. The most obvious one is star Dust
Music Sounds Better with You, which I heard on holiday
within the UK. It see my grand when I was fourteen.
It was nineteen ninety eight and it was being absolutely
rinsed on the radio and I just heard it everywhere
I went. And you know, this was back in the
day where radio stations would play songs before they came out,
(06:23):
so I remember waiting for this song to come out,
and it was so magical. Nobody really knew who it was,
and there was no video and there was no real
kind of the artwork was just black with sort of
gold writing. It was all just very mysterious. And I
remember when I found out it was the lad from
Daft Punk, and Alan Brack's thought, oh cool, you can
(06:44):
just call yourself a different name and make a song
and then carry and then bangs on the next one.
I liked the sort of anonymity aspect of it as well.
I like the mystery as well as the music, which
was obviously unreal. So I think that's what kind of
(07:05):
got my brain taken in terms of, oh, how to
present something as well as how to make a song.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And it's still a classic. I mean they just used
it for the July fourth celebration. It still sounds good. Yeah,
it still sounds so.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Good, unbelievable. Yeah, it's just one of them. It's the
production quality is so high. It's just going to be
around forever.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, as you mentioned, you're in Ibitha right now, you've
been performing all over the world. But do you remember
the first time you ever performed for a crowd?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Oh? Yeah, I used to perform with the band. I
used to sing all the songs. My first two albums.
I sung all the songs until I'd exhausted that particular.
But yeah, so my first show in front of people,
I certainly wasn't DJing.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I was singing. It was a It was pretty big
for a first gig.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
It was like a five hundred cap venue in Scotland
called King Tut's wa wah Hut and it's in Glasgow.
And I was absolutely when I say I was nervous.
I decided I was going to wear all these colorful hoodies.
I were talking two thousand and six, two thousand and seven,
so this is very much electoral clash era. And I
(08:29):
decided my thing was going to be wearing this hoodie.
And in this venue there was no air conditioning. I
was wearing this thick woole, multi colored thing, and I
was sweating. I was trying to sing. I was trying
to I didn't engage with the crowd. Once it was
it was, I was so.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
It must have been awful to watch. I was just like,
they just get through this gig. But yeah, no, I
remember that pretty clearly. But it went well.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
I mean in the I didn't make any mistakes, but god,
it was terrifying. That's when I knew my days were
not But as far as singing in front of a crowd.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Way now, when you're performing and you put in one
of your songs that you are singing, do you ever
sing live with them?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
No?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
No, I sing I sing along like the crowd sings along,
but I don't sing along down the mic. The thing
I like about recorded music is that it's absolutely perfect.
I like I kind of like that aspect of it.
As far as my particular voice goes. I want to
be able to do five hundred takes and pick the
(09:43):
best one, and I reserve the right to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So that's what I do with me.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Well, I'll tell you sound perfect on the songs that
you sing on, so please keep doing it, even if
it takes you five hundred takes.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I can tell you thank you. But it was a
lot of work.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
I bear now complete side note, You're going to be
performing at a festival coming up called Rise Festival. Literally,
when I was walking into the building today, one of
the girls that I work with. Stephanie mentioned that she's
going to be seeing you. Have you ever done that
festival before?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
No?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
No, in fact, I've not heard of it. It looks
absolutely incredible.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, well you released the Chinese lanterns.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, it sort of looks like it's not real. I
had a few messages after the announcement saying, is this
an AI festival? Are you really doing this? So no,
it seems like it's it's definitely legit, Like it just
looks really amazing. So yeah, I'm doing that soon. I'm excited.
I've never done anything quite like that before.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, that should definitely be amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Well, finally, in Thinkey's first, in honor of the incredible
success of Blessings, if I mentioned what's the first thing
you feel blessed for?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
What would come to mind?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Oh? I just feel like I'm super blessed to be
still being able to make music and this being a
kind of thing that I can do on a daily basis.
You know, before I was talking to you, I'm doing this,
working on this extended mix of my next song.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It's just fun.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
I just like like doing this stuff, and that's the
That's the first thing that comes to my mind right now,
because I was just doing that and having a good time,
you know, and then the all all the things that
come along with that, you know, the travel and meeting
so many different people, getting to work with so many
different people, being exposed to different cultures, I think is
(11:34):
really important and really just kind of enriching.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Well, speaking of your music, let's talk about this smash.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
How was Blessings born? With Clementine Douglass.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
So I was actually I was here like this time
last year, and I was kind of messing around with
musical ideas and I had one and it was just
sitting on my computer, and then I kind of came
went back to London. I got all these guitars. I
went through a grateful dead obsession and I started buying
all the all their favorite guitars that they liked, like
(12:06):
the all the different ones. And then I started making
loads of guitar things. And then once I'd learned how
to make these guitars sound really good, I thought, well
I should put it to actual good use, like on
a good song. And instead of what I was making,
and I had this riff, I thought, right, cool, I'm
going to replay it on this on this guitar and
(12:27):
see how it sounds, and it sounded absolutely unreal. For
a while, I actually tried to make my voice work
on this track and it was not working. And then Clementine,
who I didn't know what all, had never met, but
two of her songs, I was like, I really love
I think she's got an amazing sort of expression in
(12:48):
her voice and style of singing that's very unique. And
I thought, well, this, this, this could work, you know,
with this, with this riff, I feel like the riff
is the thing, but I need an excellent vocal, like
an interesting vocal to support it. And literally I sent
it over to her, reached out. She luckily got back
(13:09):
to me. I've I sent it over to her.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Within.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I didn't know she was a producer as well, right,
I just thought she was a singer just to sing,
an amazing singer. But she'd sent back two different songs,
all clean vocal with effects EQ mixed the whole thing.
I dropped the thing onto the track and it was
done like that is so, I don't know if it's
(13:35):
like the new generation of people that work like that
now or if she's literally a genius unicorn.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
She's definitely a Unicorn.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
I've never I can say hand on her all the
people that I've worked with, I've worked with a lot
of people. That was the most I felt guilty. It
was so easy that it sounded so good. Like usually
usually to make a vocal sound good for me anyway,
it's like a real journey from getting the raw file
(14:09):
to get in something that actually sounds, you know, good
on the track. But she's got it down, she's got
the mic change, she's got the mic.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
She knows she sounds good. I guess the way in
which she sings it.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
She knows. She just knows. And that's it. And so
that was really unbelievable. And then the track was done.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
It kind of blows my mind on two facets of it.
One that you guys had never worked together before, and
two how amazing she is. When I found out how
many songs she's behind, it is so incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, she's been on an amazing run.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
She's had some really really incredible songs which are really
driven by her as well. It's not just she singing
someone else's song like this is this is her. It
is her song, and it's and you know, the productions
worked up or whatever, but that, again, I think is
unusual and should be uh, should be talked about because
(15:17):
that's a proper it's a proper talent.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Now, something I love to find out about songs is
how many different versions there are of a song, from
when you start working on it, all the tweaking that
goes on to when you finally put it out mastered.
Do you remember when the final V was of Blessings?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yeah, it took me absolutely ages. There were two distinct versions,
and there was one which was sort of messy but
probably would have sounded better live. And there was one
which I went in like a surgeon and made sure
everything was like high hats were so tight and crispy
(15:56):
and clap was It was just, you know, it's sounding
good on a phone, it's sounding good on a mac,
sounding good on a bad phone, bad headphones, good headphones,
bad car, good car radio live life was actually my
last thought in that process. You know, it's sounding good
(16:17):
on streaming, sounding good if you put it on people.
So that's that's what But usually I mean, it sounds obvious,
but usually i'd already do that. Usually usually I kind
of get something that sounds good in studio or I
test it on, you know, something in my car or something.
I'm like, yeah, it's good. Not that I'm lazy, but
if I like it, it must be good. Right right
(16:39):
this time wrong, this time, I thought, yeah, I'm gonna
I'm gonna make sure this is this is, this is
fool proof, you know, and it's gonna work on everything.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
And to be honest, that's how I used to work.
And maybe I.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Got a little bit lazy over the last five years,
let's say. And now I'm back on it, so I'm
grateful for that. Sometimes you need a little push just
to get back to all right, let's really make sure
this sounds really really good.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well it does sound really really good. Now, as you mentioned,
you tried singing on it, and you sing on your songs.
How do you decide what's gonna be a song better
suited for Calvin Harris or better suited to be sung
by somebody else.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I try and sing on everything, and then when it
doesn't work, I move on. As simple as that, I try,
and I always try, because I mean definitely how I
used to do it. When I would be writing lyrics
as well, even for other people.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I would try me on it.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
And then if I thought on other suits of female
voice much better, which, to be honest, nine times out
of tenant does I'll go down that road and try
and write it. So that's just a process that I
go through and then usually sometimes an interesting so a
melody will come out of it, an interesting idea, and
even if I don't use it on that song, I
(18:10):
can use on something now, So that's just kind of
the thing. But yeah, with this one, I tried a
lot of stuff and it wasn't working, so I thought, right,
pivot to someone who can sing immediately.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Well, congratulations on it. The incredible success of Blessings. It
is such a smash. Before I let you go, I
asked chat Ept to give me a question that Calvin
Harris has never been asked before, So I gotta test
this out, all right. Yeah, Now, if you had to
trade your entire discog for the ability to speak to animals,
(18:51):
which animal would you speak to first?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Now? Do you mean speak English to animals?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Because I think animals are quite intuitive in the I've
got chickens, right, and I honestly think I can communicate
with them and they communicate with me. We're not necessarily speaking,
I mean, we're certainly they're certainly not speaking the same
language English, certainly not speaking English. But I do know,
I do know what they're saying. With that being said,
(19:21):
and I feel the same way about dogs. Maybe maybe
not so much with the smaller animals, maybe not so
much with the cats. The cats, I mean, you get
an idea of what a cat's about, but the dog
very obvious, the chicken very obvious.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
To me.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
I've not spent enough time with your cows and your horses,
so I think maybe I would, I would pick. But
what I trade myndsire cow is the real question, And Jenny,
I don't think that I would. So what I'm doing here, Brian,
is I'm going through the animals that I feel like
I would want to speak to worth giving up, and
(20:00):
then on from that, would I then trade the discography?
And honestly, I can't think of one that I want
to hear from to that degree of desperation. I suppose
I think the animals that I'm around, I feel like
I've got a fairly good sort of understanding of what
they're about.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So I suppose the answer is no.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
See I'm a proud cat dad.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And there's been a lot lately about how chat GPT
is actually working that you could understand your cat. I
don't know if I want to understand him, like I
get him, but besides him, like if he was unhealthy,
then yes, I would want to understand him.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Other than that, I don't want to hear his bitching.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
No, you're right, you know they're more intuitive than us.
If anything, language has kind of devolved us in that
we're not so connected to our actual feelings and thoughts
like animals are. You know, we can disguise things with language,
whereas animals, I feel like, are they just tell you
(21:08):
in the moment, And I think that's a that's a
great talent we could actually we could learn.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
We can to speak absolutely learn from them.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Calvin Harris, congratulations on everything that's been going on for you.
Thank you so much for your time with us on
America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Thanks so much for having me. Brian really appreciate it. Now.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Can I call you Adam or is it still Calvin?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
It's it's Adam all Fair, all Fair.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
America's thirty Counting down the biggest dance songs in the country.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
America's Dance thirty
Calvin, we're going to be chatting all about your smash
blessings coming up. We're going to get to know you
a little better coming up and ask you a question
that you have possibly never been asked before. Calvin Harris,
Welcome to America's Dance thirty for the first time.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello there, How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I know you are beyond insane and don't do a
lot of interviews, so I greatly appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's nice to be here. The dance.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Counting down the biggest dance songs in the country. This
is America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Now do you want me calling you Calvin or do
you want me calling you Adam?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I think probably to avoid confusion, Calvin makes more sense.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yep. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I just wanted to make sure because I read somewhere
that you didn't necessarily like to be called Calvin, So
I just wanted to check.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Well, not like by my wife or my mom, but
for professional reasons. It just makes more sense, doesn't it.
I mean, it can get confused in other ways.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
So what you're saying is we're not BFFs yet.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Maybe after the interview we'll see no pressure.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Well, congratulations on the incredible success of Blessings with Clementine Douglas.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Thanks Brian. Yeah, I love it. I love this track.
Probably my favorite thing I've done in a while.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, I can't wait to talk about how this smash
was born coming up. But first, since this is your
first time on America's Dan's thirty, let's get to know
Calvin Harris a little better with Finkey's first.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Now, I also know you've been doing this a long time,
so I apologize in advance. If you've been asked these
questions a thousand times, go for it.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I'm ready. I'm ready now.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I always love finding out the origin story of artists.
I read that you actually fell in love with dance
music when you were in your teens, but when you
were growing up? Was music the first thing that you
wanted to get into or was there something else you
wanted to be when you grew up?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
I don't remember anything else that I wanted to be
or do. I didn't really know music job though, to
be honest with you, I was one of those people
that didn't really have a skill set in anything or
any kind of talent. So all I knew for sure
was that I really liked music and I liked listening
(02:34):
to it, But until I was maybe fourteen or fifteen,
I had no clue that I could maybe pursue that
as a.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Job sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Well, thank god it worked out for you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
But me, yeah, yeah, thank god for me.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Now, thinking back to the beginning, when you were trying
to decide on an artist project name, was Calvin Harris?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Your first choice? Were the other names you were considering?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I had many, many, many names.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I had one that was Stufa, which was named after
a cartoon cat actually a pop hit cat on a
on a comedy show over in the UK. I also
had Jimmy Bones, which I think lives in the same
sort of world as Calvin Harris. But it just yeah,
there were there were, There were a few. Those are
(03:25):
the two that I can remember off the top of
my head. But for every kind of because I was
experimenting with styles of music and all different kinds of things,
but every different style I did sort of different name,
try and get a record deal, and that eventually this
one just sort of stuck, even though the music evolved,
and just I just felt like the name was kind
(03:46):
of it rolled off the tongue. Well, better than my
real name, so I stuck with it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
You know, I can't foresee the future, but I don't
think you would have had a career if you did
go with Stuffers or whatever that was.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I would reluctantly agree. I think a name is a
name is very important.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And where did Calvin Harris actually come from?
Speaker 4 (04:08):
So one of my favorite producers at the time was
Andre Harris, and he'd made a Glenn Lewis album. This
is this is like, this is like soul music, and
Calvin I used to I have like twenty Calvin and
Hobbes books, you know those cartoons absolutely, and that name
(04:30):
all all kind of always just kind of resonated with
me as a as A as a fun name, as
I as just a I don't know, it makes me.
It made me feel good to be maybe called that
and sort of embody that that kid.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, it's an iconic name, so I'm glad you came
up with it. Now, besides blessings with Clementine Douglass, you've
got some iconic songs. If I mentioned them all, we
would be here until twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
But you know, one of my thirst mention.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
All right, let's see flashback which is still one of
my favorites, and I think one of your most underrated songs. Uh,
there's iron I'm trying to think of like the the
Distant exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I'm trying to think the distant ones. Okay, bounce.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yeah, I'm going from least popular to the most popular.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Just because they're the least popular, it doesn't mean they're
not my favorites.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Those are iconics.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I love them.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Do you remember the first dance song that made you
fall in love with ed?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
M Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Actually, let me think about that, because I was. I
was I was sort of getting CD singles of in
Europe in the UK. There were a lot of novelty
dance songs in the in the sort of mid to
late nineties, and I enjoyed them a lot, but I
wouldn't say that it was a life changing thing, you know,
(06:00):
but there was. The most obvious one is star Dust
Music Sounds Better with You, which I heard on holiday
within the UK. It see my grand when I was fourteen.
It was nineteen ninety eight and it was being absolutely
rinsed on the radio and I just heard it everywhere
I went. And you know, this was back in the
day where radio stations would play songs before they came out,
(06:23):
so I remember waiting for this song to come out,
and it was so magical. Nobody really knew who it was,
and there was no video and there was no real
kind of the artwork was just black with sort of
gold writing. It was all just very mysterious. And I
remember when I found out it was the lad from
Daft Punk, and Alan Brack's thought, oh cool, you can
(06:44):
just call yourself a different name and make a song
and then carry and then bangs on the next one.
I liked the sort of anonymity aspect of it as well.
I like the mystery as well as the music, which
was obviously unreal. So I think that's what kind of
(07:05):
got my brain taken in terms of, oh, how to
present something as well as how to make a song.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And it's still a classic. I mean they just used
it for the July fourth celebration. It still sounds good. Yeah,
it still sounds so.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Good, unbelievable. Yeah, it's just one of them. It's the
production quality is so high. It's just going to be
around forever.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, as you mentioned, you're in Ibitha right now, you've
been performing all over the world. But do you remember
the first time you ever performed for a crowd?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Oh? Yeah, I used to perform with the band. I
used to sing all the songs. My first two albums.
I sung all the songs until I'd exhausted that particular.
But yeah, so my first show in front of people,
I certainly wasn't DJing.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I was singing. It was a It was pretty big
for a first gig.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
It was like a five hundred cap venue in Scotland
called King Tut's wa wah Hut and it's in Glasgow.
And I was absolutely when I say I was nervous.
I decided I was going to wear all these colorful hoodies.
I were talking two thousand and six, two thousand and seven,
so this is very much electoral clash era. And I
(08:29):
decided my thing was going to be wearing this hoodie.
And in this venue there was no air conditioning. I
was wearing this thick woole, multi colored thing, and I
was sweating. I was trying to sing. I was trying
to I didn't engage with the crowd. Once it was
it was, I was so.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
It must have been awful to watch. I was just like,
they just get through this gig. But yeah, no, I
remember that pretty clearly. But it went well.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
I mean in the I didn't make any mistakes, but god,
it was terrifying. That's when I knew my days were
not But as far as singing in front of a crowd.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Way now, when you're performing and you put in one
of your songs that you are singing, do you ever
sing live with them?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
No?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
No, I sing I sing along like the crowd sings along,
but I don't sing along down the mic. The thing
I like about recorded music is that it's absolutely perfect.
I like I kind of like that aspect of it.
As far as my particular voice goes. I want to
be able to do five hundred takes and pick the
(09:43):
best one, and I reserve the right to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So that's what I do with me.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Well, I'll tell you sound perfect on the songs that
you sing on, so please keep doing it, even if
it takes you five hundred takes.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I can tell you thank you. But it was a
lot of work.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
I bear now complete side note, You're going to be
performing at a festival coming up called Rise Festival. Literally,
when I was walking into the building today, one of
the girls that I work with. Stephanie mentioned that she's
going to be seeing you. Have you ever done that
festival before?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
No?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
No, in fact, I've not heard of it. It looks
absolutely incredible.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Yeah, well you released the Chinese lanterns.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yeah, it sort of looks like it's not real. I
had a few messages after the announcement saying, is this
an AI festival? Are you really doing this? So no,
it seems like it's it's definitely legit, Like it just
looks really amazing. So yeah, I'm doing that soon. I'm excited.
I've never done anything quite like that before.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Yeah, that should definitely be amazing.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Well, finally, in Thinkey's first, in honor of the incredible
success of Blessings, if I mentioned what's the first thing
you feel blessed for?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
What would come to mind?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Oh? I just feel like I'm super blessed to be
still being able to make music and this being a
kind of thing that I can do on a daily basis.
You know, before I was talking to you, I'm doing this,
working on this extended mix of my next song.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
It's just fun.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
I just like like doing this stuff, and that's the
That's the first thing that comes to my mind right now,
because I was just doing that and having a good time,
you know, and then the all all the things that
come along with that, you know, the travel and meeting
so many different people, getting to work with so many
different people, being exposed to different cultures, I think is
(11:34):
really important and really just kind of enriching.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Well, speaking of your music, let's talk about this smash.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
How was Blessings born? With Clementine Douglass.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
So I was actually I was here like this time
last year, and I was kind of messing around with
musical ideas and I had one and it was just
sitting on my computer, and then I kind of came
went back to London. I got all these guitars. I
went through a grateful dead obsession and I started buying
all the all their favorite guitars that they liked, like
(12:06):
the all the different ones. And then I started making
loads of guitar things. And then once I'd learned how
to make these guitars sound really good, I thought, well
I should put it to actual good use, like on
a good song. And instead of what I was making,
and I had this riff, I thought, right, cool, I'm
going to replay it on this on this guitar and
(12:27):
see how it sounds, and it sounded absolutely unreal. For
a while, I actually tried to make my voice work
on this track and it was not working. And then Clementine,
who I didn't know what all, had never met, but
two of her songs, I was like, I really love
I think she's got an amazing sort of expression in
(12:48):
her voice and style of singing that's very unique. And
I thought, well, this, this, this could work, you know,
with this, with this riff, I feel like the riff
is the thing, but I need an excellent vocal, like
an interesting vocal to support it. And literally I sent
it over to her, reached out. She luckily got back
(13:09):
to me. I've I sent it over to her.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Within.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I didn't know she was a producer as well, right,
I just thought she was a singer just to sing,
an amazing singer. But she'd sent back two different songs,
all clean vocal with effects EQ mixed the whole thing.
I dropped the thing onto the track and it was
done like that is so, I don't know if it's
(13:35):
like the new generation of people that work like that
now or if she's literally a genius unicorn.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
She's definitely a Unicorn.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
I've never I can say hand on her all the
people that I've worked with, I've worked with a lot
of people. That was the most I felt guilty. It
was so easy that it sounded so good. Like usually
usually to make a vocal sound good for me anyway,
it's like a real journey from getting the raw file
(14:09):
to get in something that actually sounds, you know, good
on the track. But she's got it down, she's got
the mic change, she's got the mic.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
She knows she sounds good. I guess the way in
which she sings it.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
She knows. She just knows. And that's it. And so
that was really unbelievable. And then the track was done.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
It kind of blows my mind on two facets of it.
One that you guys had never worked together before, and
two how amazing she is. When I found out how
many songs she's behind, it is so incredible.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah, she's been on an amazing run.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
She's had some really really incredible songs which are really
driven by her as well. It's not just she singing
someone else's song like this is this is her. It
is her song, and it's and you know, the productions
worked up or whatever, but that, again, I think is
unusual and should be uh, should be talked about because
(15:17):
that's a proper it's a proper talent.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Now, something I love to find out about songs is
how many different versions there are of a song, from
when you start working on it, all the tweaking that
goes on to when you finally put it out mastered.
Do you remember when the final V was of Blessings?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yeah, it took me absolutely ages. There were two distinct versions,
and there was one which was sort of messy but
probably would have sounded better live. And there was one
which I went in like a surgeon and made sure
everything was like high hats were so tight and crispy
(15:56):
and clap was It was just, you know, it's sounding
good on a phone, it's sounding good on a mac,
sounding good on a bad phone, bad headphones, good headphones,
bad car, good car radio live life was actually my
last thought in that process. You know, it's sounding good
(16:17):
on streaming, sounding good if you put it on people.
So that's that's what But usually I mean, it sounds obvious,
but usually i'd already do that. Usually usually I kind
of get something that sounds good in studio or I
test it on, you know, something in my car or something.
I'm like, yeah, it's good. Not that I'm lazy, but
if I like it, it must be good. Right right
(16:39):
this time wrong, this time, I thought, yeah, I'm gonna
I'm gonna make sure this is this is, this is
fool proof, you know, and it's gonna work on everything.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
And to be honest, that's how I used to work.
And maybe I.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Got a little bit lazy over the last five years,
let's say. And now I'm back on it, so I'm
grateful for that. Sometimes you need a little push just
to get back to all right, let's really make sure
this sounds really really good.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well it does sound really really good. Now, as you mentioned,
you tried singing on it, and you sing on your songs.
How do you decide what's gonna be a song better
suited for Calvin Harris or better suited to be sung
by somebody else.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I try and sing on everything, and then when it
doesn't work, I move on. As simple as that, I try,
and I always try, because I mean definitely how I
used to do it. When I would be writing lyrics
as well, even for other people.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I would try me on it.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
And then if I thought on other suits of female
voice much better, which, to be honest, nine times out
of tenant does I'll go down that road and try
and write it. So that's just a process that I
go through and then usually sometimes an interesting so a
melody will come out of it, an interesting idea, and
even if I don't use it on that song, I
(18:10):
can use on something now, So that's just kind of
the thing. But yeah, with this one, I tried a
lot of stuff and it wasn't working, so I thought, right,
pivot to someone who can sing immediately.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Well, congratulations on it. The incredible success of Blessings. It
is such a smash. Before I let you go, I
asked chat Ept to give me a question that Calvin
Harris has never been asked before, So I gotta test
this out, all right. Yeah, Now, if you had to
trade your entire discog for the ability to speak to animals,
(18:51):
which animal would you speak to first?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Now? Do you mean speak English to animals?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Because I think animals are quite intuitive in the I've
got chickens, right, and I honestly think I can communicate
with them and they communicate with me. We're not necessarily speaking,
I mean, we're certainly they're certainly not speaking the same
language English, certainly not speaking English. But I do know,
I do know what they're saying. With that being said,
(19:21):
and I feel the same way about dogs. Maybe maybe
not so much with the smaller animals, maybe not so
much with the cats. The cats, I mean, you get
an idea of what a cat's about, but the dog
very obvious, the chicken very obvious.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
To me.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
I've not spent enough time with your cows and your horses,
so I think maybe I would, I would pick. But
what I trade myndsire cow is the real question, And Jenny,
I don't think that I would. So what I'm doing here, Brian,
is I'm going through the animals that I feel like
I would want to speak to worth giving up, and
(20:00):
then on from that, would I then trade the discography?
And honestly, I can't think of one that I want
to hear from to that degree of desperation. I suppose
I think the animals that I'm around, I feel like
I've got a fairly good sort of understanding of what
they're about.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So I suppose the answer is no.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
See I'm a proud cat dad.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And there's been a lot lately about how chat GPT
is actually working that you could understand your cat. I
don't know if I want to understand him, like I
get him, but besides him, like if he was unhealthy,
then yes, I would want to understand him.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Other than that, I don't want to hear his bitching.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
No, you're right, you know they're more intuitive than us.
If anything, language has kind of devolved us in that
we're not so connected to our actual feelings and thoughts
like animals are. You know, we can disguise things with language,
whereas animals, I feel like, are they just tell you
(21:08):
in the moment, And I think that's a that's a
great talent we could actually we could learn.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
We can to speak absolutely learn from them.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Calvin Harris, congratulations on everything that's been going on for you.
Thank you so much for your time with us on
America's Dance thirty.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Thanks so much for having me. Brian really appreciate it. Now.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Can I call you Adam or is it still Calvin?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
It's it's Adam all Fair, all Fair.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
America's thirty Counting down the biggest dance songs in the country.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
America's Dance thirty
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