Kygo

Celebrating the release of his new smash "Whatever" w Ava Max, Kygo joins us for the first time on AD30, and shares how the song was born, how many Vs there were before it was released, and what Shakira thought of the interpolation!

We also get to know Kygo better w #FinkysFirsts!!

Find out about:

• what he first wanted to be growing up
• the first song he produced
• if 'Kygo' was his first choice for artist names, or if there were others
• the first show he ever played
• the first musician that made him fall in love with music
• the first dance song that made him fall in love with EDM
• the first thing that makes him cry

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!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Kaigo, it is an absolute honorhaving you on America's Dance thirty. Welcome
to the show for the first time. Thank you, Thank you, dance

(00:22):
counting down the biggest dance songs inthe country. This is America's Dance thirty.
Not only is this your first timeon AD thirty, but this actually
might be the first time we're chatting. I know that we met really quickly
years ago before one of your soldout shows at Barclay Center, but you

(00:43):
but you were rude to us,So I'm glad we can I can't even
say that with a straight face.I know you're one of the nicest guys
in the business. I try tobe I try to be nice. Yeah,
I'm obviously totally kidding, but it'sawesome finally getting to chat with you.
I can't wait to hear all aboutyour brand new smash whatever with Ava

(01:04):
Max, and we're gonna find outhow the song was born. But first,
since this is your first time onAD thirty, let's get to know
Kaigo a little better with Thinky's firstOkay, Yeah, I know that you

(01:25):
learned piano at a really young age, right, Yeah, I started taking
lessons when I was six I thinkfive to six. But then you went
to college for a degree in somethingtotally different, like business and finance.
Right, yeah, that's right.I guess I didn't really think music was
gonna I didn't really think I wouldhave a chance to break through, so

(01:49):
I thought I'd better have a backupplan if this doesn't work out. So
when you were growing up, wassomething in music the first thing you wanted
to do, or was there somethingelse you wanted to be? I guess
growing up, I played a lotof football or soccer, and I guess
that was my dream when I was, you know, younger, But then

(02:12):
I think it switched around maybe fourteenfifteen, sixteen years old. At some
point I switched to you know,becoming more and more obsessed with music.
And when I started producing, Iguess that was when I was around eighteen.
I knew that this is definitely,you know, my dream, and
soccer was in the past, andthen music was the only thing I was

(02:34):
like dreaming about doing for a living. But that was really smart of you
to get something a degree in somethingelse, so you have to fall back
on. I got nothing to fallback on. So if radio doesn't work,
all the only other thing I knowhow to do is make donuts,
so I didn't really finish my degree, so I don't really have anything to
pull back on either. Well,thank god this is working out for you.

(02:57):
Yeah, thank god. Now thisyear is the ten year anniversary of
Firestone, which is insane to thinkabout. Yeah, that's kind of crazy.
And then you've already got over twomillion streams on whatever with Ava Max,
which is incredible in the first weekof release. But do you remember

(03:19):
the first song you ever wrote orproduced? I guess I produced. You
know, it's like a lot ofdifferent ideas, but the first song that
I ever released before Firestone, Iactually released a song on a small label
call it and it's always called Epsilon. I think it's still on Spotify,

(03:39):
So I think that's probably the firstsong that I ever you know, finished
and actually released and put out.Gotcha. Now, of course, Kigo
isn't your real name. It's atake on your first name and your last
name. But when you were tryingto come up with artists names, were
there any other that were first onthe list? Or was Caigo pretty much

(04:00):
it? I guess Caigo was theonly nickname I've ever had, so it
was kind of the only option,and my real name would not be an
option because no one is able topronounce it, So caigo is pretty a
pretty natural, you know thing forme too. That was the only option
I had. And when I wasdoing research, I saw that there's actually

(04:21):
two different ways to pronounce kigo.Is that right? I guess it's just
like the Norwegian pronunciation would be keeglwow, and the English would be caigo.
So keegl caigo mine I get loan. Yeah. And also I think,
like Spain, you know, likeSpanish, you know countries say something

(04:41):
like keegel or like something similar likethat. Well, no offense, but
I'm going to stick with caigo.It just sounds so much better. Yeah,
that's that's totally fine. Now.You played shows and festivals all over
the world, including back in twentysixteen the Olympics. But do you remember
the first show you ever did?Yeah? I remember it very well.

(05:03):
It was in Paris. Actually,I played a small, small club for
like two hundred, two hundred andfifty people below Mulling Huge. It's like
a kind of famous place in Paris. So yeah, that was my that
was my first show ever, andI remember very well. I guess I

(05:23):
was so nervous. I wonder whatthose two hundred people think now that they
got to see you for your firstshow. Yeah, hopefully they still like
my music. You never know.Let's hope now. If I sat here
and listed all the Caigo smashes,we would be here until twenty twenty five.
But one of your most high profileones from a few years ago was

(05:46):
the remake of Whitney Houston Higher Love. Do you remember the first musician that
made you fall in love with music? Ooh, that's a tough one.
I don't I don't know like thefirst musician. There's definitely been different artists
that has had, you know,a big impact on you know, my

(06:09):
music taste. I think when Iwas I was younger, I was listening
to you know, Bruce Springsteen andall those like classic you know, more
like old school artists. And thenbut I think if there's one artist that's
had a huge impact on me inmy career, it has to be a
Vichy because he was the one thatgot me into producing music and kind of

(06:30):
you know the reason why I'm stilldoing what I do today. Absolutely Now
along the same lines, do youremember the first dance song that made you
fall in love with d M.Yeah, it was definitely it was one

(06:54):
of a Vici's like early songs.I guess obviously Romance was just like first
I guess major major hits. ButI remember that he had some like older
remixes of songs as one call itwas a remix of a song called New
New New, but I actually can'tremember what's what the original artist name is.

(07:15):
But yeah, he did some ofAvici's like early remixes. I think
was you know the reason why Ifell in love with you dance music?
And man, I remember seek Romancefrom back of the Oh such a classic,
unbelievable song. Now finally your brandnew smash whatever with Ava Max has
the lyrics won't see me cry,no tears? But what is the first

(07:42):
thing that makes Kigo cry? Idon't really. I don't think I cried
off if something sad happened. Soif I can, definitely, you know,
if I watched a movie and it'ssomething really sad, I can.
I can get a little share ofmy share in my eye that happens same

(08:03):
and I sit there and go,what is wrong with me that I'm crying?
Right now? Let's talk about thissmash. How was whatever born with
Ava Max? It was actually ademo I got. So I got a
demo and I obviously and it was, you know, the rewrite of Shakira's
you know, major smash, andI just had to listen to it and

(08:26):
I was like, wow, thisthis is definitely you know, it has
it's something about when you have achorus that everybody knows and the same melody
that people recognize. And I thoughtit was just like very well done.
And so I you know, startedworking on this demo and I knew Ava
Max also loved the demo, soI started producing around it, and then

(08:50):
Eva cut the vocal and it soundedamazing and basically the song was the song
was done. We were actually neverin the studio to do it together,
but we in the studio in Laand we had like a listen to the
mix of the song and we wereboth you know, really happy about how
it sounded. Yeah, I mean, you guys absolutely killed it. How

(09:11):
long ago did you first get thedemo? Probably last summer at one point,
I think maybe June, So I'vehad it for a while. I
actually produced most of it. Iwas last summer, like June July,
last summer. And when you're workingon an interpolation like this, do you
get worried about what the original artistis going to think? Like, did

(09:33):
you get worried what Shakiro was goingto think about it? No? Not
really, because I heard pretty earlyon in the process that she heard the
song and she and she liked it, So I kind of knew that she
you know, approved this version.And I also saw yesterday she just posted
on her Instagram story and that sheyou know, that she likes this version

(09:54):
as well. So I kind offelt that, you know, I wasn't
worried because I knew that she alreadyyou know, through management of something.
I heard that she she liked thisversion and she was you know excited about
it as well, And that's gotto be cool as an artist to hear
like a rebirth of a song.Yeah, I guess like for her,
I think I think she just youknow, it got to be cool for

(10:16):
her as well, to listen toyou know, new versions and new of
her of her songs. I thinkI think, as far as I know,
she's just very you know, positive, and she's she wants this song
to do well well. Speaking ofversions. Something I love to find out
is how many different v's there areof a song from when you start working
on it, all the tweaking thatgoes on to when you finally put it

(10:39):
out. Do you remember what thefinal V was of whatever? That's a
good question. Probably fifteen sixteen seventeen, that's and that's very very normal,
Like it's not really Yeah, Irarely have a song that has less than
ten to fifteen versions of it beforeit's done. What was the highest v

(11:03):
for a Caigo song? Oh,I've had sixty seventy, like I've had.
I actually know this song. Therewas a song called Kids in Love
that I had on my one ofmy albums, and that one I had
so many different versions because there wasdifferent you know, vocal ideas there was.
It was so many versions, soI think, yeah, I think

(11:24):
it was fifty sixty or seventy.I don't know how many. I was
a long protest. Now, whenyou get that high on vs, do
you ever go back to like lowerv's and go, no, this was
better? I guess sometimes it happens, but it might not be a completely
different song, but it might be, you know, I might have changed

(11:46):
the arrangement, but the song stillis like the drop is still the same,
but it's like there might be tiny, you know, differences like between
the different versions. So sometimes Ido go back and I feel like,
you know, I listened to thenew version and that's that's not the right
arrangement, and I go back toan early one and I, you know,
keep working on that one instead.Well, congratulations on the final V

(12:09):
of whatever. It's an absolute smash. What is next for Caigo? Well,
I guess I've I have, youknow, spent a lot of time
in the studio this year, soI'm releasing an album this year, and
I have a lot of you know, new songs coming out, so I'm
I'm just excited to finally, youknow, release music again. It's been

(12:30):
it's been a while since I releasedanything, so I'm gonna try to get
a lot of new music out thisyear. Well. As a fan of
Kaigo, I'm sure I can speakfor everyone that says awesome, can't wait
to hear it. Kaigo. Itis awesome finally chatting with you. Thank
you so much for your time withus on America's Dance thirty. Of course,
thanks for having me counting down thebiggest dance songs in the country.

(12:54):
America's Dance thirty