Afrojack Talks New Music, Working With David Guetta, Preparing Music For After Pandemic & More!

Yesterday, Grammy Award-winning DJ and producer Afrojack, released his new track ‘HERO’ in collaboration with David Guetta, who has twice been named best DJ in the world by DJ Mag. The song is co-written by Ellie Goulding, Stargate, Ryan Tedder, and Jamie Scott with vocals from Luxtides.

‘HERO’ is an inspiring summer song and is a crossover between Pop and EDM. It carries a relevant message; there is a hero in everyone. That the smallest gestures can help and touch others, is what Afrojack and David Guetta want to emphasize with this song. We had the pleasure of speaking with Afrojack ahead of the release of ‘Hero’.

Hello Afrojack. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. How happy are you with the finished product of ‘Hero’.
“I’m f**king happy. I’m so excited. I put out a lot of records that were meh, for me personally, but this record is the first record that I feel is amazing. I feel off all the records I have at the moment in my computer, this is the best. So being able to release this with David Guetta is an honor.”

You’ve worked alongside David Guetta for over 10 years now, how do you manage to keep it fresh and new each time?
“Honestly it’s difficult. Sometimes being fresh is doing a classic. We started working on this song over 2 years ago. We were supposed to debut at UMF 2020. At that time, dance music was really coming back up on the radio and right now it’s still pushing. For us, this is the song that was gonna open up the market for that type of sound once again.”

‘Hero’ was supposed to be premiered at UMF 2020. Are you sitting on a lot of unreleased music at the moment?
“Yes. Not everyone agrees with me about this, for me I make festival music and dance records to be experienced live. I appreciate streams and the love but I make these songs to see your bass face, to make a connection. There is no point to make these records if I cannot make that connection.”

You’ll become the first DJ to play at the Eurovision song contest in your hometown of Rotterdam. How big of an honor is this?
“It is a huge honor but it is a big sign of what is possible if you do what you love. I did not become a song writer or singer, I am still a DJ and producer.”

You have also performed at the MTV EMA’s along with others, how do you prepare for such a different event compared to normal festivals?
“So when you do festivals, you do a DJ set. When you perform at the other events, it’s a tv show. There is no beat matching, there’s choreography, video, fireworks. What you do is let the artist take the spotlight but we back up our brand as a producer. We cannot do anything live because everything is scheduled, the dancers need to know when to walk out etc. What I usually do to keep it real is make the mix and cut it up to DJ it live when I am there.”

Thanks for your time, Afrojack!
“Thank you too.”

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