The lively Dutch pair W&W returned to Bangkok for their much-awaited Together Festival performance, and the city was abuzz with excitement. Fresh from a thrilling show at Ultra Korea, Willem and Ward sat down with us to talk about their recent tours, creative processes, and upcoming projects. Their passion for melody and innovation shines through as they discuss their musical journey and offer insights into both their W&W and NWYR personas, captivating audiences worldwide.
Join us as we uncover what makes W&W a global sensation.
Welcome, Willem and Ward! Delighted to have you back here in Bangkok. How have you been, and what’s been keeping both of you busy?
We’ve been very good. Yesterday, we played Ultra in Korea, which was a crazy show. We’ve also been very busy in the studio, making a lot of new music for both W&W and NWYR.
You guys have been on a roll with new tracks and performances. Can you share some highlights from your recent tours and releases?
Releases, obviously ‘Thank You’ is doing really well, even better than we expected. The crowd is still going crazy. We hear it everywhere. It’s definitely a highlight; the crowd loves it. Some people knew it initially, but now it’s like everybody is singing along to it. In the beginning, we played it in some countries where nobody knew it, and now it’s everywhere.
What is your creative process like for W&W? How do you keep your sound fresh and exciting?
We usually look at trends and new production techniques, see what’s going on, and identify what resonates with us that we can implement. We always stay up to date. There are two different aspects to it: staying fresh with what’s happening in the music world and also on the production side. You always need to be up to date with whatever’s coming out, like new plugins and new sample packs. There’s so much development on the technological side that it’s a lot of homework to keep up to date. We also love the old songs, try to do new versions and test it out in shows. We love remixing stuff and also stuff that people don’t expect. We always see what the songs other guys are playing, and we’re like okay we’re not going to do those. We’re going to do something different. We also have to look into our own youth, what we listen to when we were kids and so far, its good.
You guys have a massive following worldwide. How do you ensure your music resonates with such a diverse audience?
It’s just kind of luck with that. It wasn’t planned or something. I think it’s because we make very melodic, catchy music. It’s all about the melody, so it doesn’t even matter what language people speak. Most of the time, we do have vocals in the song, but the song doesn’t revolve around the vocal. Even if you don’t speak English, there might be an English part in the song, but it’s not the key element. It’s mostly the melodies; everyone understands the melody. I dont speak Italian, but the melody of the vocals (Pedro remix) is so good, the vibe is so good that’s why it catches.
Are there any exciting projects or collaborations coming up for W&W that you can tease us about?
Actually, a lot of collaborations. We have ones coming with Steve Aoki and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. We have one coming up with Armin van Buuren and a few other ones we can’t talk about yet, unfortunately. I was counting, and there are like 25 projects basically close to being finished, so like 90-99% done.
Now about NWYR, NWYR has made a strong comeback recently. How do you feel about the response you’ve received from fans globally?
I think it’s been pretty good because we’ve actually changed the sound up. It’s faster and more inspired by 2000’s trends. We took out a lot of the EDM Big Room elements and put in more of the old school trance elements. So far, we’re a bit nervous since we haven’t played a NWYR set in so long. That’s why tonight at Together Festival, we’re going to try and combine the old and the new. The reactions to the set we did at A State of Trance in Rotterdam were really good.
As you both look into the future, what are your main goals and aspirations for both W&W and NWYR, and how do you see both projects growing?
The most important thing for us is that we can keep doing what we love for as long as possible. That’s the goal. It’s also not like we go into the studio and say, “Okay, we’re going to make a W&W song or a NWYR song.” We just make music, and depending on how it turns out, we categorize it as NWYR or W&W. Sometimes it’s tough; we ask everyone if a track is NWYR or W&W, and nobody actually knows. For instance, with “Ready to Rave,” we thought it was NWYR, but Armin said, “No, it’s W&W.” We were like, “Yeah, okay.” Sometimes other people know better than ourselves.
