Reporting on Calvin Harris since his Taylor Swift relationship has been dismal at best. Whenever you check in on the superstar, it’s some “Twitter spat” or how much “her love for him warms her heart”.
Barf.
Well, finally, Calvin Harris has decided to step away from the tabloid limelight to give an in depth interview of what he knows best: music. Sitting down with the legendary Annie Mac from BBC Radio 1, Calvin Harris discussed the state of electronic music and although the video interview is only available in the UK, Beatport has rounded up the highlights from the interview.
The first pressing question Annie Mac asked was “Why the UK and Europe isn’t as EDM-obsessed as North America” which hit home with Calvin Harris:
“It’s not really happening over here, is it? That whole EDM sound. Part of my theory on this whole thing is the [UK] recession fed the music. And then when the bigger clubs shut down, the smaller clubs were the only thing that was happening. And you can’t play a big Swedish House Mafia style thing, a big Alesso style track, in a small club. You play vibey records. But as long as those huge festivals are happening in America…which need that sound, you can’t go to a 100,000 person festival and play vibey house music; you just can’t.”
Calvin Harris is right in his answer. With popular clubs closing around the UK and the amount of major electronic based festivals on the decline in Europe, the scene has switched to a major North American focus. Annie Mac continued the questions with her follow up, “Why have you traded being a frontman for a new lease on life?”
“I wasn’t even going to be a DJ. I was more planning on being a producer. It was mostly that I didn’t want to sing on my own songs anymore, and I had songs in the bank that didn’t suit my voice. [Being a frontman] is a nightmare, because you’re singing the same songs again and again, and then when you do another tour you have to change the old songs slightly for the new tour. I was thinking, this isn’t creative, I’ve written 15 songs but I want to do way more than that. So 2011 and 2012, I worked more in the studio than I ever did in my entire life.”
The switch to being a frontman for Calvin Harris didn’t come without it’s drawbacks. The fan base he had built prior to be being a DJ did not take the transition lightly and many voiced their discontent with the move:
“It kinda cut off the fans of the old music, But I was over it, because I felt like it was done, and it was.”
When Calvin Harris did make the transition to being A DJ, he found a massive amount of success that propelled him to the level of stardom he enjoys today. But with great power and fame comes great responsiblity, Calvin claims:
“If you have enough success in dance music, you have a responsibility to release really good music,” he says. “You know a lot of people are gonna listen to your records and say, ‘That’s dance music, that’s EDM.’ Make something good! You can have a good song that goes off, as well as a bad song that goes off. So make the good song! Please.’ That’s what I’m trying to do with my new song [“How Deep Is Your Love”]. It doesn’t go off in traditional ways that I’ve made my songs go off in the past.””
You can read the full interview on Beatport.