Calvin Harris: "Some of the best producers in the world make EDM… Face facts"

Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris recently had a chat with Annie Mac during her radio show on BBC Radio 1 where he opened up about various aspects of his career.

A major talking point during the show 'Annie Mac 7-9pm weekdays on BBC Radio 1', was Harris' approach to making music and his thoughts on EDM. He revealed that just a couple years ago he "felt so unexcited" about what he was releasing and lacked passion for his own music:

“End of 2016 I was like I hate this EDM thing. I think it’s absolute… you know what I mean? I absolutely hate it I think it’s awful. Then I took a year break, I was like nah man, I think it’s amazing… some of the best producers in the world make EDM…some of the best producers in the world are Dutch. Face facts.”

The EDM industry seems to be wavering at the moment with many artists taking their sound profiles in a new direction. Yet, after his musical epiphany in 2016, Harris' approach changed and he says he then decided to listen to his instincts:

“I was like ‘You know what I’m just going to do whatever I want and I’m going to spend all the money I’m making in Vegas on features and I’m going to get everyone to do a hip-hop album… I’m going to put Young Thug on a Motown Funk tune because no one else will because it’s a waste of money.

"Because it’s not a commercially viable idea, right? And that’s all that music is now. It’s like ‘what playlist is it going to be added to’ or ‘is radio gonna play it’ and all that and I didn’t care.

"The old me, how would I ever make a tune with Migos… I’m not gonna do like an EDM trap record because that makes me feel sick, just the thought of doing that.”

Last summer Harris released his track 'Slide' which features Migos and Frank Ocean. Early that year he went even further into the pop realm with the release of 'Heatstroke' featuring Young Thug, Ariana Grande and Pharrell Williams.

Listen to the full interview with Annie Mac here