On his single “Firestarter,” he said, “The idea to do a new track together was actually born during my Grand show in Amsterdam back in 2016. I was super happy to have Ida on board to do ‘Let Me Think About It’ as part of the show, and no surprise we still hit it off just like it was yesterday. In the months following the event we kept in touch and when Ida sent me the initial ‘Firestarter’ demo I was immediately super excited. I worked on it for quite a bit, Ida loved it and we actually did a few more shows to try out the new song in Holland over last year’s summer already. Then I think it was actually during a fun after-party – where all great ideas are born – when Ida said she still knew Shaggy from touring when we were discussing the track still felt like it was missing something. One thing led to another and I think we had Shaggy’s vocals on there in a matter of days. The rest is history!”
For Fedde, it was a “super fun” experience collaborating with Shaggy and Ida. “It was a great connection, Ida I obviously knew for quite a few years, and Shaggy I recently met when he had a show in Amsterdam,” he explained.
This song is a bit of a departure from his usual style. “Well to be honest I’ve always loved allowing myself to be influenced by pretty much everything around me, and never have been the one to allow my style to become pigeonholed too much. It’s just not me. I was raised on so many different kinds of music, and for me a good track is a good track, no matter what genre label sticks to it. In this case I think I may have wandered off a bit further than usual, which really came dictated with the top-line for me. Upon hearing it the first time I immediately knew how I wanted the production for it to sound. And of course I also created a Club Mix which may feel a bit more familiar and actually fits my sets. But for instance on my album (‘Something Real’) also came a few tracks that had meaning to me and were important for me to release but actually didn’t even have a specific Club Mix as it just didn’t feel right to me.”
When asked how he uses technology on a daily basis, Fedde responded, “How do you not? On a perfect day I’m mainly using all tech in my studio, that’s the best tech there is, even though touring and laying down a different set each night definitely is no punishment either!”
On his future plans, he revealed, “A lot of shows. And a lot more music J I’ll be announcing my ADE show shortly which definitely is something to be on the lookout for. I’m moving to a different venue which will be even more legendary then before! But first up I’m finishing a lot of very cool summer dates, heading to Asia in the last two weeks of August which I’m super excited about. And the follow-up release to ‘Firestarter,’ which is a collaboration with Dannic will be released on August 25, so enough to look forward to.”
Digital Journal also chatted with Eauxby, the director of the “Firestarter” music video.
On the concept for the music video, Eauxby said, “I made a lyric video in a similar style before and Fedde Le Grand’s management saw it at some point. They were looking for someone who could make a video in this specific comic-book style for their single ‘Firestarter’ so we planned a meeting to exchange ideas and to brainstorm. I told them the idea I had for the story-line and they liked it so after the meeting I went back home and started working on the storyboard. After getting positive feedback on that I started to prepare everything I needed for the animation. During the whole process I was given a lot of freedom so I’m very proud of the final result.”
Regarding the video’s story-line, Eauxby said, “I came with the idea after listening to the track a couple of times. I understood the concept of the song and I decided to base the concept of the video on the vibe I was getting from the music. The instrumental of the song is very epic and I wanted the video to be able to compliment that. Also, I wanted to implement the topic of pollution because it’s been something that everyone has been talking about for as long as I can remember and I think it’s important to stay conscious of the fact that pollution and global warming are very real.”
“Firestarter” is available on iTunes by clicking here.
