Like Mike of the hit electronic duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about his new solo album “Pain, Love, & What Comes After,” his future plans, dream female duet choices, and his Greek heritage.
On the song selection process for his new album, he said, “This album consists of a selection of songs that I wrote these past years. Never actually having released any of those projects, I still had an emotional connection to a lot of those songs and I felt that the accumulation of these particular songs painted a picture and told a story of my life.”
“I still have a crazy amount of unreleased music, so maybe I’ll drop more songs at some point. But for now, it’s time to write new music,” he added.
He listed “Silence” as his personal favorite song on the collection. “I personally like ‘Silence’ featuring Lil Baby since it depicts a lot of what people have been going through during the start of this pandemic. Struggles with personal demons and maintaining your mental stability are amongst them,” he said.
Regarding his future plans, he said, “Next to the business side of things that we have been spending so much time and energy on, I would say trying to make the most out of every moment, working on a healthy lifestyle, finding balance, and I’m definitely planning on working on more new music soon.”
On his music and songwriting inspirations, he said, “After certain events, I have to be in the right headspace, where nothing from outside can influence me. Once I’m in that zone I need to be able to just create, this can be positive or negative and can be a very emotional process but can also be exhilarating. It’s almost therapeutic.”
“Some moments, I can get overly creative, that comes with a negative side to it, sometimes I catch myself barely eating or drinking for days, even when someone brings me food because I just can’t snap out of it,” he explained.
Like Mike opened up about his Greek heritage. “My brother [Dimitri] and I grew up in Belgium but we were always very in touch with our Greek heritage and culture. My dad, who we’ve lost this year, made sure we spent all our summers in Greece, with our Greek family, speaking Greek and eating Greek food,” he said.
“I have even worked in Greece for a year when I was younger and most recently, I bought a house right by the beach somewhere on the mainland of Greece. Greece is still my favorite place on this planet. Nothing compares to that energy,” he added.
Like Mike listed the following female artists as his dream female duet choices in music: Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Adele, and Billie Eilish. “They are all definitely on that list,” he said.
On his definition of success, Like Mike said, “Succes means being fulfilled. That can come in many ways, for some, it’s a personal thing, happiness, oneness, wealth, health… For others, it is being able to provide for your loved ones or in most cases a combination of both. I’d say I’m the latter, but when it comes to a professional level, there’re always more goals to reach.”
“Pain, Love, & What Comes After” is available on digital service providers by clicking here. “It is made with heart, written with love, and recorded with emotion. This album is an expression of part of my life that I had to release and in some way, a part that I had to say goodbye to in order for me to be able to continue my own personal creative journey,” he said.
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