Sigala

to Pretend by MGMT. Most recently, he served up the Charlie xc X pan do you for Me with the incredible Rita Aura. I'm so happy to welcome Sigala. Pleasure man. You have I just say, who are we going further? You have an amazing name. I just really thanks. Right, Yeah, it's um, it's actually a it's actually a family name, so um, it's nice, has a bit of meaning. It was my I think great great grandfather's last name. His name was Am Sigala. Is this Italian dude, and yes

it sounds like a cool guy. So when I had to choot it was actually my mom that told me to use it. I was like, because I came and I became an artist, like very quickly, and like I hadn't really thought too much about it, and suddenly I was like, I need a name, and my mom was like, oh, tell me the story about this guy called Amstegana. She was like, call yourself Sigala. So thanks mom for that excellent choice. Oh man, so many great songs. I want to ask you about it, But first and foremost, you

have a new single with Rita Aura. You for me tell me about the background of that song. How had they come together? Yeah, so that's quite a cool one man. Originally it was written by Charlie xc X. We got sent this this demo with her with her singing it, and like I fell in love with the song, and but she she hadn't written it for herself. She'd just written it as a song and then so it ended up with me working on it, and her and Rita are quite good friends, which I didn't know until recently.

So they got in touch with each other and suddenly I was like, I heard Rita wanted to get involved, and obviously like that that was amazing that she's somebody who's been like on my hit list. For a long time. Um, so yeah, it happened Like it was kind of cool that it happened that way rather than just going through managers emails and things like that. It was nice that there's there was a connection there. Um and yeah, she's super pumped to be on it. I'm like so happy

to have her on the record as well. So yeah, it's worked out really well. It's such a great dance track for a year where there really hasn't been a lot of dancing, or at least a lot of communal dancing. How has the last year and a half been for you? Is it tough to make songs that it seemed to be so designed to be enjoyed by, you know, with other people. Was it hard to make those in such

a solitary environment. It's kind of a weird one because I feel like over the last year or so, since since the first lockdown, like there's been so much more dance music out there. Like when you tell on the radio in the UK, it's like dance dance music on like all stations, and it's it's an amazing time to be in doing that genre. But also, yeah, it's kind of strange that so many people making dance music, but no one can actually go out and listen to it

in the club. Um So I guess people still want that and they're and they're getting it from from somewhere else now. Um So, yeah, it's been a cool it's been a really cool year to be making dance music. But yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back to touring and playing in clubs because I'm sure everyone misses it, but I really miss it too. Because you were gearing

up for what your first world tour before everything shut down. Yeah, it was some kind of bad timing, Like I just started my my world tour and it's like the biggest world tour that we'd I've got my dogs trying to get through the door. It's twisting the door handle. Its aggressive. I hear that on this It's really creepy. Yeah, hopefully he'll go away. It's the fun of working at home, believe. Yeah. So yeah, it was kind of really bad timing because it was the biggest tour that I had. I had

planned so far and we did. We've just done all the UK shows and then that was when it was just starting to look like the virus had just come about and everyone was getting a bit worried, and then I think I did like two in Europe and then and then all the all the rest got postponed. So yeah, man, it was it was. It was really sad, and I just felt really bad for you know, everyone who who put tickets in and you know, it's freed up time

to come to the shows. And I was looking forward to traveling and like we had stuff in Asia, Australia, America, like all over the world. It was going to be incredible. Um, but yeah, it just it is what it is. Man. In hindsight, It's given me so much time to be in the studio and make music. I've actually really enjoyed the last year being able to work more on music than I ever have in the last sort of seven

or eight years. So I've tried to look at the silver lining, I guess, and you know, try and take the positive was out of it. I was gonna You've been involved with so many different types of music throughout your life. What is it about dancing house music that that pulls it you most strongly? I don't know. I just feel like it's something that, as far as creating goes,

it comes really naturally. I feel really at home with the four to the floor kick drum anything like it just all comes so naturally to me, I think because I used to listen to that kind of music, like when I was growing up, and I was really really into dance music as a teenager and not just house I guess, like all like drum and bass, and and when dub step came around, like I was really into that and I made some crazy dub step tunes that

no one will ever hear. But yeah, I've always like it's the kind of general I've always come back to it. I've I've experimented with other things, and I've always come back to dance music, and I just, yeah, it just never gets old for me. Your first big smash, easy Love,

which has that amazing sample of Jackson's five ABC. I'm always so curious because I collect old soul singles and forty fives and stuff from the sixties and seventies, stacks volved motown all that, And I think of the producers like yourself, who listens to those same seven inches and could hear a baseline or hear a drum track and have the foresight to be able to splice that little bit out and make something completely new and fresh and

exciting with it. When you're working on sampling, is it a case of knowing exactly what you want or is it really a lot of trial and error until you get something you think sounds good for me. It's it's usually a lot of trial and error. With With the Jackson five one, I was lucky, lucky enough to have

somebody give me the multi track stems. I have no idea where they got them from, but they gave me the multi track stems to a bunch of songs and there was some Jackson five stuff in there, so I just like plucked out the a cappella and like the babs and everything, and and there were some cool melodies, like some ad lib melodies that you can barely hear in the actual song, and like those are the ones I was really drawn to because I was like, they're

really cool and and no one's probably heard them. And so I kind of like took some of their m and some of the main vocal and I tried to like try and forget how the original sounded and just be like I'm creating something new. Let's just see where it goes. And that was such a fun process. I had so much fun making that record, but you said it was absolutely right. I when you hear that song, I almost forget that it's a sample. It sounds so completely different. Is there a challenge to find sort of

the sweet spot of the right amount to sample? I mean, I'm thinking of of your song Lasting Lover, which samples the mg m T song Time to pretend it's if you didn't tell me that that was a song had that sample in there. I don't think I even noticed because it's so wholly unique. I mean, is there like like I'm sure, but is there, like, you know, a sweet spot for you? Okay, this is this is the amount to make it fun any more than that? And it just it kind of feels a little too easy. Yeah.

I kind of feel like if you can't, if you can't do something different with it or take it somewhere else, then it's like, what's the point of doing it, and where's the where's the creative part of that? Um? I don't think I'd ever do like a d cover of a song, although there's some great ones that have been done. Um, I just feel like it's not quite as creative when when you're doing that. So I always try and find a way of you know, mixing it up and finding

a new way to do it. And plus some of the some of the songs that I'd love to sample. Someone sent me one today was like, oh, I should do a sample of this. I can't remember which what it was, but it's like classic dance tune and I was just like, I don't think I can do a better job than what this guy has done on it, so I'm just gonna leave that as it is and move on. Well, that's why Easy Love with the Jackson

five was so cool. So I feel like most people would go for the Funk Brothers based in drum part that will be on it, and I mean that's why I feel like, what most people do, you know that the high vocal melodies and put your own rhythm to it, and I think that was what was so cool about it.

I think one of the things as well at the time was I was had the ambition to be a songwriter to and I was really struggling to find people to work with, so I couldn't really I didn't have enough vocalists or top lines or vocals to work with and to to be creative with. So that was almost a way of like I want to play around and make a song, but I don't have anyone to do

it with. I'm going to get this vocal. And I used to make remixes of songs all the time, like just find the a cappellas online and make a new version. And that was my way of songwriting without having anyone to work with. I used to love listening to to mash up people like Girl Talk and Endanger Mouse. Would you ever listen to to people like that? Yeah? Man,

there's some there's some great mashups. That's something as well that I love to do it like, and I love to see other people doing in live sets as well, is doing mashups and like original takes on things that some some stuff that I've got in my set, Like the only place you can hear it is if you come and see me live. And I've seen other people do that as well, and I've been like she's having I'm like what is this? And I think that's there's

something really cool about that. That's the ultimate Like you know, as you know, when you're when you're you're playing a party, if you see people, if you see people holding up their phone, like trying to sam what you're playing. That's when you know you you hit it out of the park. I feel like, yeah, you initially when you first started making music, you were playing in different bands. How did you switch to uh, production work? It's kind of kind

of again, by accident. Most of the things that have happened in my career of been by accident. So yeah, I used to love playing in bands, um, just from being like in bands at high school and things like that. Just like me and my mates messing around and I play the keyboards, and it would come to like recording our music, and none of us could afford to go to a studio and record, so I was like, oh, how hard can it be? Download some software, UM, borrow my mates computer and and and like do it in

the shed down down the bottom of the garden. So that's how we That's how like I got into production, I guess because I realized that I when I started recording the bands and stuff, that I actually enjoyed it more than I did playing in the band live. And I was just like, I just want to do this now. I want to be in the studio, I want to record, I want to make music. And that was like that

was the start of it. Really, I should imagine your first UK number one, Easy Love, was was made in what you've described as like a really stripped down kind of way. It was just like basically just a laptop at home. I mean, is that still your preferred way or as has your your process of all much beyond

that at this point? Nice, It's pretty similar to be honest, Um, I still have the same like monitors that I that I had back in my bedroom when I made Easy Love, and I I have a nice studio in King's Cross in central London. But it's very it's very simple. It's just like nice speaker's laptop and that's pretty much it. And a microphone because I do everything in the box anyway, and I don't want to overcomplicate the process because I am That's just how it's always worked for me, so

I'm just sticking to it. You've got your start in music as a as a pianist for many many years. Does that factor into your your your songwriting process, This sort of like classical background that you have for sure. Man, It's it's so so helpful being able to play keys because if you have a laptop and you can play keys. You can play any instrument really, or you can pretend

to play any instrument. So, like, I think that's been a really important part of me becoming an artist and making music because yeah, like I heavily rely on being able to play the piano. Like, whenever I write a song, it maybe it ends up being like a dance record, but in the beginning it was written on a piano, you know, in a room with a singer, and you know, you can usually strip it back to that as well, and it's still you know, it still makes sense as

a song. I think there's something really cool about that. You know, the people don't know that not a lot about theory. Will always talk about how the piano such a great thing to learn on because it's it's so logical. It's laid out there in front of you and you can kind of get a visual for where all the notes are and how it all fits together as a whole. Yeah, And I love like the sound of a piano is just never going to go out of fashion, Like it's it's been around for a long time and it's not

going anywhere. So like, I still love to use piano in my music and like it feels such a big space sonically as well, Like I just love the power, the like powerful sound you get from a piano. So that's something that's that's like, it's great that I that I can play piano because it's kind of been the basis of my sound since day one. Really, was there a moment for you when you knew that that music

was what you wanted to do with your life? Well, I don't know, actually, I've was like when I was younger, I was dream I used to dream of being in a band or something like that. Like I used to listen to like a C D C and UM, like guns and Roses and all that stuff, and I was like, I want to be on the stage with my keyboard rocking out, and that was like that was the dream.

And I even in my bedroom, I had like I managed to get this poster online from somewhere and it like filled the whole side of my room and it was just like a picture of a crowd like from the stage. So I used to stand in front of this this massive poster like solo out on my keyboard and that was like the childhood dream. And then um, and then I started to realize that it was probably

never gonna happen. So I was like, maybe I can be you know, an engineer or a producer or a songwriter or something like that and make a living from it. So that's like the route I went down and went to university studied commercial music, and I was like, Okay, I can hopefully make career out of this. And then suddenly the dream came back to life after the Jackson five thing, and yeah, suddenly I was like, okay, I'm going to be the kid with the poster in his

bedroom again. Um. So yeah, it's weird how it kind of went full circle. And yeah, but I can't really pinpoint when that moment was. I guess I've always I've always just known that if I work hard enough then like that. The goal has always been just to be able to make music, make money from music, and that's

always been it. I mean, yeah, dreams come true. I mean, has there been a moment for you, like on stage it's really been like a peak moment for you where youthought oh my god, this is this is everything I wanted when I was back in my bedroom. And is there anything that stands out for you? Oh? Yeah? Man,

so many like so many festivals and things like that. Way, it's just like it's just crazy when you think like all these people are coming here to to see me, or like all these people were singing along like as and people singing a song I made in my bedroom. It's still crazy, man, And it's still like gives me chills when when that happens, and it still happens with

you know, with with the new songs as well. That's my favorite part when I go back on the road, is like I can't wait to play the new one, Like I wonder if anyone's going to sing along, and when they do, it's, um, yeah, it never gets old, man, that feeling. I mean, You've worked with so many incredible people. I mean my guy, Kylie Mineoa French, Montana, Paloma, Faith, Craig David. Who's still on your wish list? I know you mentioned Chris Martin at one point. Any any progress

on that, Yeah, he'd be very cool. Zero progress at the moment. I'm not giving up yet. Like I said, Rita Aurora was was somebody I mentioned working with for a long time, so I'm really happy that's happened. Ellie Golding is someone I've been trying to work with Ava Max has been on my list for a while of people that I love to do something with, and a few days ago actually her team asked me to do a remix for her, which I'm working on today. So

that's going to be really cool. And that's that's something hopefully I can be really proud of and I can take her off the list, the never ending list. But yeah, there's so many man, Like, Um, I'm working on my album as well at the moment, and I can't mention any any names unfortunately because because it's like quite early days. But there's so many cool people and it's I feel so blessed to be able to work with so many

talented artists, Like it's it's it's so cool man. And I mean you might not be able to say anything, but I heard rumors about Little Mix, So what's the latest on on working with them. Yeah, we've been We've been working together for a long time, like trying to find the right song that works for everyone. We've been

in the studio a few times. Um, it's really hard, man, with all of us have such busy timelines and release schedules and stuff, so like you kind of have to wait for all the stars to align for for for these things to happen. So I'm still got my fingers crossed that will will make something happen, and everyone's still really keen to to make a tune together. So yeah, hopefully hopefully soon. What is your process for almost like

casting a song. Is it almost like you would have movie You have something and you think, oh my god, I can totally hear read Aura on this or Charlie x t X or Ellie Golden or something like that, or what is your process for that? How do you how do you decide what song goes with what artists? Usually we have some sort of demo of the song

with a with the singer. A songwriter will often sing it and then you know, we can try and work out who who it's going to sue and approach those people and hopefully, you know, they can cut the vocal and we can see if it works. But sometimes you can think, oh my god, this is gonna be amazing for for this person, and they sing it and you're like, thank you so much for singing this, Like it's not it's not working because I don't know. Sometimes you just

can't tell how it's going to sound. There's so many different things that come into it. But yeah, sometimes it's tough as well, man, because the songwriter who writes the song might have this incredible voice and then you're like, oh my god, how are we gonna how are we gonna? Are we gonna beat that? Like how are we going

to get as good as that? It was the same with them with James Arthur because Lewis Capaldi wrote the Lasting Lover song I did with James and like where I worked on the version with with Lewis's voice on for a long time and I was like, there's literally probably only one or two people who could sing it this good, and one of them is James Arthur and he was he was top of the list. I was like, if James Arthur doesn't do this tune with me, like I don't know what I'm gonna do, Like, no one's

gonna be able to sing this. And so thank god James did it, because otherwise I don't think, like I don't think I would have ever found someone to cut that song. Um, but yeah he did. He did a great job as an incredible track, awesome video too. I gotta say I'm a huge Carnerd and seeing all the like the Mercedes in there, that was a great Uh. How involved are you in making the videos? A real bit you conceive of a lot of them, right, Yeah, it depends what's going on at the time. Sometimes, Um,

sometimes I'm really involved. Sometimes I'm too busy to get involved. And I often use the same director, Craig Moore, and we've worked together a lot since off, since my first music video. But like, I feel like I've sort of managed to almost set the kind of outlines to this is what cigar video needs to be like, so that I can trust someone else to do it if I'm too busy. But it's it's so much fun getting involved in in the music videos, man, Like I feel like, um,

there's such a big part of of the music. And like I often watch music videos while I'm making when I'm making music in the studio because it's I get so inspired by it. Like if I finished song for the day, I'll put on the music video on YouTube and mute it and then play my song under it and you hear it in a different way and then you you know, you think of new ideas and things you can do with it. So like music videos have always been really important to me. That's so funny you

said that. I went to film score and I love music, but I've never been able to write a song. But I used to walk around when I was stuck at where I was going to be out in my plot and just listen to songs, and somehow that would always spark something. Just whatever the opposite. The two just works so well. Yeah, man, They're just there're two things that just worked so well together. So yeah, it's really fun

being involved in the music videos. Now, when you're not working on music or the music videos, what do you like to do? Especially this last year, however, you kept boredom at day if if that is such a thing for you, yeah, I've embraced the boredom, to be honest with you, It's been like hectic few years. When Lockdown number one came along, I was I was kind of welcoming it. I was like, Okay, I'm gonna I can chill out. I have no nothing to commit to. I

can just hibernate basically, which was really nice. I didn't even make music for a few weeks. I was like, this is my opportunity to just recharge and re energize and that was really nice, But yeah, it definitely got boring, um quite quickly. So I do a lot of gaming, like I play Call of Duty and stuff um quite a lot like me and loads of my mates obsessed with it, so that definitely helps pass the time. And

obviously making music. There's there's been so much time for me to make music and so much less pressure now rather than like, you know, go away for a few days on tour and then suddenly you're back in the studio and you you know, you've got to get this done by this day, and it's usually not the most

creative way to work. So it's been really nice this year to have a bit more time and like less time pressure you mentioned, Colb Dutio, I hooked up my older in sixty four for the first time Golden Come On for I was obsessed with that game. Oh yeah, I mean Remote Minds and the facility that's uh, that's literally with all the all the glass windows. Before I let you go, thank you so much for taking the

time to day. It's been such a pleasure. But before I let you go, what is one thing that you've learned about yourself in the last year now that you've been able to kind of chill. Everything's been a bit more still and uh and reflect. How has that changed you? I think I've learned that I I'm really happy with my own company. Like I'm quite happy just being a hermit and not leaving the house for a few days.

You know. I've seen people lose their minds on on social media over lockdown because they haven't been able to go out and do things, and um like, Luckily I've I've managed to keep saying and I think I've realized that, Yeah, I'm pretty pretty chilled just being on my own, like I can amuse myself. And yeah, has been a good good recollections. I'll never leave the hush again. Well, we hope we get you back out on the road. So

oh yeah, that's different though. That's fun. So go. Thank you so much for your time today and your music. It's been such a pleasure. I really appreciate it. Thanks man, thanks for having me. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts,