Abbey Road Blue me away
Dance DJ enjoyed a career highlight by recording at studio where the Beatles churned out hits
GUY ROBIN, known as Jonas Blue, has worked with unestablished talent and big names to become one of the UK’s biggest dance acts with more than 16million listeners a month on Spotify.
The DJ and producer’s first two singles – a remake of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and Perfect Strangers – reached No2 in the UK charts.
He has also worked with Liam Payne, Rita Ora, Paloma Faith and Nina Nesbitt.
His new single, Don’t Wake Me Up, is out today and he’s bringing his label’s club night, Electronic Nature, to Glasgow next month.
When I did Polaroid with Liam Payne and Lennon Stella, we performed it on The X Factor and got a standing ovation from Nile Rodgers, Simon Cowell and all the rest. That was quite a moment as it was where Liam had started with One Direction. For me to go from being a fan of the show to performing the closing track on it was really special. The other would be doing the acoustic version of By Your Side, with Raye, at Abbey Road. That was something else. Being from London and getting to perform at Studio 2 in Abbey Road, where The Beatles made everything, was a real moment.
Who is on your bucket list to collaborate with in the future? I love everything Shawn Mendez does, so it would be really cool if we did a collaboration. Calvin Harris is another. I’m a big fan. The other is Max Martin. If I got to work with even one of them, I’d be absolutely delighted.
How different is it to work with big-name artists such as Tiësto, Rita Ora and Paloma
Faith compared to unknown acts? There are a lot more opinions on their side! When you’re working with artists on their projects, you have to really zone in on what they want. This is quite difficult for me at times as when I’m doing my own thing I know exactly how it should turn out. You have to establish a relationship with each other.
How important is it for you to have an outlet like Electronic Nature that allows you to put out whatever what you want? It’s massively important, especially as house music is so prominent now. People know me for my big commercial songs and the majority of my set is made up of club tracks. I have a certain style how I play, which is very positive, uplifting and energetic. There’s not a lot of people out there doing that kind of thing as it’s all very techno and tech-house at the moment.
It’s been a long time since I last did a proper UK tour. Since then, Electronic Nature has come a long way so we thought it would be great to combine what I do and bring the label with it. Basically, update people with what’s been happening as well as the new artists I’ve discovered. We’ve signed some really exciting new acts and put out some amazing releases so it’s going to be a fun tour. It’ll be nice to have some mates along, too. Usually it’s just me on my own.