Since the disbanding of the Swedish House Mafia, Steve Angello has been quite busy. Between the “Wild Youth” project and the evolution of his sound, Steve Angello has been paving a new path for himself that is far different from what it was like during the Swedish House Mafia era.
When speaking to the Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter about his “Wild Youth” project, Steve Angello explained the exciting rush that came from being a part of Swedish House Mafia but that it inevitably lead to a realization he could not ignore:
“You wanted to know how far you could take it all. There was a lot of drinking, boating, flying helicopter. I was at a place where one is actually afraid of ending up as an artist. I was out touring the world with meaningless music, but one day you come back down to earth again.”
Enter the Wild Youth Project.
Steve Angello had figured out how to make dance hits and had it down to a formula. The problem is, popular dance hits aren’t as evolutionary as some think:
” I just felt: I can make dance hits now. There is a special formula that always works. I wanted to create something that means more. Dance music wasn’t evolving or progressing like other musical genres were. Take hip hop, as an example, it always speaks about culture, religion, society and politics. Dance music has never talked about anything. There is no history. So I want to tell mine.”
Steve’s commitment to the Wild Youth project is methodical and carefully planned. No detail is left untouched as Wild Youth represents an important part of who he is an artist:
In all my collaborations I only work with artists I truly admire. It’s more like folk and indie rock music, such as Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons and Dougy Mandagi from Temper Trap – I have always been a huge fan of their vocals. We wrote all the tracks together and tried to tell a story through it; a simple question, “What do I want to tell them through the music?”.”
Instead of catering to the booming market, Steve Angello will stick to creating beautiful music and not just what the main stage requires to sell out. In the interview Steve explained how the current scene is too flashy and is heading down a path of false promises which is not, by any means, where we should be going.
“You see 40 year old artists with incredible talent release music as if they were 15. In any other profession, this would be considered absurd. It’s like Tom Ford migrated to making Pokémon clothes. This is where we’ve ended up. “
You can read the full interview on Dagens Nyheter here.
H/T: We Rave You
